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Or^yinal copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropsriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^-(meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film* fut 'an," ,U. With a Preface by Sir Walter C. Hillier, K.C.M.G. Latt Brithh Comul-Gintral for Korta With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author, and Maps, Appendixes and Index 11^ New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revcll Company M DCCC XCVIK CopyriRht 1897 BY Plbmino H. Rbvkll Company \ a\^ i\ Preface. I have been honored by Mrs. Bishop with an invitation to preface her book on Korea with a few introductory remarks. Mrs. Bishop is too well known as a traveler and a writer to require any introduction to the reading public, but I am glad to be afforded an opportunity of indorsing the conclusions she has arrived at after a long and intimate study of a people whose isolation during many centuries renders a description of their character, institutions and peculiarities, especially interesting at the present stage of their history. Those who, like myself, have known Korea from its first opening to foreign intercourse will thoroughlv apnreciate the closeness of Mrs. Bishop's observation, the accuracy of her facts, and the correctness of her inferences. The facilities en- joyed by her have been exceptional. She has been honored by the confidence and friendship of the King and the late Queen in a degree that has never before been accorded to any foreign traveler, and has had access to valuable sources of information placed at her disposal by the foreign community of Seoul, official, missionary, and mercantile; while her pres- ence m the country during and subsequent to the war between Chma and Japan, of which Korea was. in the first instance, the stage, has furnished her the opportunity of recording with ac- curacy and impartiality many details of an episode in far East- ern history which have hitherto been clouded by misstatement and exaggeration. The hardships and difficulties encountered by Mrs. Bishop during her journeys into the interior of Korea have been lightly touched upon by herself; but those who know V /^ ^ Preface how great they were, admire the courage, patience and endur- ance that enabled her to overcome them. It must be evident to all who know anything of Korea that a condition of tutelage, in some form or another, is now abso- lutely necessary to her existence as a nation. The nominal mdependence won for her by the force of Japanese arms is a privilege she is not fitted to enjoy while she continues to labor under the burden of an administration that is hopelessly and 8u; rlatively corrupt. The role of mentor and guide exercised by china, with that lolcy indifference to local interests that characterizes her treatment of all her tributaries, was under- token by Japan after the expulsion of the Chinese armies from Korea. The efforts of the Japanese to reform some of the most goring abuses, though somewhat roughly applied, were undoubtedly earnest and genuine; but. as Mrs. Bishop has shown, experience was wanting, and one of the Japanese Agents did incalculable harm to his country's cause by falling a victim to the spirit of intrigue which seems almost inseparable from the diplomacy of Orientals. Force of circumstances com- pelled Russia to take up the task begun by Japan, the King having appealed in his desperation to the Russian Representat tive for rescue from a terrorism which might well have cowed a stronger and a braver man. The most partial of critics will admit that the powerful influence wb!ch the presence of the King m the house of their Representative might have enabled the Russian Government to exert has been exercised through their Minister with almost disappointing moderation. Never- theless, through the instrumentality of Mr. M'Leavy Brown LL.D.. head of the Korean Customs and Financial Adviser to the Government, an Englishman whose great ability as an organizer and administrator is recognized by all residents in the farther East, the finances of the country have been placed in a condition of equilibrium that has never before existed; while numerous other reforms have been carried out by Mr Brown and others with the cordial support and co-operation of the Russian Minister, irrespective of the nationality of the agent employed. ' *» F Preface « Much, however still remains to be done; and the only hope of advance .n the direction of progress-initiated, it is only fa^ to remember, by Japan, and continued under Russian auspices -^ to mamtam an iron grip, which the Russian Agents, so far. c^nLYh" "°L' *^'?'"' ''^"" '''''' J*P*"^«« predecessors tc^ conceal beneath a velvet glove. The condition of Korean set" tlera m Russian territory described by Mrs. Bishop shows how capable these people are of improving their condition undeT w.e and paternal rule; and. setting all political consideratJon as.de. there can be no doubt that the 1,rosperity of the people and the.r general comfort and happiness wouW be mmrnset advanced under an extension of this patronage by one Tothe^ -v.hzed Power. Without some form of paln4 or contrt' call .t by what name we will, a lapse into the oldln>ove of opl Trl^V'r""' '"V" -"--'^"^ n.iseries.lTTnevitabT M^. B.shops remadc^^n^mssionaorj^r^^ ^„d , Korea^based^Uiejr ^:^^ syi^Shiii^bser: va^TOSSf of great value to those'^wh'^T^ n^'-o", to arrive at a correct appreciation of Christian enterprise in these remote regions. Descriptions of missionaries and^dr domgs are too often marred by exaggemion^f success on the one hand, which are. perhaps, the natural olcome Slthus^! asm. and harsh and frequently unjust criticisms on the othe commonly mdulged in by those who base their conclusion; upon observation of the most superficial kind. Speaking f om my own experience. I have no hesitation in saying that clZ .nqu.0^ would dispel many of the illusions abou"^: tL futili H missionary work that are. unfortunately, too common and that missionaries would, as a rule, welcome symrhet'icTn quny mto their methods of work, which mosf ofThem wui frankly admit to be capable of improvement. But. whileTor ing friendly criticism, they may reasonably object t^ be iud^; by those who have never taken the troubfe toCdy^hi." fj' TZ '° T"?'"'"^'^^^^ '" '""^ ^•'i-^' *hey have in vie'w In Ml.. Bishop they have an advocate whose testimony Z be commended to the attention of all who are disponed to ,2^ gard missaonary labor as. at the best, useless or uT^e^^ 4 Preface In Korea, at all events, to go no farther, it is to missionaries that we are assuredly indebted for almost all we know about the country; it is they who have awakened in the people the desire for material progress and enlightenment that has now happily taken root, and it is to them that we may confidently look for assistance in its farther development. The unacknowl- edged, but none the less complete, religious toleration that now exists throughout the country affords them facilities which are being energetically used with great promise of future suc- cess. I am tempted to call attention to another point m con- nection with this much-abused class of workers that is, I think, often lost sight of. namely, their utility as explorers and pio^ neers of commerce. They are always ready— at least such has been my invariable experience— to place the stores of their local knowledge at the disposal of any one, whether merchant, sportsman, or traveler, who applies to them for information,' and to lend him cheerful assistance in the pursuit of his ob- jects. I venture to think that much valuable information as to cha. for the development of trade could be obuined by ChamL^.d of Commerce if they were to address specific inqui- ries to missionaries in remote regions. Manufacturers are more indebted to missionaries than perhaps they realize for the intro- duction of their goods and wares, and the creation of a demand for them, in places to which such would never otherwise have found their way. It is fortunate that Mrs. Bishop's visit to Korea was so op- portunely timed. At the present rate of progress much that came under her observation will, before long, be "improved" out of existence; and though no one can regret the disappear- ance of many institutions and customs that have nothing but their antiquity to recommend them, she has done valuable serv- ice in placing on record so graphic a description of experiences that future travelers will probably look for in vain. October, 1897. WALTER C. HILLIER. ^ Author's Prefatory Note. for™^ed%"an oi'rp°lJ'n°S\\'ur"';/e'r^'?'' '''i' ^"'^ March. ,897. Mongolian races.'^ My^rTt'^^l'^y^f^'^^ Korea is the most uniJterest ng StWev^r .'''* *%P^"^*°" '"»» ing and since the war itspolitifal oertnrhi?- ^'^''''.'f'^ '"• ^utdur- possible destinies, have gTven me'^Y.^^'n^^^^^^^ Korean character and industry as I « J kM'"'*.'"^ '" '^' '^^ile in Siberia, have enlightened me'as to 1^%^ ?»'^ ""***'': •*""'«" '"!« may await the nation in the f?tu?e Ko~ *."?'' P°«^'bilities which grip on all who reside in itsufficientlv^« *»'^''"*''''""*'">y«rong °^f,rtf which at firs?it 2S?oTb"ted'lyTn!p?re7"'°"'' '''' ''^'^''"^ It isa difficu t country to wriie no^„ '"'?"*?• . reference by means of which o'enTi" ''T '^"^ ^"""^ °' ^ooks of are facts, he two best Ks on thSitrv h*^^ • '" rf"^' ^'^'^ ''^P" within the last few years in co/^/^ ''*^'"» ''"ome obsolete social order are cSncewed The frL!? *'" P°"f'*=^' '^^^d'''"" and each fact for himselfrusually th oueh^'hT"^' h^^"^"/'^ '^'^'"'^r preter ; and as five or six verLns nf*«I "^.^""n ol an inter- equally reliable authoritL friaulntlv fi* ^fP «'^!" ^^ apparently eigners. the only course .^AS^;. 5^h ''^''**" " °^ '^^ Nor- thern has the best chance of Lfng accurate *^""' " '° ""^''^ °* Kolra^To^/h^o^lrdu^ri'oSjrh^ "h^^^ ^°-'«" ^-n^^s in these, who know the extreme %li*ri? ^^"l^ *° ^"*'" *'• It « by the most leniently crUdsSl wSS 1 ''''•»'^''^; '''** ^ ^''^'l ^J have fallen into nlistakes '""="^«^«f' "> sp«te of carefulness, I enSs"«?„"L%X^^o«:s1j;:'fro?".f "^ r *^-<=«"« «Peri- whlch were corrected from Z^ /. !° '*'u"^ ' ^°°^ careful nSt^s servations of residents and aT I w™*" ^^ '^"^ ""^^ prolonged ojl country ; but. wiVh re^rH »^ •"""" *"="" acquainted with the the Ha; as I'am thefi^stuayelS^wChT^ "^ '''! ^^^'^ B^^"'h °f have to rely on ray obse^Ifj^)^ ^^-^^ reported on the region. I {he same lack crrUrde7ni°es o"n^;^n^';'T Uppei Tai-deng. My ™tes furnUh^i."?^^ °f *?<= *=°""try on the those on Seoul. MaLS and Pri™--^!^ -^'^^^^ ''"" " contemporary Korean ^istVafe ^^aW^-^o^o^f '^^^^^^^^^ Author's Prcfotory Note menu, and are partly derived from sources not usually accessible. I owe very much to the kindly interest which my friends in Ko- rea took in my work, and to the encouragement which they gave me when I was disheartened by the difficulties of the subject and my own lack of skill. I gratefully acknowledge the invaluable help given me by Sir Walter C. Hillier, K.C.M.G., H.B.M. 's Consul. General in Korea, and Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown, LL.D., Chief Com- missioner of Korean Customs; also the aid generously bestowed by Mr. Waeber, the Russian Minister, and the Rev. G. Heber Jones, the Rev. James Gale, and other missionaries. I am also greatly indebted to a learned and careful volume on Korean Government, by Mr. W. H. Wilkinson, H.B.M. 's Acting Vice-Consul at Chemulpo, as well as to the Korean Repository &nA the Seoul Independent, for in- formation which has enabled me to cornet some of my notes on Korean customs. Various repetitions occur, for the reason that it appears to me impossible to give sufficient emphasis to certain facts without them; and several descriptions are loaded with details, the result of an attempt to fix on paper customs and ceremonies aestined shortly to disappear. The illustrations, with the exceptions of three, are re- productions of my own photographs. The sketch map, in so far as my first journey is concerned, is reduced from one kindly drawn for me by Mr. Waeber. The transliteration of Chinese proper names was kindly undertaken by a well-known Chinese scholar, but unfortunately the actual Chinese characters were not in all cases forthcoming. In justice to the kind friends who have so gen- erously aided me, I am anxious to claim and accept the fullest measure of personal responsibility for the opinions expressed, which, whether right or wrong, are wholly my own. I am painfully conscious of the demerits of this work, but believ- ing that, on the whole, it reflects fairly faithfully the regions of which it treats, I venture to present it to the public; and to ask for it the same kindly and lenient criticism with which my records of travel in the East and elsewhere have hitherto been received, and that it maybe accepted as an honest attempt to make a contribution to the sum of the knowledge of Korea and its people, and to de- scribe things as I saw them, not only in the interior but in the troubled political atmosphere of the capital. November, i8gfj. ISABELLA L. BISHOP. f i Contents CMAPm p^o. Introductory Chapter 1 1 I. First Impressions of Korea aj II. First Impressions of the Capital 35 III. The Kur-dong ^g IV. Seoul, the Korean Mecca 59 V. The Sailing of the Sampan 66 VI. On the River of Golden Sand 71 VII. Views Afloat gj VIII. Natural Beauty—The Rapids 98 IX. Korean Marriage Customs 114 X. The Korean Pony— Korean Roads and Inns ... 121 XI. Diamond Mountain Monasteries 133 XII. Along the Coast geo XIII. Impending War— Excitement at Chemulpo .... 177 XIV. Deported to Manchuria gge XV. A Manchurian Deluge — A Passenger Cart— An Accident 192 XVI. Mukden and its Missions 199 XVII. Chinese Troops on the March 206 XVIII. Nagasaki— Wladivostok 313 XIX. Korean Settlers in Siberia 223 XX. The Trans-Siberian Railroad 239 XXI. The King's Oath— An Audience 245 XXII. A Transition Stage 261 XXIII. The Assassination of the Queen 269 XXIV. Burial Customs 283 XXV. Song do: A Royal City 292 XXVI. The Phyong-yang Battlefield 301 XXVII. Northward Ho I ,20 XXVIII. Over the An-kil Yung Pass 330 7 'fl ^ Contents CRArm XXIX. Social Position or Womin . . . *'*°' XXX. Exorcists and Dancing Women . ...'."** XXXI. The H/ir-croppino Edict ^^ y^Y^JJ' I"" ^•'°*°^'*"'"> Korean Government '.'.'.'' ll^, ttlWr' ^''"<=*"o'* and Foreign Trade. ... 2' XXXIV. D^MONisM OR Shamanism ' Jl'lv^' ^'*^" *"* D^MONISM CONCLUDEi>.' '.','.['''' ^ XXXVI. Seoul in 1897 .... *^ XXXVII. Last Words on Korea ...'.**.' ^'^ Appendixes ' * ^*S Appendix A._Mission Statistic fo'r KoRiu' 1896. *^' Appendix B._Direct Foreign Trade ok Korea •896-95- Appendix C._Return ok Principal Articles ok Export for the years 1806-95 Appendix D._Population ok Treaty Portc Appendix E._Treaty between Japan and Russi>. WITH REPLY or H. E., the KOREAN MINISTER FOE I'ORBIGN AkKAIRS. Indbx 475 Paob . 338 • 344 • 359 • 37« . 387 • 399 . 409 • 427 • 445 . 461 List of Illustrations. 475 Mrs. Bishop's Travklino Party *, ***" Harbor of Chemulpo Frontispiece Gate OF Old FusAN .'* ^'""'-*' ^ Japanese Miutarv Cemeterv'.'chemu'lk; .".'.■.*.■ Z)^ !« Turtle Stone ^'^^ 3* Gutter Shop, Seoul *** The Author's Sampan.' Han R.ver f^"^ "** Korean Peasants at Dinner '.'.'.' "^ ^ A Korean Lady *' The Diamond Mountains "° Tombstones of Abbots. Yu-ChOm' Sa ^'^""'^ "*° Passenger Cart, Mukden. . , '^^^^ ^^^ Temple of God of Literature*, Mukden.' ." r-l^."- ''' Gate of Victory. Mukden. . . "^ ^ Chinese Soldiers Facing 20% Wladivos roK FaHng 210 Russian '• Army." Kr^^snove "ceu> ^'^"^ "* Korean Settler's House ."." * ^^""^ *^' Korean Throne. , *38 SUMMER PAVILION. OK •• H^;: ;V CongRXT^lItIoNs"'' " ' '2:;''^ ''' Royal Library. Kyeng-Pok Palace ' " f"."^ ''* Facing 256 9 le List of Ilfdstrations. KoRCAN Gentleman in c.o«;rt Dress -g^ Place op the Qukkn's Cki \tion 368 Chil-Suno Mon, Seven Star Gate .^ Altar at Tomb or K.t-xe Z.V.' ■.■.'.'.'.■. Ji^.^ 3.9 Russian Settler's House /-a...^ 3,0 Upper Tai.D«no „ . Facing 33.} Russian Officers. Hun-Chun p^ South Gate „ . Ftutng 413 Seoul and Palace Enclosure p^^^g ^,3 The Kino OF Korea r. . Facing 430 Korean Caput Corps and Russian Drill Instructors. /a«V 434 A Street in Seoul ^ • . Facing 436 Korean Policemen, Old and New -^. 'I 9»ai ato • • • • 368 300 ...Fating 318 . . .Fadng 330 ...Facing 334 . , .Facing 330 ...Facing 41a ..Facing 438 ..Facing 430 s. Facing 434 . .Facing 436 444 GENERAL MAP OF K^rf a AND NEIQI The Edmbur^ G«o|»«jiliical JnaUtute Beniin^ H. Hevdl Conr; ay; ' ^^ '^Qgg^ ^ND NElGHBOURtNGjCQUNTRIES hi 'I y K. Korea and Her Neighbors INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER IN the winter of 1894, when I was about to sail for Korea (to which some people erroneously give the name of " The Korea"), many interested friends hazarded guesses at its po- sition,— the Equator, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea being among them, a hazy notion that it is in the Greek Arch- ipelago cropping up frequently. It was curious that not one of these educated, and, in some cases, intelligent people came within 2,000 miles of its actual latitude and longitude I In truth, there is something about this peninsula which has repelled investigation, and until lately, when the establishment of a monthly periodical, carefully edited. The Korean Reposi- tory, has stimulated research, the one authority of which all writers, with and without acknowledgment, have availed them- selves, is the Introduction to P6re Ballet's Histoire de /• Eglise de Koree, a valuable treatise, many parts of which, however, are now obsolete. If in this volume I present facts so elementary as to provoke the scornful comment, " Every schoolboy knows that," I ven- ture to remind my critics that the larger number of possible readers were educated when Korea was little more than "a geographical expression," and had not the advantages of the modern schoolboy, • whose "up-to-date" geographical text- books have been written since the treaties of 1883 opened the Hermit Nation to the world ; and I will ask the minority to be II ./ 12 Korea and Her Neighbors ^!) patient with what may be to them "twice-told tales" for the sake of the majority, specially in this introduction, which is folTow *° ^^^ something of lucidity to the chapters which The first notice of Korea is by Khordadbeh, an Arab geog- rapher of the ninth century, a.d., in his £ook of Roads and Provinces, quoted by Baron Richofen in his work on China, p. 575. Legends of the aborginal inhabitants of the peninsula are too mythical to be noticed here, but it is certain that it was inhabited when Kit-ze or Ki-ja, who will be referred to ater introduced the elements of Chinese civilization in the twelfth century b.c. Naturally that conquest and subsequent immigrations from Manchuria have left some traces on the Koreans, but they are strikingly dissimilar from both their nearest neighbors, the Chinese and the Japanese, and there IS a remarkable variety of physiognomy among them, all the more noticeable because of the uniformity of costume. The difficulty of identifying people which besets and worries the stranger in Japan and China does not exist in Korea. It is true that the obliquity of the Mongolian eye is always present, as well as a trace of bronze in the skin, but the complexion varies from a swarthy olive to a very light brunette. There are straight and aquiline noses, as well as broad and snub noses with distended nostrils; and though the hair is dark, much of it is so disf- .ly a russet brown as to require the frequent application of lampblack and oil to bring it to a fashionable black, while in texture it varies from wiriness to silkmess. Some men have full moustaches and large goatees on the faces of others a few carefully tended hairs, as in China! do duty for both, while many have full, strong beards. The mouth IS either the wide, fuil-lipped. gaping cavity constantly seen among the lower orders, or a small though full feature, or thin-lipped and refined, as is seen continually among patricians. The eyes, though dark, vary from dark brown to hazel ; the cheek bones are high; the brow, so far as fashion allows it to Introductory Chanter »3 be seen, is frequently lofty and intellectual; and the ears are small and well set on. The usual expression is cheerful, with a dash of puzzlement. The physiognomy indicates, in its best aspect, quick intelligence, rather than force or strength of will. The Koreans are certainly a handsome race. The physique is good. The average height of the men is five feet iour and a half » inches, that of the women cannot be ascertained, and is ^/Vproportionately less, while their figure- less figures, the faults of which are exaggerated by the ugliest dress on earth, are squat and broad. The hands and feet of both sexes and all classes are very small, white, and exquisitely formed, and the tapering, almond-shaped finger-nails are care- fully attended to. The men are very strong, and as porters carry heavy weights, a load of loo pounds being regarded as a moderate one. They walk remarkably well, whether it be the studied swing of the patrician or the short, firm stride of the plebeian when on business. The families are large and healthy If the Government estimate of the number of houses is correct the population, taking a fair average, is from twelve to thirteen millions, females being in the minority. Mentally the Koreans are liberally endowed, specially with that gift known in Scotland as "gleg at the uptak." The for- eign teachers bear willing testimony to their mental adroitness and quickness of perception, and their talent for the rapid ac- quisition of languages, which they speak more fluently and with a far better accent than either the Chinese or Japanese. They have the Oriental vices of suspicion, cunning, and un- Highest. Lowest. Average. Height . Size round chest . head . 5 ft. "X in- 39H in. 23X " 4 ft. 9}4 in. 27 in. ao «• 5 ft- 4}i in. 31 >n. 2i;4 « . .. H Korea and Her Neighbors truthfulness, and trust between man and man is unknown Women are sec uded, and occupy a very inferior posit on The geography of Korea, or Ch'ao Hsien^'Cnin^r Calm," or "Fresh Morning"), is simple. It i a deS pemnsula to the northeast of China, measuring ro'ghly 600 m>les from north to south and 135 from east ^o wes' The coast hne,s about 1,740 miles. It lies between 34° i ' N to 43° N. latitude and 124° »8' E to t,oO ,,/i? , • ', has an estimated area of upwards of 80 '^ "^""f"' '"^ upwaras ot 80,000 square miles h^ mg somewha, smaller than Great Bri.ain. Bounded on' rt north and west by the Tu-men and Am-nok, or Ya!u rive! Zt«ZV: r ""' """"'■'" '"' Chinese'empirl :a"d "; tne YelloBT Sea, us eastern and southern limit is the S., Z Japan, a "silver streak," which ha, no. b«n ts salv^Hon JlJ^^\ '^,""''"?' """ "'« ■■" f"""'" San, the "White- Headed Mountain," from which runs southwards , „ea, mounun, range, throwing off numerous lateral 'Z itse f a rugged spme which divides the kingdom into t™ ,h^ eastern d,v,s,„n being a con,parat,vely narrow stripT^een he range and the Sea of Japan, difficult of acce^ bu, e ° .«mely fertUe; while the western section is compcS o ru" ged h,lls and .nnumerahle rich valleys and slope,, well wate"i and admirably suited for agriculture. Cra,^ of voka^c^ long s,nce passed into repose, lava beds, and other Ins^^ volcanic action, are constantly met with "^'gMof The lakes are few and very small, and not many of the treams are navigable for more than a few miles from the sla ^e exceptions being the noble Am-nok, the Tai-donHhe Nak-tong, the Mok-po, and the Han, which last, risit L Kang-won Do, 30 miles from the Sea of Japan, after canine he country nearly in half, falls i„,o the ia arChelCon the west c,»st, and, in spite of many and dangeroiisTpM^ ^s a valuable highway for commerce for over .,0 „«« ^ ' I 1 Introductory Chapter 15 Owing to the configuration of the peninsula there are few good harbors, but those which exist are open aU the t^Uer The finest are Fnsan and VVon-san, on Broughton B.v Che mulpo, which as the port of Seoul, takes tVe fiL Ice can hardly be called a harbor at all, the "outer harbor 'where large vessels and ships of war lie, being nothing bet t^ tLn a roadstead, and the "inner harbor." close to th'e to n in the fierce t.deway of the estuary of the Han, is only T22 for five or S.X vessels of small tonnage at a time. T e e t '0^ s steep and rocky, the water is deep, and the tide r s a^d falls from i to . feet only. On the southwest and we tco^ts the tide rises and falls from 26 to 38 feet I of?h?M'T'°f ''''^'''"'■^'"^^'^^b'«^^<^hipelago. Some of the islands are bold masses of arid rock, the resort of s^a wlgL^^^^^^^^^ r '"'^^'''«^' -hue the ad c of the nvers render parts of the coastline dubious. Korea is decidedly a mountainous countrv and hn« r plains deserving the nam- t .1. """""try. and has few groups with defini .C u '^' "^"'^ '^''' ^^« '"^""tain g oups with definite centres, the most remarkable being Paik tu San, which attains an altitude of over R «« / ^emg i-aik-tu and precipitous hi Is Jt^erd'r/°"^''^ '°""^^'^^ ^^ / J ' ^''"^r denuded or covered wifh /•A/»a C':.: a"Th """■"'"'' ""->■'' -•■ fe'^sW v^^a" tain and svlvl ".^l Jf °" """'"> "'"''^"^ ""»>"■ southern cc2 dTsI^ f ""' "* " ''''"'=°* '<"'«<'' "" infertile pS' ^'"""^""^ '" P'ac« into small and often m i6 Korea and Her Neighbors The geological formation is fairly simple. Mesozoic rocks occur in Hwang-hai Do, but granite and metamorphic rocks largely predominate. Northeast of Seoul are great fields of lava, and lava and volcanic rocks are of common occurrence in the north. The climate is undoubtedly one of the finest and healthiest in the world. Foreigners are not afflicted by any climatic maladies, and European children can be safely brought up in every part of the peninsula. July, August, and sometimes the first half of September, are hot and rainy, but the heat is so tempered by sea breezes that exercise is always possible. For nine months of the year the skies are generally bright, and a Korean winter is absolutely superb, with its still atmosphere, its bright, blue, uncleuded sky, its extreme dryness without asperity, and its crisp, frosty nights. From the middle of September till the end of June, there are neither extremes of heat nor cold to guard against. The summer mean temperature at Seoul is about 75° Fah- renheit, that of the winter about 33°; the average rainfall 36.03 inches in the year, and the average of the rainy season 21.86 inches.' July is the wettest month, and December the driest. The result of the abundant rainfall, distributed fairly through the necessitous months of the year, is that irrigation is necessary only for the rice crop. The fauna of Korea is considerable, and includes tigers and leopards in great numbers, bears, antelopes, at least seven species of deer, foxes, beavers, otters, badgers, tiger-cats, pigs, several species of marten, a sable (not of much value, how- ever), and striped squirrels. Among birds there are black eagles, found even near Seoul, harriers, peregrines (largely used for hawking), pheasants, swans, geese, spectacled and common teal, mallards, mandarin ducks, turkey buzzards (very shy), white and pink ibis, sparrow-hawks, kestrels, imperial 'These averages are only calculated on observations taken during a period of three and a half years. Introductory Chapter »7 Fah- cranes, egrets, herons, curlews, nightjars, redshanks, bunt- ings, magpies (common and blue), orioles, wood larks, thrushes, redstarts, crows, pigeons, doves, rooks, warblers, wagtails, cuckoos, halcyon and bright blue kingfishers, jays, snipes, nut-hatches, gray shrikes, pheasants, hawks, and kites. But until more careful observations have been made it is im- possible to say which of the smaller birds actually breed in Korea, and which make it only a halting-place in their annual migrations. The denudation of the hills in the neighborhood of Seoul, the coasts, the treaty ports, and the main roads, is impressive, and helps to give a very unfavorable idea of the country. It is to the dead alone that the preservation of anything deserv- ing the name of timber in much of southern Korea is owing. But in the mountains.of .he northern and eastern provinces, and specially among those which enclose the sources of the Tu-men, the Am-nok, the Tai-dong, and the Han, there are very considerable forests, on which up to this time the wood- cutter has made little apparent impression, though a good deal of timber is annually rafted down these rivers. Among the indigenous trees are the Abies excelsa, Abies microsperma, Pinus sinensis, Pinus pinea, three species of oak, the lime, ash, birch, five species of maple, the Acantho- panax ricinifolia, Rhus semipinnata, Elceagnus, juniper, mountain ash, hazel. Thuja Orientalis (?), willow, Sophora Japonica (?), hornbeam, plum, peach, Euonymus alatus, etc. The flora is extensive and interesting, but, with the exception of the azalea and rhododendron, it lacks brilliancy of color. There are several varieties of showy clematis, and the mille- fteur rose smothers even large trees, but the climber /)ar ex- cellence of Korea is the Ampelopsis Veitchi. The economic plants are few, and, with the exception of \\i^ Panax quinque- folia (ginseng), the wild roots of which are worth II15 per ounce, are of no commercial value. The mineral wealth of Korea is a vexed question. Probably .i i 18 Korea and Her Neighbors between the view of the country as an El Dorado and the scep- ticism as to the existence of underground treasure at all, the mean lies. Gold is little used for personal ornaments or in the arts, yet the Korean declares that the dust of his country is gold ; and the unquestionable authority of a Customs' report states that gold dust to the amount of 1^1,360,279 was exported in 1896, and that it is probable that the quantity which left the country undeclared was at least as much again. Silver and galena are found, copper is fairly plentiful, and the country 13 rich in undeveloped iron and coal mines, the coal being of excellent quality. The gold-bearing quartz has never been touched, but an American Company, having obtained a con- cession, has introduced machinery, and has gone to work in the province of Phyong-an. The manufactures are unimportant. The best productions are paper of several qualities made from the Brousonettia Fapyrifera, among which is an oiled paper, like v«llum in appearance, and so tough that a man can be raised from the ground on a sheet of it, lifted at the four corners, fine grass mats, and split bamboo blinds. The arts are nii. Korea, or Ch'ao Hsien, has been ruled by kings of the pres- ent dynasty since 1392. The monarchy is hereditary, and though some modifications in a constitutional direction were made during the recent period of Japanese ascendency, the sovereign is still practically absolute, his edicts, as in China, constituting law. The suzerainty of China, recognized since very remote days, was personally renounced by the king at the altar of the Spirits of the Land in January, 1895, and the com- plete independence of Korea was acknowledged by China in the treaty of peace signed at Shimonos6ki in May of the same year. There is a Council of State composed of a chancellor, five councillors, six ministers, and a chief secretary. The de- cree of September, 1896, which constitutes this body, an- nounces the king's absolutism in plain terms in the preamble. Introductory Chapter »9 The rerenue, which is amply sufficient for .11 i.»i.: . P«..ses, is derived from cJZ^"2Z°XTT"^: honest management of office,^ lent bv hr^r , " '"'' Maritime Customs- a land , a, of « "" '"''^"' fcrtii. * , ">""»• a land tax of (6 on every fertile irt/lit fertile ij,,/ be.ng estimated at about 6j< acr«l Tnrt ., ' .veryn,oun.ai„ ,y.l, a household tax of 60 c" «";' h^^"" hat year Japan forced a treaty upon her andintSsrA- c lowed with »« Tr,^- J T- . ' ^ '" '°°2 China fol- luwca witn ' Jrade and Fronter Reeulatinns" Tk tt • , .at« ne^tiated a treaty in .88., cTa^B ri in and Ge™!: with as a„ fndependen. taTe Tr"' .''""^ "" '"^"O After the treaties were signed a swarm «f r • atives settled down ,,nnn i ^ , of foreign represent- housed n hliorrn, *'' '^P'*^'' ^'^"^ t'^ree of them are British Mi seraTpelt^^^^^^^^^ ^'^e Court and BrLfn I ^ accredited also to the Korean Russi rn^ A^ , t Lrntd'T'^^"^^^'- J^P-' a Charge d'Affaires anTr I by Ministers, France by ge Affaires, and Germany by a Consul. China, which :| iBJ 20 Korea and Her Neighbors has been tardy in entering upon diplomatic relations with Korea since the war, placed her subjects under the protection of the British Consul-General. Until recently, the coinage of Korea consisted of debased copper cash, 500 to the dollar, a great check on business trans- actions; but a new fractional coinage, of which the unic is a accent piece, has been put into circulation, along with 5 -cent nickel, <^-cash copper, and \-cash brass pieces. The fine Jap- anese yen or dollar is now current everywhere. The Dai Ichi Gingo and Fifty-eighth Banks of Japan afford banking facili- ties in Seoul and the open ports. In the treaty ports of Fusan, Won-san, and Chemulpo, there were in January, 1897, 11,318 foreign residents and 266 for- eign business firms. The Japanese residents numbered 10,71 1, and their firms 230. The great majority of the American and French residents are missionaries, and the most conspicuous objects in Seoul are the Roman Cathedral and the American Methodist Episcopal Chuich. The number of British subjects in Korea in January, 1897, was 65, and an agency of a British firm in Nagasaki has recently been opened at Chemulpo. The approximate number of Chinese in Korea at the same time was 2,500, divided chiefly between Seoul and Chemulpo. There is a newly-instituted postal system for the interior, with post- age stamps of four denominations, and a telegraph system, Seoul being now in communication with all parts of the world. The roads are infamous, and even the main roads are rarely more than rough bridle tracks. Goods are carried everywhere on the backs of men, bulls, and ponies, but a railroad from Chemulpo to Seoul, constructed by an American concession- aire, is actually to be opened shortly. The language of Korea is mixed. The educated classes in- troduce Chinese as much as possible into their conversation, and all the literature of any account is in that language, but it is of an archaic form, the Chinese of 1,000 years ago, and differs completely in pronunciation from Chinese as now spoken in Introductory Chapter 2 1 China. En-mun, the Korean script, is utterly despised by the eclucated, whose sole education is in the Chinese classics Korean has the distinction of being the only language of East- ern Asia which possesses an alphabet. Only women, children, and the uneducated used the En-mun till January, 1895, when a new departure was made by the official Gazette, which for several hundred years had been written in Chinese, appearing in a mixture of Chinese characters and En-mun, a resemblance to the Japanese mode of writing, in which the Chinese charac- ters which play the chief part are connected by kana syllables A further innovation was that the King's oath of Independ- ence and Reform was promulgated in Chinese, pure Enmun and the mixed script, and now the latter is regularly employed as the language of ordinances, official documents, and the Gazette ; royal rescripts, as a rule, and despatches to the for- eign representatives still adhering to the old form This recognition of the Korean language by means of the official use of the mixed, and in some cases of the pure script, the aboUtion of the Chinese literary examinations as the test of the fitness of candidates for office, the use of the " vulgar " script exclusively in the Independent, the new Korean news- paper, the prominence given to Korean by the large body of foreign missionaries, and the slow creation of scientific text- books and a literature in En-mun, are tending not only to strengthen Korean national feeling, but to bring the " masses," who can mostly read their own script, into contact with West- ern science and forms of thought. There is no national religion. Confucianism is the official cult, and the teachings of Confucius are the rule of Korean morality. Buddhism, once powerful, but "disestablished" three centuries ago, is to be met with chiefly in mountainous districts, and far from the main roads. Spirit worship, a spec.es of shamanism, prevails all over the kingdom, and holds the uneducated masses and the women of all classes in complete bondage. 22 Korea and Her Neighbors Christian missions, chiefly carried on by Americans, are be- ginning to produce both direct and indirect effects. Ten years before the opening' of Korea to foreigners, the Korean king, in writing to his suzerain, the Emperor of China, said, " The educated men observe and practice the teachings of Confucius and Wen Wang," and this fact is the key to any- thing like a correct estimate of Korea. Chinese influence in government, law, education, etiquette, social relations, and morals is predominant. In all these respects Korea is but a feeble reflection of her powerful neighbor ; and though since the war the Koreans have ceased to look to China for assist- ance, their sympathies are with her, and they turn to her for noble ideals, cherished traditions, and moral teachings. Their literature, superstitions, system of education, ancestral worship, culture, and modes of thinking are Chinese. Society is organized on Confucian models, and the rights of parents over children, and of elder over younger brothers, are as fully recognized as in China. It is into this archaic condition of things, this unspeakable grooviness, this irredeemable, unreformed Orientalism, this parody of China without the robustness of race which helps to hold China together, that the ferment of the Western leaven has fallen, and this feeblest of independent kingdoms, rudely shaken out of her sleep of centuries, half frightened and wholly dazed, finds herself confronted with an array of power- ful, ambitious, aggressive, and not always overscrupulous powers, bent, it may be, on overreac'.ii»:g her and each other, forcing her into new paths, ringing with rude hands the knell of time-honored custom, clamoring for concessions, and be- wildering her with reforms, suggestions, and panaceas, of which she sees neither the meaning nor the necessity. And so " The old order changeth, giving place to new," and many indications of the transition will be found in the later of the following pages. ' See appendix A. 'if CHAPTER I HRST IMPRESSIONS OF KOREA IT is but fifteen hours' steaming from the harbor of Nagasaki to Fusan in Southern Korea. The Island of Tsushima, where the Ifigo Mam calls, was, however, my last glimpse of Japan ; and its reddening maples and blossoming plums, its temple-crowned heights, its stately flights of stone stairs lead- ing to Shinto shrines in the woods, the blue-green masses of its pines, and the golden plumage of its bamboos, emphasized tlie eflFect produced by the brown, bare hills of Fusan, pleasant enough in summer, but grim and forbidding on a sunless Feb- ruary day. The Island of the Interrupted Shadow, ChSl- yong-To, (Deer Island), high and grassy, on which the Jap- anese have established a coaling station and a quarantine hos- pital, shelters Fusan harbor. It is not Korea but Japan which meets one on anchoring. The lighters are Japanese. An official of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Co.), to which WitHigo Maru belongs, comes off with orders. The tide-waiter, however, is English—one of the English employis of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, lent to Korea, greatly to her advantage, for the management of her customs' revenue. The foreign settle- ment of Fusan is dominated by a steep bluff with a Buddhist temple on the top, concealed by a number of fine cryptomeria, planted during the Japanese occupation in 1592. It is a fairly good-looking Japanese town, somewhat packed between the hills and the sea, with wide streets of Japanese shops and various Anglo-Japanese buildings, among which the Consulate and a Bank are the most important. It has substantial retain- 33 I m MSJII H Korea and Her Neighbors Since the war, water Ik hL.?^'"'' °' "^^ rnunicipality xoo .a.;4 levied on earhout ?" "T'''''^ ^^ * '^*« <>' abundant suppVof pure Zi n" ''.^^^^^^ ''^^^ ^^^^P^^^^"' an^ ^IHtar, center,, f.^'^lXTl^';-^ have taken to the" Zdth^TJ '° '"^ '^°^ ^^^ ^-^^"« developed so ranidt that .- ^°'"«^" '"^^ °^ ^"^^n has and i^orts cSd^ ^mt Id'to' ^'^ t" °^ ^^P°"' had reached ^346,608. uTb eached shf i^J^f / " ''^^ ^* Ims, cambrics, and Turkey red, f^. u-m T^ ' '^^"'' "^"^■ captivated Korean fancy bu the '''■'"' ^'"' '^^^^ all ton garments in wk.ter ioes not "'T"'!^'"" '^'"'^^'^ ^°*- Which the in^portTtr-lerilHi ?hrr'"^'^ stride is in the importation nf 1 """'^ ^™"^'"S «"•. rice, and whaVs aSL ^°"'' ""«' «*' «'"' * .mall, arrivr^ ae «,. J, ""T "'""'"' »'""«"■ '"«« or Pf ymen Kmsha, running frequently between -SSb3 First Impressions of Korea rect, and a RussS mail ' '"'="<''"S <•"''«>■» Osaka di- It appears that about one-third nf tuJ j • n>d i„,a„d on ,he backs o^^'^a ^i^' ^P""^" f -- and the delavs at th» Ko • "" "orses. 1 he taxes lev ed rou.es are tfr ^fe^? IZ^'t-'Jl °'"'-- -" '"" under „l,ich each su.,i„„ rco«mIl,fK "'"°"' P''™""^ »ho, for a certain sum I'd o.ITg! ' '°™ ?""' °*"'"- tains permission to leTy Ws '„1>f T?"' '° ^^'"''' "'>• River, .he mou.h of ^hUt, mile^'Cp sa "' '''':^°"« for Meamers dra»ine ! feet „f L„ ? "' " "av'gable up, and for junks l^ I fc^L" ^Sa'''''"*' '' "■'"' far.her, from which ooint ,ll- """"' '°° ■»"« draught boa.s, c n Cd ! 5^;'°?' '""''''^'' ""° "«"' coast. Wi.h .'hi. avaUat "atf^^ 'jd I',: """ '"■" '"' the much disputed Seoul F„-,„ T' ^''' ^''^P'ot that pushed fact, Fusan bTd" fdrtoL ™''""^'^°'""»^'=""- commerce, as the Kyt/^ ' frT^ '" 'T"''"' «'"'« "^ populousoftheeightfnofforf/ "••'""' '" ^ "•= -ost is also said to bfihel 7 "'""""" P^P-^^'hirteen), possible e4°.io^ .If ChurL''"'""" "'" ^'""f"'' "'"> '»« in mireraU. ''GoTdttn?''" '°°'',""^ "= P'""'^'^ "ch Of 50 miles, cop^^ q i.t near "nTr """ """" ^ -"- •00 miles. ' "' ^°'' ">"= are coal fields wi.hin ane^. In'SuioMo^T "^ ""'=™'"' "^ ^"- « J^P' to .he Japanese population of 5,508, .here ' According to Mr. Hunt tI.o r^ • • «he Kyan jng prov,":"',:: fhrrT; f h'""™^ ^^ "--• ^-^ hedged round by a cordon of them with n If , '''"°"'- ^"^^" '^ Nak-tong, which is the waterway to Z ""^' '■^^'"^' "^"^ on the in a distance of 25 miles ^ ^' P™"'"'"'^^ ^'^P'''^'. there are four M' 'i;! iri ii' Shi nil -17 26 Korea and Her Neighbors IS a floating population of 8,000 Japanese fishermen. A Japanese Consul-General lives in a fine European house. Bank- ing facilities are furnished by the Dai Ichi Gingo of Tokio, and the post and telegraph services are also Japanese. Japa- nese too is the cleanliness of the settlement, and the introduc- tion of industries unknown to Korea, such as rice husking and cleaning by machinery, whale-fishing, saJi^-making, and the preparation of shark's fins, dechf de mer, and fish manure, the latter an unsavory fertilizer, of which enormous quantities are exported to Japan. But the reader asks impatiently, "Where are the Koreans? I don't want to read about the Japanese ! " Nor do I want to write about them, but facts are stubborn, and they are the out- standing Fusan fact. As seen from the deck of the steamer, a narrow up and down path keeping at some height above the sea skirts the hillside for 3 miles from Fusan, passing by a small Chinese settlement with official buildings, uninhabited when I last saw them, and terminating in the walled town of Fusan proper, with a fort of very great antiquity outside it, modernized by the Japanese after the engineering notions of three centuries ago. Seated on the rocks along the shore were white objects re- sembling pelicans or penguins, but as white objects with the gait of men moved in endless procession to and fro between old and new Fusan, I assumed that the seated objects were of the same species. The Korean makes upon one the impres- sion of novelty, and while resembling neither the Chinese nor the Japanese, he is much better-looking than either, and his phy- sique is far finer than that of the latter. Though his average height IS only 5 feet 4.^ inches, his white dress, which is vo- luminous, makes him look taller, and his high-crowned hat, without which he is never seen, taller still. The men were in winter dress-white cotton sleeved robes, huge trousers, and socks; all wadded. On their heads were black silk wadded caps with pendant sides edged with black fur, and on the top First Impressions of Korea 27 of these rather high-crowned, somewhat br^oad-brimmed hats o black ' cnnohne" or horsehair gauze, tied under the chin with cnnohne nbbon. The general effect was grotesque. There were a few children on the path, bundles of gay cloth- ing, but no women. ^^ I was accompanied to old Fusan by a charming English 'Una who, speaking Korean almost like a native, moved serenely through the market-day crowds, welcomed by all A iT'wafn^H " ' ''°"''/ ''' '"^ ''''' ^^P^^'^"- showed that U was neither more nor less miserable than the general run of Sof T %"'"°^ ^'''y ''''''' ^°"«'^^ °f 'ow hovels bu.lt of mud-smeared wattle without windows, straw roofs, and troLTV ? '"'°''' ^""^^ '" ''''y ^^" ' ^'^^ fro-" the ground, and outs.de most are irregular ditches containing solid and lK,u,d refuse. Mangy dogs and blear-eyed children! half or wholly naked, and scaly with dirt, roll in the deep dust or tTl^TTu K '"' •" '''' ^""' ^PP^-"'^>^ --fleeted by the stenches which abound. But market day hid much that is repulsive. Along the whole length of th'e narrow d us J crooked street, the wares were laid out on mats on the ground a man or an old woman, bundled up in dirty white cotton guarding each. And the sound of bargain ing'ose highr^d much breath was spent on beating down prices, which diinol amount originally to the tenth part of a farthing. The good ferth:";™'""".' P°" '"^^^ ^"^ -^" »-d- Shor lengths of coarse wh.te cotton, skeins of cotton, straw shoes weTd coTf ' '°'.r P'P" ^"' P°"^^-' ^-d fi«h and et weed, cord for girdles, paper rough and smooth, and barley- sugar nearly black, were the contents of the mats I am sure haT LTd ;f'"^^vr-'"-*'^'^ ^"^^^ -« -^ -or7Zl hZll ' ^^'^ ''"^°'* ^^^ ^ «'"^» heap of cash b^ de him, an uncouth bronze coin with a square hole in the centre, of which at that time 3,200 mmim/ly went to the doUar, and which greatly trammelled and crippled Korean IIHI fl II 28 Korea and Her Neighbors do no, p^duce, as wel, as foS r Cer ont'' '*"' ductions. Practically there are n„ .u • . "'"'' P™' ;^r "^^^ "^ .hree A JtraJS,' M« w^ tr?,"rr Tr""'- ' '""""^ '^' decayed and „,iserable town W S.t "' "'" '° ""' cean, it was in n„ ™. j- . ' """ 'lie compound was surro nded brmudZet "r"'""' '"^ ""^ «'"■ ^"'g full force of L sfulr''; '" °"^ ?' "''^<^' «P<>«d to thf -d -iiswe:t%rerd:"h'pr:t«Tt''™^L ■^'^ other European knickknacks 11^ « f f^^^'f"' ="d But not onlv were .he ZT °"'^'™ " '""k of refinement. could not stludup^'htTZr, 7''" °"' •""■"^■''■^ invasions of Korea won^r,";,'':^"™^'' "^ »P°-tle, other from morning to nLht 1 h , ™ ="<^'=^"""8 '«h ^liectacle for the c'riot tri^nds 'r e^T "'Tf' "" ' take this step of living in .i ^ "'^ '^'"« "»' 'o Pcans. I, w^ ?ep ™ W 1^"^" "'"'" 3 ■""=, from Euro- health would sXT,^ .f '' ™ "« ^f'- =»d that their crowded neighborhood::,, ''^,::;^.-f;«'d odo„ of the tional thing " to do '"'""'•« "as not a " conven- 'r^z'iz'^z::'7- r" ^-^ ''''"■ «-" ^•'■•>- women had been tad° dd o t' ""', ' '""'" """>'>"•»' and habits. AH Zl^.^u ^"""^ f^"''' '" "■« Persons -rks in the stUts "^f^Zl ^r^^' ^^ "'r T women resorted to th^m f«, 5 . . * ^*"y »^ the they gave hrofgM t'h™ ™ cT !::,' ^I.T ""f"; "T'' ^'- civilizing influence was the resnU of ^" f""'"'' "»" very detestable circumstancV if ,h„ rH'/ ','""« """" houses a^ miles o. „pon .h:hiiri;Tsa?e1o^s;r thTrl^ I First Impressions of Korea 29 suit would have been nil. Withon. trumpets, they quie.y helped 7o Ini ^"^ "'' ^'^ ^^°^'"« of lems as to " MLionary Method, "^ °T °' "'^ «^^^^ P^ob- " problem " I fai, to s7e /„ t' East'f * "'^ '^ ^'^^"^^ ^« « feacher who has led the pele has 1 ve^ '' ^^^^^ -^'g'ous ";g if not sharing their daily Ivesad, 'T"' ''^'•"' '^"°^- s'ble at all times. It is not easvTn •"''" '"^'^^ ^<^<^^s- greater than Buddha on y Tea S bJr''"'; ^"'"" °^ ^"« feeing, a gate-keeper or servant ' " °'' '"' P^^^'^^'^ l>y C^''rh:^eX\nra;ot I 'T '''"^ ^'^" -" -' «" ^^e other fifshnn r r ° •"" '''' ^''^''^''' ''^^ hospital connected with Bishop Corfe's mission, where in a small Korean building the s.ck are received, tended, and generally cured by Dr Landis who himself lives as a Korean in rooms 8 feet by 6 study 1 wntu^g eating, without chair or table, and access! bt'll imes to all comers. The 6,700 inhabitants of the Korean town rathe, jl.e male half of them, are always o the move The narrow roads are always full of them, sauntering alongTn m ii ■u \m 34 Korea and Her Neighbors their dress hats, not apparently doing anything. It is old Fusan over again, except that there are permanent shops, with stocks-.n-trade worth from one to twenty dollars; and as an hour .s easily spent over a transaction involving a few cash, here « an appearance of business kept up. In the settlement he Koreans work as porters and carry preposterous weights on their wooden packsaddles. GATE OF OLD FUSAN I \ ( a 1 n ii CHAPTER II FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CAPITAL errs fiz^tzr^ -«^ - -' .he river p„„ of Seoul, i, !ve 1 u/ot' ™ ! "" '° *'"""' "ore emerprUing than .heir neighborMo «ub L T '^"°°' municat on belween the i»„ lu •, , j ''"'"'sn steam com- have attended i^lVi^Zn,^:^ :^ "X','''^'" ''''''' ger who has entrusted himself .oTheLr^'"'^"'^ ^^■ the boat being deposited n„ /.Mr ■ ^ ^ '*'' 'o '^" <>f ors to ge, oif! o freX "hh " ^'"''' ™^ ■" f"'"' «dea,. ing a pfssing ;»«lge Ungrfo Z? """f '" »-.. hind time, tired, hungry! an/ disl^^'" r'.^"'""- launches ?je only half nower.,! , 'f "'■™- ^or the steam «rong, the river shall™and''r''' "" '''^'» "' from tide to tide hZ^IIk "^^»''l'anks shift almost patroni^ed by ^.u'^ZVj^^tZ'tl'' n'' """^ arrangements are made for setting „„T1 ' " '"" °' There is, properly speaktaf^'^^ J"""'"" '"'"•">«<".•• Mr, Gardner, the BrMsh t. T'' *"" "" ""' «"«• kindly arrangd to eC me ^^ Consnl-General in Seoul, seven hours'in ^ITl^ ""/^ ""'''' ^^ ' «nt up in joked and laugh^ and J d .t r"'7 '°"' '"'"»• '"o worn for itself a tracToften ind.fi ."'"^^ ^"'^ '^'"<^'^ '>« over and sterilizing a widttenolh r \ °'""'^ ''"'^""^ and often making a Zl^ * "^"^ "''^^ <>>• four highways. The mud is ne^riy bo. Itrill" T" '«" ""^ •■°■"• nese attempt the transit o^gls a it:'"^"'' ''' ^'"■ ■n .he mud til. .he spring^sht;d^':^,r:h:.tr ^1,^^ 3^ Korea and Her Neighbors Ma^pu all traffic has to cross a small plain of deep sand Pack bulls noble an.mals, and men are' the carriers of Zdi n redoubtable Korean pony was not to be een Cpasst; The track lies through rolling country, well cultivated °s r w By a careful census taken in February, 1897. the intra-mural popula- tion of Seoul was 144,636 souls, and the extra-mural 75,189, total 219,. 815, males predominating to the extent of 11,079. •vll o a, u u U H W u < w w <: a. I ■• .(. 'I II i| ) > H if 1. i rl -V" First Impressions of the Capital 39 rooms, the eye naturally follows the course of the wall, which is discerned in most outlandish places, climbing Nam-San in one direction, and going clear over the crest of Puk-han in another, enclosing a piece of forest here, and a vacant plain there, descending into ravines, disappearing and reappearing when least expected. This wall, which contrives to look nearly as solid as the hillsides which it climbs, is from 25 to 40 feet in height, and 14 miles in circumference (according to Mr. Fox of H.B.M.'s Consular Service), battlemented along its entire length, and pierced by eight gateways, solid arches or tunnels of stone, surmounted by lofty gate houses with one, two, or three curved tiled roofs. These are closed from sunset to sunrise by massive wooden gates, heavily bossed and strength- ened with iron, bearing, following Chinese fashion, high- sounding names, such as the " Gate of Bright Amiability," the " Gate of High Ceremony," the " Gate of Elevated Hu- manity." The wall consists of a bank of earth faced with masonry, or of solid masonry alone, and is on the whole in tolerable repair. If is on the side nearest the river, and onwards in the direction of the Peking Pass, that extra-mural Seoul has ex- panded. One gate is the Gate of the Dead, only a royal corpse being permitted to be carried out by any other. By another gate criminals passed out to be beheaded, and outside another their heads were exposed for some days after execu- tion, hanging from camp-kettle stands. The north gate, high on Puk-han, is kept closed, only to be opened in case the King is compelled to escape to one of the so-called fortresses on that mountain. Outside the wall is charming country, broken into hills and wooded valleys, with knolls sacrificed to stately royal tombs, with their environment of fine trees, and villages in romantic positions among orchards and garden cultivation. Few Eastern cities have prettier walks and rides in their immediate neighborhood, or greater possibilities of rapid escape into 1; w 11 1 'in ^^mmiBfi k 1 ri 1 ,1 ! J Si' m k n 4° Korea and Her Neighbors sylvan solitudes, and I must add that no city has environs so safe, and that ladies without a European escort can ride, as I have done, in every direction outside the walls without meet- ing with the slightest annoyance. I shrink from describing intramural Seoul.» I thought it the foulest city on earth till I saw Peking, and its smells the most odious, till I encountered those of Shao-shing I For a great city and a capital its meanness is ind scribable. Eti- quette forbids the erection of two-storied houses, consequently an estimated quarter of a million people are living on "the ground," chiefly in labyrinthine alleys, many of them not wide enough for two loaded bulls to pass, indeed barely wide enough for one man to pass a loaded bull, and further nar owed by a series of vile holes or green, slimy ditches, which receive the solid and liquid refuse of the houses, their foul and fetid margins being the favorite resort of half-naked children, be- grimed with dirt, and of big, mangy, blear-eyed dogs, which wallow in the slime or blink in the sun. There too the itin- erant vendor of "small wares," and candies dyed flaring colors with aniline dyes, establishes himself, puts a few planks across the ditch, and his goods, worth perhaps a dollar thereon. But even Seoul has its " spring cleaning," and I en- countered on the sand plain of the Han, on the ferry, and on the road from Ma-pu to Seoul, innumerable bulls carrying pan- niers laden with the contents of the city ditches. The houses abutting on these ditches are generally hovels with deep eaves and thatched roofs, presenting nothing tr the street but a mud wall with occasionally a small paper window just under the roof, indicating the men's quarters, and invari- ably, at a height varying from a to 3 feet above the ditch, a > Mus nvons Changs tout cela. As will be seen from a chapter near In H . I I r^"^' *^' ^•'''^ Commissioner of Customs, energetically and 1 . ^ . '"T"" °^ '''°"'' '^^^ ^°^''^*^ ^"'•P-i"g improvements caoital ;7'.f T' "'"'' '' ""'^' °"* perseveringly, will redeem the capital from the charges which travellers have brought against it. First Impressions of the Capital 41 blackened smoke-hole, the vent for the smoke and heated air, which have done their duty in warming the floor of the house! All day long bulls laden with brushwood to a great height are enter„.g the c.ty. and at six o'clock this pine brush, preparing o do the cooking and warming for the population, fills every lane ,n Seoul with aromatic smoke, which hangs over it with remarkable punctuality. Even the superior houses, which have ^r^K^ . "^ '°°^'' P'"'""* "^^'^'"K b^"" '° tl^e street thar> this debased appearance. The shops partake of the general meanness. Shops with a stock-ui-trade which may be worth six dollars abound It is easy to walk in Seoul without molestation, but any one stand- w 1l 1 r?. "' ""^''^'"^ '"'"^'^ " ^''^' "°^d, so that it is as well that there .s nothing to look at. The shops have literally not a noteworthy feature. Their one characteristic is that they have none ! The best shops are near the Great Bell, be- s.de wh.ch formerly stood a stone with an inscription calling on all Koreans to put intruding foreigners to death. So small are they that all goods are within reach of the hand. In one of the three broad streets, there are double rows of removable booths, m which now and then a small box of Korean «;>//. ^ ork. iron mla.d with silver, may be picked up. In these and others the pr.nc.pal commodities are white cottons, straw shoes> bamboo hats, coarse pottery, candlesticks, with draught «:reens. combs, glass beads, pipes, tobacco pouches, spittoons kinds, wooden p.llow-ends, decorated pillowcases, fans, ink- cases, huge wooden saddles with green leather flaps bossed with s.lver, laundry st.cks, dried persimmons, loathsome candies dyed magenta, scarlet, and green, masses of dried seaweed and fung., and ill-chosen collections of the most trumpery mirrSr'^r T' '"'^^ '' "■''P'""^ ^"°^^"^ '«"^P«' ^and mirrors, t.nsel vases, etc., the genius of bad taste presiding Plain brass dinner sets and other brass articles are made, m ' : M '•I 42 Korea and Her Neighbors and some mother-of-pearl inlaying i„ black lacquer from old designs ,s occasionally to be purchased, and embroideries in .Ik and gold thread, but the designs are ugly, and the color- ing atrocious. Foreigners have bestowed the name Cabinet n.ak.ng of bureaus and marriage chests. These, though not mass.ve look so, and are really handsome, some being of solid chestnut wood others veneered with maple or pefch, and bossed strapped, and hinged with brass, besides being orna- mented wuh great brass hasps and brass padlocks 6 inches long. These besides being thoroughly Korean, are distinctly ta d'h '•'" r ''" '"^^"' ^^"P* - '"^^ -r^y --n- ing, and shopping does not seem a pastime, partly because none^but the poorest class of women can go out o'n f^by In the booths are to be seen tobacco pipes, pipestems, and bowl , coarse ghzed pottery, rice bowls, Japanese lucifer matches, aniline dyes, tobacco pouches, purses, flint and tinder pouches, rolls of oiled paper, tassels, silk cord, nuts of the edible pine, nee, millet, maize, peas, beans, string shoes, old crinoline hats, bamboo and reed hats in endless variety, and coarse native cotton, very narrow. In this great human hive, the ordinary sightseer finds his vocation gone. The inhabitants constitute the "sight" of Seoul. The great bronze bell, said to be the third largest in the world IS one of the fev. ''sights " usually seen by stran- gers. It hangs in a bell tower in the centre of the city, and bears the following inscription :_ '' Sye Cho the Great, 12th year Man cha fyear of the cvclel LA.D.1468J, the head of the bureau of Royal despatches Sve This bell, whose dull heavy boom is heard in all parts of Seoul, has opened and closed the gates for five centuries. First Impressions of the Capital 43 rn?!K^'"'",^ '"^^ ^^''^'^ °^ '^"^ ^°y^' P*''*^^ *'th its double roof, the old audience hall in the Mulberry Gardens, and the decorative roofs of the gate towers, are all seen in an hour. There remains the Marble Pagoda, seven centuries old, so com- ple ely hidden away in the back yard of a house in one of the foulest and narrowest alleys of the city, that many people never see u at all As I was intent on photographing some of he rehefs upon ,t, I visited it five times, and each Le with fresh admiration ; but so w.^fg.a in is it. that one can only get any kind of view of it by climbing on the top of a wall. Every part is carved, and the flat parts richly so. some of the tablets representing Hindu divinities, while others seem to ^rtray the vanous stages of the soul's progress towards Nir- vana. The designs are undoubtedly Indian, modified by Chinese artists, and this thing of beauty stands on the site of a Buddhist monastery. It is a thirteen-storied pagoda, but three stones were taken off in the Japanese invasion three centuries ago. and placed on the ground uninjured. So they remained, but on my last visit children had defaced the ex quisite carving, and were offering portions for sale. Not far tablet standing on the back of a granite turtle of prodigious s.ze. Outside the west gate, on a plain near the Peking Pas was a roofed and highly decorated arch of that form known .s the paaou,, and close by it a sort of palace hall, in which every new sovereign of Korea waited for the coding of a special envoy from Peking, whom he joined at the paiL, ac companying h.m to the palace, where he received from him his investiture as sovereign. On the slope of Nam-San the white wooden buildings, sim- a^d '^^ ""Pr''""°r' °' ^'^ J^f'"'^^^ L^^^''°" -e ^tuated. lintr •?.'? V'""^ ''''''y °^ "^^^'>^ 5,000 persons equipped with tea-houses, a theatre, and the various aVrange^ ments essential to Japanese well-being. There, in acute con- trast to everything Korean, are to be seen streets of shops and ■lij * 1 ■ I 44 Korea and Her Neighbors houses where cleanliness, daintiness, and thrift reign supreme and unve.led women, and n. ^n in gir.iled dressing gown a„d clog, move about as freely as in Japan. There a' o a" seen m.nuic sold.ers or military police, and smart be-sworded officers, who change guard at due intervals ; nor are such ore caufons needless, for the heredity of hate 'is strong ,n Korea to fight the r way down to the sea. The Legation was occu with n T T °^"^ '"^ ^"'^ "^y ^'- ^^-•' -^ ^'der y man w.th pendulous white whiskers, who went much into the little socety wh.ch Seoul boasts, talked nothings, and gave no Idmirabl^TantV^^ ''' ''''''''' ^^"^ -' P- ««-• ^o'H fp Jh *• ^^''"^'^ ''"'"'"y ^'' '" ^^94 nearly as large, and dif- fered ,n no respect from such a colony anywhere ese The ore.gners depend for many things on the Chinese shops. Id Zvatn of V ""P°f"f/'^'"^"' ^°»"ected with China was of Was S ' K ' '"""'''■ ''"''''^"^ ^"^ representative hL !, u .'"■""' ^y "'''"y P"°P'^ ^^g"^^d as " the power behmd the throne." who is reported to have gone more than once unbidden into the King's presence, and to h ve re preached h.m with his conduct of affairs. Great courtyards and lofty gates on which are painted the usual guardian g'oSs and a bnck dragon screen, seclude the palace in which Yua,^ l.ved wuh his guards and large retinue; and the null of b g, superohous men. dressed in rich brocades and satins who hung about both this Palace and the Consulate, imp"^ d the Koreans w.th the power and stateliness within The Americans were very severe on Yuan, but so far as I could earn h ,h.ef fault was that he let things alone, and negle^ d to use h.s unquestionably great power in favor of reform and common honesty-but he was a Chinese mandarin He possessed the power of life and death over Chiname" First Impressions of the Capital 4J lui ^e reared him so much that thty treated the K„.a. fa,r„ „„, wKich U ™„. ,„a„ ca„ ^ .rdj 1' One of the "sights" of Seoul i, the Wream or drain or watereourse a wide, walled, open conduit, alng tuchZ length, among manure an, refuse ^eaps which cover up most of what was once its sh, ,gi, 1«|. There, tired of crow* Which p^ fo;i- :::^ othe^tarrc :.'"i„TeT;;d^ iwols whjch pass for a stream An us m tnc lend is M™h„ .„ .1, , •* ' ""■■ "»« costume, which he^'„e.l ° ""•""'• " «''"" ''"^ °>^'-" """'•> coat with the neck p„ over the head and clutched below the eves and long wide sleeves falling from ,he ea,.. I, is "I ZuZl e Korean woman i, concealed, for she is no.a „u i vL? ng .s her man.fest destiny ,0 long as her lord wears Jwte .a.ndr„ and the'^o^^sold' whit ZZ Z ^^J^ Seoul „,gh. ,. the regular beat ot their laundry s.ks and from / ^"T "'" ''^"'•''"'' '-" "■» Lo" T^e Hill seen, witn Its mountainous surroundings hf>r«> 3n,i ♦!, j , w.,h pine,, bu, mostly naked, rn'r^'^riX tZtt btack and corrugations. These mountains ewlosl a 2lev crammed and wpHrrpH tk^ -.l • "j'-'uu j^cupie are mostly Of .ha.crf:L„r-:—:r.^r:nr<; J^ 46 Korea and Her Neighbors open spaces. Rising out of this brown sea there are the curved double roofs of the gales, and the gray granite walls of the royal palaces, and within them the sweeping roofs of vari- ous audience halls. Cutting the city across by running from the east to the west gate is one broad street, another striking off from this runs to the south gate, and a third 60 yards wide runs from the great central artery to the palace. This is the only one which is kept clear of encumbrance at all times, the others being occupied by double rows of booths, leaving only a narrow space for traffic on either side. When I first looked down on Seoul early in March, one street along its whole length appeared to be still encumbered with the drift of the previous winter's snow. It was only by the aid of a glass that I discovered that this is the great promenade, and that the snowdrift was just the garments of the Koreans, whitened by ceaseless labor with the laundry sticks. In these three broad streets the moving crowd of men in white robes and black dress hats seldom flags. They seem destitute of any ob- ject. Many of them are of the yang-ban or noble class, to whom a rigid etiquette forbids any but official or tutorial occu- pation, and many of whom exist by hanging on to their more fortunate relatives. Young men of the middle class imitate their nonchalance and swinging gait. There, too, are to be seen officials, superbly dressed, mounted on very fat but handsome ponies, with profuse manes and tails, the riders sitting uneasily on the tops of saddles with showy caparisonings a foot high, holding on to the saddle bow, two retainers leading the steed, and two more holding the rider in his place ; or officials in palanquins, with bearers at a run, amid large retinues. In the more plebeian streets nothing is to be seen but bulls carrying pine brush, strings of ponies loaded with salt or country produce, water-carriers with pails slung on a yoke, splashing their contents, and coolies carrying burdens o; wooden pack saddles. But in the narrower alleys, of which there are hundreds, First Impressions of the Capital 47 further narrowed by the low deep eaves, and the vile ditches outside the houses, only two men can pass each other, and the noble red bull with his load of brushwood is rarely seen. Be- tween these miles of mud walls, deep eaves, green sliray ditches, and blackened smoke holes, few besides the male inhabitants and burden bearers are seen to move. They are the paradise of mangy dogs. Every house has a dog and a sq- .ire hole through which he can just creep. He yelps furiously at a stranger, and runs away at the shaking of an umbrella. He was the sole scavenger of Seoul, and a very inefficient one. He is neither the friend nor companion of man. He is ignorant of Korean and every other spoken language. His bark at night announces peril from thieves. He is almost wild. When young he is killed and eaten in spring. I have mentioned the women of the lower classes, who wash clothes and draw water in the daytime. Many of these were domestic slaves, and all are of the lowest class. Korean women are very rigidly secluded, perhaps more absolutely so than the women of any other nation. In the capital a very curious arrangement prevailed. About eight o'clock the great bell tolled a signal for men to retire into their houses, and for women to come out and amuse themselves, and visit their friends. The rule which clears the streets of men occasionally lapses, and then some incident occurs which causes it to be rigorously reenforced. So it was at the time of my arrival, and the pitch dark streets presented the singular spectacle of being tenanted solely by bodies of women with servants carry- ing lanterns. From its operation were exempted blind men, officials, foreigners' servants, and persons carrying prescrip- tions to the druggists'. These were often forged for the purpose of escape from durance vile, and a few people got long staffs and personated blind men. At twelve the bell again boomed, women retired, and men were at liberty to go abroad. A lady of high position told me that she had never seen the streets of Seoul by daylight. 48 Korea and Her Neighbors The nocturnal silence is very impicssivo. There is no human hum, throb, or gurgle. The darkness too is absolute, as there are few if any lighted windows to the streets. Upon a silence which may be felt, the deep, penetrating boom of the great bell breaks with a sound which is almost ominous. TURTLE STONE .ii CHAPTER III THE KUR-DONG T3EF0RE leaving England letters from Korea had warned XJ me of the difficulty of travelling in the interior, of getting a trustworthy servant, and above all, a trustworthy nterpr^r Weeks passed by, and though Bishop Corfe and oLrs exerted t2^"" "%""' ^f'''' '''''' ^^^"^^'^' ^^q"'«i^« were not forthcoming, for to find a reliable English-speaking Korean is well-n.gh impossible. There are English-speaking Korean who have learned English, some in the Government Schoo and others in the Methodist Episcopal School, and many o these I in erviewed. The English of all was infirm, and they them 17 "' '"''' ' "^ ^' P°°^ "-^"-- Som-f them seemed very anxious to go with me, and were partially inftlits:! ''' T '7 ^^"^' ^°°^'"^ ""-y' -d bal "ig themselves on the edge of their chairs, told me that their mo hers said they must not go because there were tiger o n"t .0 !o n T ''' '°"^ ' J°""^^>'' °^ '"^^^ '^'y -"W not go so far from their families, etc. At last a young man came who really spoke passable English, but on entering the oom with a familiar nod. he threw himself down in an fay! chair, swinging his leg over the arm ! He asked many ques- tions about the journey, said it was very long to be awaylm Seoul, and that he should require one horfe for his baggag^ T TT'J'J "■""''• ' ^^'"-^^d '^-^' - order to ge! in !• J r ^^^T '' '""''' '' P°^^'^>^- «« «^id he could not foJ^l u , "'"' '"''^ °^ '^''^''' ' I -'"-ked that a foreigner would only take two. and that I should reduce my- 49 % 'i 1 liiiy 50 Korea and Her Neighbors self to two " Yes." he replied, " but foreigners are so dirty n their habus." This from a Korean I So'once more ltd o settle down, and accept the kindly hospitality of my friends trustnig that something would " turn up." ' By this delay I came in for the Kur-don^^ one of the mn«^ remarkable spectacles I ever saw, and it had^lhe addedtt^r of being seen m us splendor for probably the last time as circumstances which have since occurred, and the nece L" y for economy, must put an end to much of the scenic display The occas,on was a visit of the King in state to sacrifice in one of the ancestral temples of his dynasty, members of which have occupied the Korean throne for five centuries. Living ortddl '? " '''"'' ^""'^' ^^ ''°- --^' his subject! known, m total ignorance of any other aspect of his kingdom and capital t.an that furnished by the two streets through which he passes to offer sacrifice, the days on -vhich he per- forms this pious act offer to his subjects their sole opportuni- ties of gazing on his august countenance. As the QueeVs pnxession passed by on the day of the Duke of York's mar! mge, I heard a workingman say, -It's we as pays, and we hkes to get the valey for our money." The Korean paysTn another and heavier sense, and as in tens of thousands he probably glad that the one brilliant spectacle of tht yei should be as splendid as possible. ^ The monotony of Seoul is something remarkable. Brown mountains '^picked out" in black, brown .ud walls, bZ 1 n black and white. Always the same bundled-up women surge oiyang.bam and their familiars swinging along South "If an apology be necessary for the following minute description - t r v o C( ci The Kur-dong •■"g ioads of brus 3 "''^'''' '^^ ^""^ ""^^^ tower- ever carrying ^^';^:;'"'' T"'" '" ^''^'^ -'^''^' ^^r- [eebi, -ng,i4':f::":ir^^-:;tt^ - dogs! lessness. the ir...-./.«. burst like .h '"^""^^"y ^"d color- but fascinating capi fl , !? , '""• ^'^^ '"^^ ^^'^ '"ean civilization sho'idT::;'!;^^^ rr ''-'^ ^^^^^^^ By six in the morninVof thf u °, .'' °"' 'P^^^^^'^-' our way from the Engl ^LegL 'n o"a " ''' "^ ^^"^ °" Bell, all the male populadofof . r''^ direction, along with chi d^ n f '" ''^'"^ ^'^^ «^'- ^ poore. class of wriu wh' " 7° ''' ^"^ ^^"^^ ^^ ^he fashion on their ha" ^ h'efi ^r! "r'"'^ '°^'^^ ^°-- portions of the road called t f ' ^ ''^ '^^ ^^^"^ P^o- double rows of booths had I "^"''■' ^""''^ ^^'■^^^- ^'^e and along the side o ^he ^t eT T7' f "'"^'^^ ^^^-^ torches zo feet high were let 1 '. ""'"'' °^ '° V^'^'' on his return fro. s rifi 1^ n frf ^ '^'^ *'^^ ^'"^ width that this great street if.;^ . ,r ^^^ ^^ "' ''"P°«''»g the houses are lol ad tea and '° '"'' ^ "'^P'^^^' ^- -P-ior hovels. I„ ^r^'^ ^ LX'-^ " '7 ''' °"'^ massed twelve deep, the regularitvofH V"''' '"^J'"'' ^"""^ served by a number ^/^""'"^>' °^ ^he front row being pre- their woo'den pT d s wifrr """^^% ^^^ brought do^. breaking the line. Ve.r,""''*^''"' ^^'^^^^ °" ^ny one coats and black crinoliL E ' """"^'"^ °' ^'^^V ^'^''^e grooms in yello. ha s 2 I /'''''^ '^^ ^"^ ^"^e- coats of women, and he greT TV Tr' '^ '" ^^^^" ^''k red dresses of children rt ^Tu ^^'''°''^P^ '"^ Turkey very limp look. There was noTir. ^ ^"'■'">' P'^^^ '^^ ^"t or popular demonstrator :^ : ^c^er; Tf'T' "° '^^^ course which must h■,^r. ' , ''f'^'^^'y a hum from a con- city, together witrn rberrftl" ^"' '^°'°°°' ^^'^ ''^^ ' t,om the country who had walked ill i ■ I, il X il m i y Korea and Her Neighb ors three and four days to see the -pecUde. Squalid and mear. IS ordinary Korean life,, and the King is a myth for most of the year. No wonder that the people turn out to see a.s splen- did a spectacle as the world has to show, its splendor certring round their usually secluded sovereiga. It is to the glory oi a dynasty which has occupied the Korean throne ior five cen- turies as well as in honor of the present occupant. The hour of leaving the palace had bt-n announced ,-s 6 a. M., but though it was 7.30 before the boom of a heavy gvivl announcc^d that t^,e procession was in motion, the imere-^t never flagged the --hol<; rime. H- .ndreds of coolies sprinkled red earth for the widt!. of a foot along the middle of the streets, lor hypotheuca'ly the King must not pass over sull which has been trod-.!^.: by the feet of his subjects. Squad- rons of cavalry, with coolies leading their shabby ponies, took lip positions along the route, and in a great mass in front of us. The trooperi sat on the ground smoking, till a very dis- trait bugle call sent them to their saddles. The ponies bit kicked, and squealed, and the grotesque and often ineffectual attempts of the men to mount them provoked the laughter of the crowd, as one trooper after another, with one foot in the st:fnjp and the other on the ground, hopped round at the pleasure of his steed. After all, with the help of their coolies, were mounted, whacks secretly administered by men in the crowd nearly unhorsed many of them, but they clung with both hands to their saddle bows and eventually formed into a ragged line. Among the very curious sights were poles carried at meas- urea distances supporting rectangular frames resembling small umbrella stands, filled with feathered arrows, and messengers dashing along as if they had been shot and were escaping from another shaft, for from the backs of their collars protruded arrows which had apparently entered obliquely. Either on the back or breast or both of the superb dresses of officials were satin squares embroidered in unique designs, representing r I s t s b si The Kur-dong Though there were long stretches of silence, scarcely broken by the hum of a multitude, there were noisy nterludes "ove^ ■n the,r nature, produced by men, sometimes lifte n h 'a" ow ul: Them 1*.' f" ^ ""■"'" "' -'' "■'=- '-- y ' -g upon them which they tossed into the air and allowed to faH against each other with a metallic clink, loud and «r den Ldtew.se the trains of servants in attendance on m nda ; em ted pecuhar cries, sounding G in unison, then rafs I ous^l°to"Lr'r "'"1' '"^'' '"' """''■ «- ™<»tcuri. Hg... Han. St,, „3e z^i:z^.:]:jx^ z wuho e":ti:;'r:i„ ;;', t '-" '*^'" --'^ •» «>"^- consisted in lim„^ ^A ,i ^''^"""'« °f *= P"f°™ance again bringingtfm'::!'.,.'::;,^-;:,f;th:T''r""'' crossed, and durina fv > u "^^ '"'^''7 the sticks were feebly 'fell on t fe ds ' "e' "I "'''' "" '"''y' ^"^ ^ sound, and tlus 1^" 1 . "*"' P''"^"'^'"^ ^ "^''^^d of the march. ^''^°^'^'"^'^^- ^ ^^^^ '"^P^-ted during the duration a.^top:drsra:;^^i^^-^^--^^^ side street rin^^ , , , "" '''°^'' ^^''^^'^^^ arms in a .- See al:! r „ t„rr„ t'^ -r' r " ^ sleeved cloaks hln^ nn^ """^reds in brown glazed cotton 54 Korea and Her Neighbors fed ^^^'"'^V'''''^' 'u'^'^' "'''^°"^ ^''■^"-' ^-^^ -"i">als being led by coohes. H.gh officials passed in numbers in ci^airs of on pony back, each with from twenty to thirty gay at^ Ints running bes.de him, and a row of bannermen ex^S "cro beLinrtl ''"'' '^''"' ""' ^^^*^ -"^^ -^'^ - "ne perb v'dressed°'"r"/' '" ^"'- '^'^"^ °«^--'» -- su perbly dressed, and made a splendid show. They wore black h gh-crowned hats, with long crimson tassels Uind and heavy, black ostrich plumes falling over the hrJTf / orgHiktV'^ ^obes, spiit.upix :ist^b:.:d,tt loo elv tL t' :' '"^ ""''' voluminous crimson trouse.^. loosely tied above the ankles with knots of sky blue ribbon wh,Ie streamers of ribbon fell from throats and g dl and ^e hats were secured by throat lashes of large aSbeal s^J e iTchtr f ^'""''" ^ ^^"^^ ''^ bfnneret "ith s s yle ,n Ch nese characters in crimson upon it, and in the cTr bbon 'de"°". °'f ^^' '''''' ^ P-^-^" of'strl^ o rrch nbbons dependmg from it. The sleeves w.re orange in the pper part and crimson in the lower, and very fuu/ ' rhe overfed and self-willed ponies, chiefly roan and gray ered with blue, red, and yellow balls, and surmounted whh sTk1c:~;fdr''°"^' ''^ ^^^^'- -ouple^'l^on' s Ik scarves the saddles a sort of leather-covered padded pack saddle r. inches above the animal's back, with wide deep flaps of bnght green silver-bossed leather hanging down on euher s.de, the cruppers folded white silk, and th breasTplate shields of gold embroidery. The gorgeou rider, ift d bv , ! h s feet not halfway down his pony's sides, his left hand c u ch.ng rather than holding an arch placed or thi Ipo e at the bow of the saddle. These officials made no teZ to hold their own bridles, their ponies were led by servfnTs rl tamers supported them by the feet on either side, and as^he^ counts showed their resentment of the pace and i^cums a- The Kur-dong ^^ by twistings and stragglings with their grooms, the faces of the nders expressed "a fearful joy." if ..joy - t ^ Waves of color and Korean grandeur rolled by, offi'cial ore cessions, palace attendants, bannermen, with large siU^Tannlr trading on the stiff breeze, each flagstaff crested wUh a tuf of fir rcZe s a r r"'''r°'"^ ^^"^ p-p^^' ^— -«. the r coa^Jh M ^^ ^^' ""''^ '""^^ ^'"'^^ '"'° the necks o their coats holding on to their saddles and rope bridles mixed up with dishevelled ponies with ragged pack saddles car" g i"g appara us, led caparisoned ponies, bowmen, soldiers stra^ gl.ng loosely, armed with matchlock guns, till s veralTou and persons had passed. Yet this was not the procession though It might well have served for one. P^-^cession, though At 7.30, while this " march past " was still going on a eun was fired, and the great bell, which was verydose'to .s scZ^'o^fif ^' ^"' ' '^r^^°"^^^ °^ trumpTt^ante h ; paac" The" T"""'' -'"''' "^^ "^' ^^^ '' ^-^ ^eft the es ty by Zi;7 7 °''"'' " P"P^"^ '° --•- H- Maj. esty by futmn^ tail, a manoeuvre not accomplished witho, f trsper:?mr t '"^- ^^^^^ ^'- ^ ^en^erlll:!:; luyTe re w- - "^ 1 T"' '" ^''''' ^°^'^ ^^""P^^ frantic any, there was an onslaught on the " Derby doe " and an .* or « r=„iV ? ' ° "^"■nP''" masses, at a statelv walk or . rap,d ru,., .n .he full spendor of a barbaric medtevaC •iHt i6 Korea ar,.! Her Neighbors of colo7 *''''^ ^'«"'^^'''^^ flashed by in the kaleidoscopic blaze The procession of the King was led by the "general of the vanguard," superbly dressed, supported by re^in.- on his led pony, and followed by crowds of dign ...,es, each with his train soldier.,, men carrying aloft frames of arrows, reaching nearly across the road, and huge flags of silk brocade sur mounted »y plumes of pheasant's feathers, servants in rows of a hundred :. the most delicate shades of blue, green, or mauve s.lk gau^e c v»r white, halberdiers, grandees, each with a ret- "'7uf "' M?T^"' '°''' °^ ""^y^^ bannermen carrying yellow and b ut s.lk flags emblazoned, cavalry mt. in imitation rold helmets and medieval armor, and tiger hunters wearing coarse black felt hats with conical crowns and dark blue coats, trail- ing long guns. With scarcely a pause follr .ved the President of the Foreign Office, high above the crowd on a monocycle, a black wheel supporting on two uprights a black platform, carrying a black chair decorated with a leopard skin, the oc- cupant ot which was carried by eight men at a height of 8 feet fron. the ground. More soldiers, bannermen, and drnm- mers, and then came the chief of the eunuchs, grandly dressed, with an immense retinue, and a lai^e number of his subordi- nates, most of whom up to that time, by th- r position in the palace and their capacity v i„tr.:.ue, had zeroised a very baneful influence on Korean afTairs. The procession became more quaint and motley still Palace attendants appeared i theK.:i;..nt garment, of th^ Ko ■ ui middle ages; cavalry in antique armor were jumbled up with cavalry in loose cotton frocks and baggy trousers supposed to be dressed and armed in European fashion, but I failed to de- tect the flattery of imitation. There. c ^Iry in black ryro ese hats with pink ribbon round the bl cotton sacks loosely girdled by leather belts with brass ciusps never cleaned, whit, -added stockings, and hempen shoes. Some had leather sadd.es, others rode on pack saddles, with the great pad which The Kur-dong S7 other^' r m"^-''"'"'' '" "•' '°P' ^"'"^ '^•^IJ «» to their saddles others to the.r rope bridles, the ponies of some were kd bv coohes ,n d.rty white clothes; the officers were aU h.M ^ ; :;: rs'^f 7:1 '-'''' r' -^-^-^-^^^^^z make the.r animals kick ; the feet of some nearly touched the p:rs-'sid: ^'"^-^^ "^^^^ ^^-^ °"^^ haifwa;r:n , form ragged lines ^ ^ '' ^°"'™'" "^^"^S^'^ »« crim.onT, ^^u u ' ''^"" ^'e'»taries, statesmen, some with cnmson hats with heavy black plumes, others with high peaked cnnol.ne hats with projecting wings, others with llf y m tres rain. Mediaeval costumes blazing with color flashed past X Zcatn "''"" ^"' '''' '"^^ ''^y carried SnS • ^es, two Gat >ng guns were dragged by >,^;«.« runners who me: 'r Tfr ^" ^"' sundry with'their paddieri m- me s he-r drums unmercifully, fifes shrieked, there were Tuze 'the ^ ' ""' '"'■^''^ ^^''""^^ '" ^J»« -»d green s k "irr :"""; ■ ^ ^-B^ '"f-""- earned ,t,: 01 .t. After th,s, borne high aiuft by forly l„,rers clothed in w..^epa,e.U„,.dLei:^l':;TeT;r:„tT; u ' A ;8 Korea and Her Neighbors passed with all the dignity n J splendor of his kingdom through the silent crowd. More grandees, servants, soldiers, standard-bearers, arrow- men, officials, cavalry, and led horses formed the procession of the Crown Prince, who was also carried in a red palanquin, and looked p;i r and more impassive than his father. The supply of officials seemed inexhaustible, for behind him came a quarter of a mile of grandees in splendid costumes, with hats decorated with red velvet and peacock's feathers, and throat lashes of great amber beads, with all their splendid trains, foot- men in armor bossed with large nails, drummers, men carry- ing arrow frames and insignia on poles, then the "general of the rear guard" in a gleaming helmet and a splendid blue, crimson, and gold uniform, propped up by retainers on his handsome pony, more soldiers armed with old matchlock guns, lastly men bearing arrow frames and standards, and with them the barbaric and bizarre splendor of the Kurdong was over, and the white crowd once more overflowed the mean street. Quite late in tiie evening the Royal pageant returned by the light of stationary torches, with lantrns of blue and crimson silk undulating from the heads of pikes and bayonets. This truly splendid display was estimated to cost $25,000— a heavy burden on the small resources of the kingdom. It is only thus surrounded that the King ever appears in public, and the splendor accentuates the squalor of the daily life of the masses of the people in the foul alleys which make up most of the city. It must be remembered that the people taking part in the pageant are not men hired and dressed up by a cos- tumier, but that they are actual Court officials and noblemen in the dress of to-day, and that the weapons carried by the sol- diers are those with which they are supposed to repel attack or put down rebellion. / CHAPTER IV SEOUL, THE KORKAK MECCA ■pURTHER difficulties and delays, while they pushed my X journey into the interior into the hot weatlicr, gave me the advantage of learning a little about the people and the country before starting. In one sense Seoul is Korea. Take a mean alley in it with its mud-walled hovels, deep-eaved brown roofs, and malodorous ditches with their foulness and green sl.rne, and .t may serve as an example of the street of every village and provincial town. In country places there are few industrial specialties. A Seoul shop of -assorted notions" represents the shop of every country town. The white cloth- ing and the crinoline dress hat are the same everywhere as in Seoul. Whatever of national life there is exists only in the capital. Strong as is the drift towards London in our own agri- cultural districts, it is stronger in Korea towards Seoul. Seoul IS not only the seat of government, but it is the centre of official life, of all official employment, and of the literary examina- tions which were the only avenues to employment. It is always hoped that something may be " piqked up " in Seoul. Hence there is a constant permanent or temporary gravitation towards It, and the larger proportion of the youths who swing and lounge on sunny afternoons along the broad streets, aping the gait of yang-bans, are aspira.Us for official position. Gusts of popular feeling which pass for ;n.blic opinion in a land where no such thing exists are known only in Seoul. It is in the capital that the Korean feels the first stress of his unsought and altogether undesired contact with Western civilization, and re- sembles nothing so much as a man awaking from a profound 59 • -i) J Si «i;; 3 ";i % 6o Korea and Her Neighbors sleep, rubbing his eyes half-dazed and looking dreamily about him, not quite sure where he is. Seoul is also the commercial centre of a country whose ideas of commerce are limited to huckstering transactions. All business is done there. All country shops are supplied with goods from Seoul, All produce not shipped from the treaty ports converges on Seoul. It is the centre of the great trading guilds, which exercise a practical monopoly in certain sorts of goods, as well as of the guild of porters by whom the traffic of the country is carried on. Tlie heart of every Korean is in Seoul. Officials have town houses in the capital, and trust their business to subordinates for much of the year. Landed proprietors draw their rents and "squeeze" the people on their estates, but are absentees living in the capital. Every man wlio can pay for food and lodging on the road trudges to the capital once or twice a year, and people who live in it, of whatever degree, can hardly be bribed to leave it even for a few weeks. To the Korean it is the place in which alone life is worth living. Yet it has no objects of art, very few antiquities, no public gardens, no displays except the rare one of the Kur-dong, and no theatres. It lacks every charm possessed by other cities. Antique, it has no ruins, no libraries, no literature, and lastly an indifference to religion without a parallel has left it without temples, while certain superstitions which still retain their hold have left it without a tomb I Leaving out the temple of Confucius and the homage offi- cially rendered to his tablet in Korea as in China, there are no official temples in Seoul, nor might a priest enter its gales un- der pain of death, consequently the emphasis which noble re- ligious buildings give even to the meanest city in China or Japan is lacking. There is a small temple to the God of War outside the south gate, with some very curious frescoes, but I seldom saw any worshippers there. The al)sence of temples is a feature of the other Korean cities. Buddhism, which for All -vith of in ided e on J to of life iblic and e no un- ; re- a or IS IS for w Crt W C3 ■fii i i,ooo Seoul, the Korean Mecca 6i popular cult, has beei;'. teKfaWiZ/"'''",' ''^'"'''' ""''' «ibed since the si«ee„,U c t„ ! 1 Kir"""' "°- spirits may do harm fn t' ^ ^ ''"■^^'^ *''^* ancestral 1- ^ inn;? uu narm to tlieir desrpn<1ni-.fc. 1^1 • , from the King to the coolie "'ff'"'"""' , This cult prevails of the ^».-*L a »eU a the T7 "'' ""'^ '"''"■^"'^ humbles, hove, oL nI Y^r'sEr °''""='"' '"'"' '" '^'^ in a dingy alley w" 1'." !"7 " ^°"'^"' """ => ■""" ^ovel with dignified 'and car ^17,7?"' °" ' '"""' '"" *P= fine timber which ex st'L.' surroundings. The little •s owed to the Ro/aTJ !d ;t .h dead "^h""'""" "' ''°"' land occupied by the dead is Lil e' Th '""°""'. °' ^'^ ber of the Royal familv on a i.^ ^'"' °' ^ ■"™- siderable distance a"ol m r!!'" r"'!'""' '"' ^ '™- as well as of nrince,, . f ""^ '■"^'' ""<' ^''^at men encircled by aTas Se Ze"'," ' '""'' «""^ ™>''' »f«" front and excavated in ^ I''^' """' "" '''" ""•aced in — sto„=„Tar;z:-^tr;tfootof::: . p. ti y ! ; U 62 Korea and Her Neighbors T'lit >' 'n- "''"■""=^'= T-"''." '■» often occupied bya tem- me dead. 1 he Royal eorabs are approached by tiatelv ave„„e. of g.gan.,c s,o„e figures, possibly a harmless surWal of 1 practice of offering human and other sacrifice a b„ri These figures represent a priest, a warrior in armor a servan ' a po,,y and a sheep (?,. The poorer dead occupy S"; m numbers, rest.ng under grass mounds on small pktfo m of gn,^ always neatly kept. The lucky place for interment ^ Of .be hillsides fo'und Seou'l' • Xrenorm^r '"'""''°" Funerals usually go out near dusk with a great disolav of : rcareZt b Tr'T'-^'^ ™°"«- - se:'a„"s:i, ^^or r erpir;i' tiy ^^:::r '"•'- -" - a lively song. These were fl lo, d bj a La ""ri't'T"','" garland of art.fical flowers in the centre of the dome a white gay flags at the four corners, bamboo poles, flower-wreathed formmg a platform on which the hearse was borne bv ett men ,„ peaked yellow bats garlanded with blue aXink flow ers. Bouquets of the same were disposed carelessly on X front and sides of the hearse, the lat'er bei ,g tvL w h shield-shaped flags of gaudily colored muslin Thr f mourner followed, completely clothe/in saTkrll • " '£. "^ V^.,!^ ;'\'-^i'k^^.v4-';«> Seoul, the Korean Mecca 63 The first man to die rereiupc o« i , and the third ,7 TJ t? ^ ' ''''^' ''^^ ^^^""^ 33.ooo, a work of sup ero "Z A '"'"''°'' '"^^" ^^ ^'"^"^^ ' ^"Pererogation. A mourner may not enter th^ n^t acegr„u„ds and as ™ounn„g fo, a fa.l.er Ls Irtjy^l' a courtier thus bereaved is for th.^ ♦• ^^ uiree years. Court. *''^' ^""^ withdrawn from clo..,es when dea., it very oTi h:,S""%r°" '" "'^ "==' buried coffinle. I„ a wra^pi^Vf^^r; .^^'^ ^^P^ - .a)::!r';or/';;it;,;:rs'-p'-«-p™>''w.ed ,•„ .,. fai.h disappeared fan K a ar,'.?r''"*, "''^ ^ ""''°"" worsiiip and a form „( ^si! ""''' "'""S'' "nceslral and mi'dlifdalr.. ;an;r::;X''rH'"' '' "' '°"« and that ;<: ;„ •. ^"^^^^^^S^'t'on of tiie unseen survives Pote a tCh If "°^^^"P-«''^-- and rudimentary form rrotestant Christian missionar es, preceded in t.,8. 1 /^ . .he Roman Catholic Church, en eredKorta,, sL '',''"?' lowed by representatives of s eraT of till' '' '''" '°^- ^c. ul. One o,. the best s.tes is covered with the buildings •fit ' f U til H Korea and Her Neighbors belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Mission, schools for girls and boys, a pruning press, a Union Church, and hospitals fo men and women, with which dispensaries are connected it grrls; sc ool connected with this mission is one o he mo admn-able ,„ us organization and results that I have se The Presbyterians occupy a lowlier position, but have the same c ass o agencies at work, and lately the King handed ove To HoT/tlT ''''' " "" ^•^^' '"°^^^ - ^'^ " Gover:::em Bishop Corfe's mission occupies two modest sites in modest fash,on all us buildings being strictly Korean. On orside of Seoul, at Nak-tong. it has the Community House, wher^ h b shop, clergy, doctor, and printer live and have their pi'vl chapel, also the Mission press, and a very efficient 0^7 o men admirably nursed by the Sisters of St. Peter' Kb rn On the slope of the British Legation Hill are the Engl sh Church of the Advent, a beautiful Korean building the Com munity House of the Sisters of St. Peter, and h'; Women" (the Dora Bird Memorial) of eighteen beds, with a room for a private patient, besides an old hospital, to be used onlyfoHn! factious diseases. These are under the charge of a lady Phy- sician and are also nursed by the Sisters of St. Peter, w'ho Yn both hospitals do admirable work in a bright and lov ng spint which is beyond all praise. ^ ^ Ko'^!rm"'!,'^°"c ^^ f '°'''''"' ""^ 34 Roman missionaries in Korea, mostly m Seoul. The language has the reputation of facility m the use of it. The idea of a nation destitute of a rehgion, and gladly accepting one brought by the for gner must be dropped. The religion the Korean would ace pt ^ oi^whic would show him how to get money without working ab en ; the . '"'^'^^^^'J^^^. '^ '-'^^-^-' the religious faculty i! teachLs of T T ':'' ''"^ '' ^PP^^^ ^°' -'i ^he moral teachings of Confucius have little influence with any class Seoul, the Korean Mecca 6^ op mon. tha he does not want to be troubled with one spe- callya rebg.on of restraint and sacrifice which has no wor dll good to offer. After nearly twelve years of work, the Zb ^ of bapfzed native Protestant Christians in rS^; wasTrV' The Roman Catholics claim .8.80., and that the'Lrl ra te of increase .s r,oco a year.' Their priests live mostly nl wretched hovels of the people, amidsc their foul surr nd nl and share the.r unpalatable food and sordid lives. Do b ?' m.-on work in Korea will not differ greatly from .1 wo k elsewhere among the older civilizations. Barriers of i dZ ence, superst.t.on and inertness exist, and whatever progr s s made wdl probably be chiefly through medical m'ssS howmg Chnsfanity in action, and native agency, and^hrZ h eatrl Jk" ' ''" ^'^^^ alluded to,'wh4 leave ev^' feature of Korean custom, dress, and manner of living un touched, whde Christian instruction and training ar the fiT t ttr;h":v'^ ''''''' 'r''' --b'>-4influ:n:e';f me teacher is felt during every hour of the day For statistics of Missions in February. 1897. see Appendix. ;li i I M CHAPTER V THE SAILING OF THE SAMPAN AT a point when the difficulties in the way of my pro- jected journey had come to be regarded as insurmount- able, owing to the impossibility of getting an interpreter, and I had begun to say "// I go " instead of " when I go," Mr. Miller, a young missionary, offered his services, on condition that he might take his servant to supplement his imperfect knowledge of Korean. Bishop Corfe provided me with a Chinese servant, Wong, a fine, big, cheery fellow, with inex- haustible good-nature and contentment, never a cloud of an- noyance on his face, always making the best of everything, ready to help every one, true, honest, plucky, passionately fond of flowers, faithful, manly, always well and hungry, and with a passable knowledge of English ! He was a Chefoo sam- /rt«-man when Bishop Corfe picked him up, and nothing could make him into a regular servant, but he suited me admirably, and I was grieved indeed when I had to part with him. The difficulty about money which then beset every traveller in the interior cost a good deal of anxious planning. The Japanese yen and its subdivisions were only current in Seoul and the treaty ports, there were no bankers or money-changers anywhere, and the only coin accepted was the cash, of which at that time 3,200 nominally went to the dollar. This coin is strung in hundreds on straw strings, and the counting of it, and the carrying of it, and the being without it are all a nuisance. It takes six men or one pony to carry 100 yen in cash, ^10! Travellers, through their Consuls, can obtain from the Foreign Office a letter to officials throughout the country called a kwan-ja, entitling the bearer to their good 66 >> , i n u i 1 lu k / •f l^': i . ■= ''1 ,' ^'1.; i.y 'iJl The lainTrargi Geo|t«jJiixMd iistitule U7 *l«i>i>« tt Hevdl ConjB^. 'CUiun^- SKETCH MAP OF CENTRAL KOREA *> lo To i^^^-iz lb Mrt Bishop's 1st Journtsy- 2nd IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) ^ // {./ if m ^ ij- 1.0 I.I Uilil 12.5 Hi III !■■■ \%2 3.6 i.25 iu 1.8 1.6 .^^ y 150mm /APPLIED J IIVUGE . «ic JSSS . 1653 East Main Street ^^^ Rochester. NY 14609 USA j^^^ PhoTfe: 716/482-0300 .S=r.^= Fax: 716/286-5989 e 1993, Applied Image. Inc.. AH Righli ReMfvad ^s S^ ^S' <^ ^\ ^\ ^^^ ■^is'*> ^ ^t^ ■. i .it/' ir «;' j It »• ■.'; Ill J i I The Sailing of the Sampan 67 offices, and especially to food, transnort nn^ 't usually lianrK-ns thit 1 .„. . "^""PJ"^*' and money. But as tl'.e sum has ben 'id' %^^"7^7*^"'. however accurately o:liouso„etooffi a an itr • 7 ^"^"^^-^^^ - - very' "ot make use of it' mo v " "'^ T' ''"' ' "^"^ 1 engaged fur the e. L p "t'of , ,:"r'"^""^' ^'- "^-t which ^''^•/', an.l i took a baLf 1 ^ '^ *'"' '''''"^'^'' ^^ith I look gr„; ,ea curr?,^""" ''f"l"<^'->o.k. B«i,te, mirroR, teapots, sandwich tin, i ''""'f'"* "^W I'""*! ".eats, bouilL,; and f, ; xLT; '""* """"' '<""»• -'«! of a J„p::„e.e br e r Jtla ^t,'™ ^7™;'' ^°"- pan and fryhiK-txin a„ < , ',,,,"'•» ''""o"' Japanese .He w„ole co^inT'n,: e'/trltfr' "'f ^H^^ '°"«'- ment " was limited • a ^m.li I ""^ ^^'''^ ^quip- all .n enamelle^i. :^rtirfS"r ^^°"^ ''^^^' folded up, a knife fork apH ' r ' ^""^ 'P°°"' "^^ich reserved for the ' kitche"'' r n °' '°'"'"°" "^"''^ »^«'"« sheers were from the ceforth . '' '''^'' ^^^lecloths, and my outfit, because Wi'^rt"?': ^"^'-- ^ —on every pound of superfluour.tght^dds t^tHr^^^ ""' '''' ting transport in Korea and in 1 V ^'^culty of get- I was encumbered fl'^e 1^7° '^r"^""- «-'-' weighing ,6 lbs., and a hand L*"' '''^^ ^ ^'''''''^ --"erl the apparatus beionj^^,; o ImTd Tf '"^ ' ^'" ^'''^ things accordingly. On the vh7 . • f '° ''^""^ °ther food of the country Korl! f' '' ^''' *° ^'"^^ to the gions chickens. The chestnntf ''/^^'' '"^ '" '^"^' '^^ which can be got n aTew ^ ' ''"^ ^'"^'^ ""' '°"^' got a few places, is gritty, and the rice is a 1 ;n!i ill 68 Korea and Htr Neighbors viands, and does not rnr^ i • . ^^ ^""^ ««*s native Korean officiab, a„d lhe7el,tnn Z"'"' ''"'•°'^''™ « of Bishop Corfe'. MLion h 7 1 '"'"'■ **'■ »'""". mountainous, and that the mni^ ^ * '^°"""'>' *•''» It had also been Tm ^ ""^'^ """""^"^ ^''^ ^^vere. knowledge by^eveTr'r'?' '"' "'^'^ ^" ^PI^"-'- of heard, supposing it to tr "'"""'^ "'"^'^ ^^ ^^^at I from manT^XstlJlnsi'n":? -ffi-ntly deterring, but was in the ascenda a„d^ r"^ T^ '''"'" '"^ ^"^''^ ^'^^-"^ ning to tint the hi 'iH- ''''/f''°'.^"P« ^^^'^^ «^as just begin- left' he S fJi d 'tt; Z d! "^ "T ""™ ^"' '""^^'' ^ Seoul interesting and alreealle^T '"""^ ^° "^''^ "^^ ^'«'» '^ tl>e south gate pLs1nf^he^''''';^T*°"'^"^^^^^ " 8«iic, passing the temp e of the God «f w„ j over a p.ne-clothed ridge of Nam-San to H.„ v r ' ''"^ from Seoul, a little shinning i. . ^^"«' '°"'" ™''es avoidarapi'dwhi^hli rt fentTd^ T '"^r'^" '^^' '° 56 miles from Chemnlnn T P"' ^P^Ma-pu, - and fan 2Si:T:^i:^z:ir, ""' ~"''''""'"' "'" u us mat the boat was too small I There I c r d d The Sailing of the Sampan 69 were very few to be eot and I h<.^ . and I went "on board "at once y,l,k I u *" "'=' "« .0 be n,y home for an ndefl ^r. ' ..r T'""'"' " "" « .l.er widc« part, and with her who c ' o^ 1 '",'° '";''" framework" »;: r"^';"; n„?r.T I ""'«'• ^ '"^' together supported irarmaNnf T ''" P'^^ionsly lied bladea Lang^ dowZ "dfa ';tX ZT" r'l'" ""'* only I a inches high Thes. r,. *. ""^'' "^'"^ "^ ndge pole, and lefi„ TlT.riTV"' '"enher over the A. i.. highest par. t^lrr: s o„t' tt 6" '"t "^ '""'«■ just possible to sit under i, .? *^ ■* '°"^'"=- " "S forked sticks un, 7ht b T .""' "°°P"* ^X Pm.ing 'hey could be lifted ,t ^or^Z"" ""' ""«' "« ""«=". air. Two or three t m^il a" on/;r"''!° '"'"''«'•'''"'> and fell about our heads" * ^""^ ""» ™f collapsed H.«":r'p^d,::^t';Ltd:rr°'"/"!'«'"'->"^- poled or .rcrked an oar B t .h^ f ' "°"«' ""°"'" ki'chen and poultry yird a„rt < '""' '™ "'«> ""' al«. were kept faggjrdr If, "^'"""'^ "'•*"■ There »i>h Ihe food and watVrr' .'"^ ■"''^'^"''"«>»» «ores, 'oo. Wong and Che" s^ ^T "^i"',"^- ''■""^• cooked, a,e, and washed cl ,d « '.u7 ' "'"' ."'"' "'=>' "" men curled themselves u, a ri',!, ''"""*'" "■"»»'■ There,tof.her»,«^.,div.l ,5' I" VT' " •■"'^'•• My part, the centre, was o i^L "'g'tTv' ^X >:« thwarts. I'ut encroachmeuts by „„ mean, JZiL * ' '° ""^'"•'• eoup" for sack. ,; ' , , 8'" '""' "^""s"'"!"! it a "free reduced to a bte 6 fc^?„V "l!"?' •■""" ""*""• ''" •• « <"e, and lugga- we^L c t;"^"/'^-'" ""' ""'. 'hair, sa,l. ?; If: Mil- m 70 Korea and Her Neighbors and he, Wong, and Che-on-i slept. It was scarcely possible M.ller, though not an experienced traveller, cheerfully made ere 'itv of h'T'""^ ''T "'^ ^'^"""'^' «"^ P^<^^^^v'.d the serenity of his temper under all c ircumstances The sam/^an's crew of two consisted of Kim, her owner, a !'hirIi'Ln '!'"■?'"' '^••'^'°^^^''-^««king old man. and his hired man who was never heard to speak except on two occasions, when, being very ulpo. I as- while sn,ul „ n f *'" ""'"■" "i"' a IJoltom of av 1 »^^^^^^^ «""'^' " "^l-' ^hieny limestone, ,vi,h an average »„l,h of ,50 yards „ll sustained .0 .he head of navi npples gady, us upper waters abounding in rocky rapids. On the Hivcr of GoUUn Sand 75 many of them severe and dangerous, its most marked features. o my th,nkn.g, arc its absence of affluents after it emerge rom the Diamond Mountain, and its singular Iternations of hallow wuh very deep water. It was a common occurrence o have o drag my boat, drawing only 3 inches, through water 2 shallow to float her and at the top of the ripple'to come upon a broad, stdl, lake-like. deep, green exi.anse, 20 feet aeep, continuing for a mile or two. After passing the forks there are 46 rapids, many of them very severe, before reaching Yong-Chlum, which for practical pur,x>ses may be regarded as the limit of navigable water. I hese are a most serious obstacle in the way of navigation, bu as there is usually a deep water channel in the midcUe ^.ling junks of ,5 tons, taking advantage of strong, fa vorab ^ the sue of my s,m/^an must be usc-d, which are only poled and dragged, and as they must keep near the shore, amo^g rocks m^s a day Nevertheless, the Han, with all it. difficuhic a^ d oUtructions ,s the great artery of communication fo m hof Kong-won-Doand Kyong-Kivi Do, and for the north east per .on of Chung-Chong Do; down it all the excess p o- d.sc, salt and foreign goods come up it from the sea- board to pass into the hands of the/..,«^. or n.rchant pedlars.; various points, and through them to reach the market-p a es of the interior. During the first ten days from iC^ 2ut I T ' ^"'^V"""^ •'' ^^'^"'^ ^^"8th. but cummunica- t.on IS kept up by 47 free ferries, provi.led by Government. any of its"?'. " f' '"^ '"^" ^"^^'''"^ ^^-' '^^ -'« or any of its features, I was much surprised to fin.l a very large population, not only along the river, but in the parallel val eys many of them of great length and extreme fertility, i^'^ h f ^; !ili p *. il 7^> Korea and Her Neighbors neighborhood. It was only necessary to chmb a ridge or hill between Ha.i Rang and Yong-Chhun, there are 176 villa«res Much of the soil is rich alluvium, from 5 to n fe t deep Td rnost prohfic, bearing two heavy crops a year (n^rrfceLd" ) with httle or no manure. There is on the whole an air of greater ease and prosj^rity about the Han valley than about any other region that I have seen in Korea > anc?' W 'rT, °' '"7''"'^"' "^' «^""^"y ^°bust appear- ance. Some of them had evidently attained great age 'IW dulVb .T: ''" "^' ^°"^ -^'"^^ «'^'" diseases! b„,^^^ ?rab':untd'.'" ^'^^^ ^^^^^ "° ^ickly-lookingp'eople;^,:. Except for a monastery and temple, both Buddhist nnt f,r from Seoul, and the Confncian temples at the mjg t. a ,«' inere were two shnnes containing m>Ms, i„ both ea««, water-worn bonlders chafed into some resemblance to humr y;sp,r,t shnnes on heights; and underage trees hea" of «ones sacred to demons; tall posts, with the top^ndeTc" u to someth,ng s„ggestive of distorted human LJZLZ black and blue, with straw ropes with dependent s'rlw^ * ke those denoting Shinto shrines in Japan, stret IdTcri the road to prevent the ingress of malignant spi,^«a„d 3 w"h many streamers of rag, as well a? worn-Z s'traw sho« hangups "■ the,r branches, as offerings to these beingi years m Korean Covernment service, an.i Mr MoffV.ff „ '. e«u .„d re,.,i,„„ h„g„,.o„, ,„ .., „o,hi„;X:;;;f.' j^ti"' ■"'■ On the River of Golden Sand 77 llie peasant's houses do not differ frnm fh«c- r .u classes in Sec.I. The walls are of m , J^ ! °^ ^^' 1'°°''" mud, are wanned by a 7 n.b o TeJ '^ '""' ''"°' of all methods of heating a, 1 ! ' ! '"°'' ^^^''^'^'cal women's room Thl ' fr=1"»"tly -n small houses ihe on .he lor pillols orsliu.r"'.''" !.'"'= '" '' ""' "•' ">« hals are stowed a^lv „r 7' "^ "'''"'' "•"''inoline dress ™do. de„otT;L.,L'reZ':,^^^^^^^^ s-T" - -•»-.'»> .ha„ .he house, r;,:^ i^j «Por. large <,„a„.,„es of Jj^^d chatroTrorZ .ll;:; / ir - Ji 1 1 ' It 78 Korea and Her Neighbors needs of a capital which has left itself without a stick available for fuel in its immediate neighborhood. No special industries exist. The peasants make their rude wooden ploughs and spades shod with iron, and two villages within 40 // of Seoul supply them with their ang-paks and culinary utensils of the same coarse ware, which stands fire and serves instead of iron pots. Such iron utensils as are used are imported from Seoul along with salt, and foreign piece goods for dress clothes, and are paid for with rice, grain, and tobacco. The people are peasant farmers in the strictest sense, most of them holding their lands from \\xt yang-bans at their pleas- ure. The proprietor has the right to turn them out after har- vest, but It does not seem to be very oppressively exercised He provides the seed, and they pay him half the yield. Some men buy land and obtain title-deeds. In 1894 they paid in taxes on one day's ploughing, so much for barley, beans, rice and cotton, the sum varying; but a new system of collecting tax on the assessed value of the land has come into operation which renders "squeezing" on the part of the tax collector far more difficult. Money is scarcely current, business trans- actions are by barter, or the peasant pays with his labor. His chief outlay is on foreign piece cottons for his best clothes. These are 30 cash per measure of 20 inches, dearer at Yong- Wol, the reputed head of navigation, than at Seoul. The population of the Han valley is not poor, if by poverty IS to be understood scarcity of the necessaries of life. The people have enough for themselves and for all and sundry who according to Korean custom, may claim their hospitality' Probably they rie all in debt ; it is very rare indeed to find a Korean who has not this millstone round his neck, and they are destitute of money or possessions other than those they ab- solutely require. They appear lazy. I then thought them so, but they live under a rigime under which they have no security for the gains of labor, and for a man to be reported to be "making money," or attaining even the luxury of a brassdin- i fi On the River of Golden Sand 79 or to a demand for a oa from .n f "" '"^ '"'^ myrmidons, theless, the homesteads of thT H "'^^^.f "^ >"'«^-^««- Never! stantial comfort. "'" """'i' ^^^^^ * look of sub- Certainly the meals of the men are taken in f "ess than is usual among laborerf it '^''"'" *'^'- fashion with women eat "nnT } ''°"'''"' «« '^ the lords' leavings. A 1 meals for 1' "^' ^°''^^ "P ^'-ir 'ar. dark woo'den tabl^a v ^^ir °"r"' -- son. Rice is the staple of diet Z^A ^ ' °"' ^^^ ""^^ per- but besides this, there are sedlT^ '' "T^ '" ^ «^^^* b°^'' earthenware vessels Ltai^.T. '' '"" '^' °^ ^''^ ^'^-^ 'nents.. Chop-sticks anj 3 "J^f' °^ ^^''^^ »-ty. condi- metal are used for eating '^°°"' °^ ^^"^ ^^ base Families club iogeth„ and Inl "P*" "> "« P"Mi<:- VVenli i. taugh, this U g '.h «' ":; > ?""^=' '-""'"S "> ..0. the object of ,he ambition Sv*'k„T '° °*."'^' P"^'' despised, and is not used a, » I,-; ? '^ ""• •^''■»""» is class. I observed, W L Z *""*' "' '"' ^''''^'^l lower orders on ,h; riveTwl *„ " 8''^! ""'"'' ■»«" of the With the except: „f7rot:,7rd ''*""" ^"'■P'- not far from Seoul, priests 1 „„? "" «'*li*™nts 'here any ChristinTropalr p'^''"' °" *'""'"''■• i' -rlr, .hough RomanrSat;„';:*r"' V '^^"'^"' "' two points near the forks S-l' 1 "'>' "="'''"<=<1 "' out the »hole region "'""'"P P'^™"^ 'lirough- -!«»:, indMrrint'd^nhfr *°, 't ™"*' <- -"^ t:Va:e™f:mo:-£ f ^^^^^^^^^^^ 1:1 i !' ' I !,■ A •r •fiii (I 8o Korea and Her Neighbors no newspapers. The Tong-haks (rebels, or armed reformers) were strong in a region immediately to the south of the great bend, which showed some dissatisfaction with things as they were, and a desire for reform in some minds. So far as I could learn, the region is not rich in ordinary minerals. I could hear nothing of " the burning earth," though iie geological formation renders its existence probable. Copper and iron are worked not far from the north branch to a limited extent. But the Han is the "River of Golden Sand," and though the height of the gold season is after the summer rains, the ami sacra fames even then attracted gangs of men to the river banks, and gold in the mountains was a subject on which the Koreans were always voluble. The attitude of the people was friendly. I never saw a trace of actual hostility, though on the higher waters of the south branch it was very doubtful whether they had seen a European before. Their curiosity was naturally enormous, and whenever the boat tied up for a day it showed itself by crowds sitting on the bank as close to it as they could get, star- ing apathetically. They were frequently timid, and snatched up their fowls and hid them when we came in sight, but a lit- tle friendly explanation of our honesty of purpose, and above all, the sight of a few strings of cash, usually set everything straight. A foreigner is absolutely safe. During the ofttimes tedious process of hauling up the rapids, when Mr. Miller and the servants were tugging at the ropes, I constantly strolled for two or three hours by myself along the river bank, and whether the path led through solitary places or through vil- lages, I never met with anything more disagreeable than curi- osity shown in a very ill-bred fashion, and that was chiefly on the part of women. When the people understood that they would be paid it was not difficult to procure the little they had to sell at fairly reasonable rates. They were disposed to be communicative, and showed very little susj^icion, far less in- deed than in parts of Korea where foreigners are common. I On the River of Golden Sand 8l My Chinese servant was everywhere an object of most friendly curiosity and a centre of pleasurable interest , J\'ndT7 ^'"'"^ ^"■' '"^ ^'y ^^"g^d ^'^^ 42° to 72 . and the barometer showed remarkable steadiness. There were two heavy rainfalls, but the weather on the whole was superb, and the atmosphere clear and dry <. --• ^ • KOREAN PEASANTS AT DINNER ; Li f if '; n 'lit i^i!'^ h- •4!f I,!} .ill!; : ii } r ii u It' p t!!! ' CHAPTER VII VIEWS AFLOAT A f ^. ^'^^^/f "d for settling in our very narrow r\ quarters and by the end of the second day we had shaken down ,nto an orderly routine. By dint of much drfv my flour and water stirabout. The halts for smoking, cook ing, and eating were many, and about five o'clock he used to smjulate exhaustion, a deception to which his l^ltmlnd effecttlv Then /If ''"f ""^ "'""^^ ""''' ^^"* '''^'"^^Ives to tie 1 I. 7'"^ '^' ^''^y ^^^"g'« ^l^"t the place of 1 nks''wUrm"T '' '"'7^ ^ ^'"^^^ ^"^ ''^^ P-^-'^y w siwas Tor sonrJ "°'-""'^ '"°'^'"« ^"^ ^°^'P' ^^ile my with Mr M 1^ ^' ?""'' '"^ " P^*^^'^ "^" ''^"om, and with Mr. Miller's aid I usually carried my point. Between Kim's aziness and the frequent occurrence of rapids, fo miS came to be considered a good day's journey! TheTam^ rapids made any settled plan of occu'patiin impLible yet on he early stages of the journey, when there were long^qu.et tt rooT °. T' '''"'^" *'^^™' '' "^^ P'-^-t to elevat the roof and have a quiet morning's work till dinner at twel^ This, It must be confessed, was a precarious meal. Chrdens for curry were not always attainable, and were often so smT, UmeV^of? ''' '""' ^"' '""^ "^^^ '^^-^-^^^ -re sorJ- t mes got by pouncing on a boy fisherman were very minute and bony Chestnuts often eked out a very scanrmea^^ Wong used to hunt along the river banks for Iu7 . carrots aff^r tK« o* i r , °^ ^"^ onions and anH »,!' f °''' °^ '''^ cultivated roots was exhausted and he made paste of flour and water, rolled it with a bamto 82 Views Afloat »3 dition of ruinous oflficial buildincs and p fnri A r pho,„graph,„g and developing negatives under diffiZferlu he blankets and waterproofs in the boat being rennS nS ff Co^thLT iftfe s:::iirt;ro7r r ' "V^= priest soldiers, one of the four ITT "^"' '^'^'^ '^^ Seoul a„d o«.; ref'g-'i'n-tiror.:: b^ IT^Jl'^ n-ppHngbrightiyoverwhite:;::;;' Lg':: Tir" 8 rock, and the.r deeply scored, coingated, flushed ^4 Korea and Her Neighbors sides which spring had scarcely tinged with green, are for- b'dd.ng, and though tl>e valley was green with young whea j^rne "^""^ '''' '"'"' monotonous and uninteresting part of the After circumventing the fine fortress summit of Nam Han the nver enters the mountains. From that time up to the head of poss.ble navigation, the scenery in its variety, beauty, and unexpectedness exhausts the vocabulary of admiration. A short distance above Han Kang is the Buddhist temple. Bud^lhi^fr f' ''""'^' '' '""^ ^^^^°"' °- -^ ^he two Buddhist sanctuaries on the long course of the Han. On the left bank a low stone wall encloses a spot on which a female dragon alighted from heaven in the days of the last dyi^^y offerJci V n' " '"" °' '"^^ °^ ^-"«»'^' .acrific'^Tl^ offered and libations poured out to -Heaven." The only other temple is that of Pyok-chol on the right bank of the Han above Yo Ju. four days from Seoul. A steep wooded pfom w. hTwoT? •? ''' "'"' ''''' ^^^- -^-' -3 ba k tiere f " "'""" P'^°'"' '" ^ "°°^^^ ^^» ^^ the painted teniples and monastic buildings, and a fine bell five centuries old, surmounted by an entanglement of dragons which, with some medallions on the sidesfare of very bold de- sign and successful workmanship, and the whole is sa^ to have been cast an Chung-Chong Do before the Japanese stole the Pi d for thTl? ' "" T'T '" ''' ^^™P'^ ^-™- -™ from Y5 Tu TnT ^ '>' ^""'^ °' "°'"^" ^^ ^^''^^^^ n'T/ • u °"^ °^ *^^ '"^"^^tic courts there is a marble pagoda with some finely executed bas-reliefs on its side claiming a not distant kinship with those of the "marble pagoda ,n Seoul. The establishment consisted of an Tbbo nineteen monks, and four novices. The abbot was the mos; refined, intellectual, and aristocratic looking man that I sa^ ir, anywhere. He carried the weight of seventy years with much Views Afloat 85 grace and dignity, and made us cordially welcomi. Tv ^e last we saw of Buddhism till we reachedth. n "'"". Mountain six weeks later ^^ Diamond 'o b. «.ched, and were c^TZ'JJZ^:" Th '"'"" pursue llieir trade in onen shed« """l""""'™- The potters The stock-in-trade is a^it inth.VK^^ * "'' ""= ""'"'°« ''''• 'evolves, the base^o^^hf^h i :„ :^ wret". T"'' "'f 8'ts on the edge of the hole a V ^^ ■"*" "'''^ wooden trowel a curvLl\ 7°*^'" ''P"'"'"' ^ "'^^o"'^ the tools, effide'n f^the^ "ole" F^ft''/" T °1 ""^'^ ''' ^ from the river are bed! .fT I- ^'^'>' '^ '"^her up, a few // p-,a„d ro^.,:r«,^iirds'rror:"^:" "■= «~' .or^^rcotre ' alo":;-;; f "' ^- '--i' »■■<". "i." a very islands, with gea, e"li f"'' ' *'"'°""' "'"' 8'«n r„;tt:~E'""^r^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Of Ma-chai. Therl the „ J' T f V""" "' *' "'""6= wards traversed. cLL^I a "t: thlir '= ^""■ way more important, arrives fto,^ .k . "'"' '" ""' .he two there is a pr^t rwpodtdTsl 'nd 7 1' ^"''«" blossom. Beyond is a fine «m 'h "? ^" '""'' "'"' "'^'^ deep, bearing^Wch crops orbl^dCST'.r",' '"' protected from the desolation.: /f 7u ^"^'''^'y ""' Which enguifs every ^ re^o 't /p^c'-J 'T' ""' ago the Han, altering its course hr V . i ^^" ^^"^ a steep bank at somf dTst a^^: ,7'^* ^°^^" ^'•°'" '"^^ ^op of feet long and ,6 Z^Z^ ' ^^Ife ^e^r T'' ^^"^" ' make over to the Buddhists hv fht^- ^'^^^"""^'^' ^^P^nse was a fixed amount of the X?cr^ ^'"^' "''^ ^^^^^ -"-Uy Between Kim's laziness and Dlau<;ihn;M, ^ .. Which though not severe were^fr^t^^Ii'/re L't::; i 'Iff ' H ! 'S V 86 Korea and Her Neighbors which was a necessity, our progress was slow, and it was not tUI the 19th of April that we reached Yo Ju, the first town of any importance and the birthplace of the late Queen It is memorable to me as being the first place where the crowd was obstreperous and obnoxious, though not hostile. It is humili- at.ng to be a "show " and to get nothing by it I I went out on a rock m the river in the hope of using the prismatic com- pass in peace, and was nearly pushed into the water, and when I went up into the gate tower a stamping, curious crowd, climb- ing on everything that afforded a point of vantage, shook the old fabric so severely that the delicately balanced needle never came to rest The crowd was dirty, the streets were foul and decayed, and worst of all was the magistrate's ^a,/,.«. to which we had occasion to go. and where I found that a kwanja was powerless to obtain even common civility. The yamen, though finely situated and enclosing in its grounds a large and much decorated pavilion for Royal use but used as a children's playground, was in a state of wreck Ihe woodwork was crumbling, beams and rafters were falling down lacquer and paint were scaling off. torn paper fluttered from the lattice windows, plaster hung from the grimy walls, the once handsome gate tower was on its last legs, in the court- yard some flagstones had subsided, others were exalted, and audacious ragweed and shepherd's purse grew in their crevices Poverty, neglect, and melancholy reigned supreme. Within the gates were plenty of those persons who suck the lifeblood of Korea. 1 here were soldiers in Tyrolese hats and coarse cotton uniforms in which blue predominated, yamen runners n abundance, writers, officers of ;>,justice, messengers pre- tending to have business on hand, and many small rooms, in which were many more men sitting on the floor smoking long pipes, with writing materials beside them. One attendant, by no means polite, took my kwan-ja to the magistrate, and very roughly led the way to two small rooms. >n the inner one of which the official was seated on the floor Views Afloat 87 surrounded by a few elderly men. We were directed to stand at the opening betwcui the two rooms, and behind us pressed as many of the crowd as could get in. I bowed low. No no- tice was taken. An attendant handed the magistrate a pipe, so long that it would have been impossible for him to light it for himself, and he smoked. Mr. Miller hoped that he was in good health. No reply, and the eyes were never raised. Mr Miller explained the object of the visit, which was to get a lit- tle information about the neighborhood. There was only a very curt reply, and as the great man turned to one of his sub- ordinates and began to talk to him, and rude remarks were cir- culating, we took leave with the usual Korean phrases of po- lileness, which were not reciprocated. We were told that there are many "high yan.?-l>ans" in Yo Ju, and it seemed natural that the magistrate of a town of only 700 houses should not be a man of high rank. The story goes that when he came they used " low talk " to him and or- dered him about as their inferior. So he lives chiefly in Seoul, and the man who sat in sordid state amidst the ruins of the spacious and elaborately decorated yamen does his work and divides the spoils, and the yang-bans are left to whatever their devices may be. But this is not an isolated case. Nearly all the river magistrates are mainly absentees, and spend their time salaries, and squeezings in the capital. I had similar inter- views with three other magistrates. I asked nothing except change in cash for three yen, and on each occasion was told that the treasury was empty. My kwan-ja, a pompous doc- ument from the Foreign Office, was of this use only, it pro- cured me a chicken at a high price in a town where the people were unwilling to sell ! At Y6 Ju I saw for the only time either in Korea or China the interior of an ancestral temple. It is a lofty building, with a curved tile roof and blackwood ceiling, approached by a roofed gateway. Opposite the entrance is an ebony stool, on which are a brass bowl and incense burner. Above this is a .ill <{' Korea and Her Ntlghbors jarge altar lupporting two candlestick, with candles, and above that aga.n an ebony stand on which rests a polished black njarbie tablet inscribed with the na.e of the d'Tceased Be ZZt ^ ^ •"'"'"«• '" '^' '^^^'^ »he third soul of the deceased .s supposed to dwell. Food is placed before "three t.mcs daily for three years in the case of a pa^In "worship " '*""" '"'^ y^^^ «"^ ««■«' --ifce anj the'^LonlJTd ""'^^ P'-°''P*'-°"»-J°ol^'-"g village of Ch6n-yaing XeUed n, ? "!,^'' V '''■'"^ " ^^^^ '"^-^ »° Perfortn and vTrdofnl T^""' ^"' '^"^'"« ^''^» '^ was in the court- folnr ' A '""""«' **^'" "^^ ^^'^^^ c^'^^ia^y invited to enter, and I was laid hold of (literally) by the serving women and dragged through the women's ouft an 1 no the women's apartments. I was surrounded by fully forty lom n old and young, wives, concubines, servants, all in gala S and much adorned. The principal wife, a very yTung g weanng some Indian jewellery, was very pretty'and hfd'^n ex4ua,.e complexion, but one and all were destitute of man- off m r.^ '"^"^^''g^ted my clothing, pulled me about, took off my hat and tried it on, untwisted my hair and absorbed my 01 laughter, and then, but not till thev lid exhausted all thr amusement which could be got out of me, they betho themselves of entertaining me by taking me tlLgb T^ieir Z".Tu::rT' "^°" -^^ *° ^"^'^ - extent Ts fhey'^d ourt n c ' '"'"^ °^ ""' ''''' ^""^y '^^^ ™<^ through iHed b: """"'"' r™'' "'"^ '"^ P"'!-^ «--' mostly spoiled b/ o. • . ..vered in whole or in part with Brussels tapestry car al- / 'O ..,ri " o„^ i t""' wun urusseJs /"•■ v.! « uirrors in , -dry gilt frames glared from Views Afloat a.; ZrlTr instead of .c»d, .o an eleva«d «"p.i:" .no,, tapcnan. g„v„„„„,ip, ,„ K„4rX„ J ^'al' •eemed anxious to receive us courteously Win- -nd ^/WA/, an elaborate sort of " 'rkranf -^ ' '""^^ '^^'' and had to be nartaken of ! '°"'^'"^^"f' were produced, expensive fordgn 2ar which"! '°^V"''^^"'^''''<^ ^^^ing an the. ostentatioufdiM 'y "f ' 7' I " ^''P^^*""'^^ ^°^ was dressed in se 'green s Ik an7' T' "■"^- "^ quality ^ ' ^""^ '^°'"« ^ ^^t of very fine orderly. I niad^ him 7 7 ? °'^ '"'P°'"« ^nd dis- Kcj. l:tfo;r: Za.X";t "r;; ™'^" ■■- - cicurdie nis having obtained a eood n]ar»> in o ,«. ™' c ;r r " -r '^■""''^' '^^'- ^"-^ '"^^^^^^^ of a„'"ffiirot Ve°i ::: rrTnr- ""''°"*!' "= ■•'"■>" »c nignest rank, and a near relative of the fi •l:i 90 Korea and Her Neighbors late Queen. We could only make a somewhat ignominious exit, having been truly " played out " "»ninious This rage for French clocks, German mirrors, foreign cigars chairs upholstered in velvet, and a general fordgn tawdS ^ spreading rapidly among the young --swells" who have money to spend vulgarizing Korean simplicity, and setting he example to those below them of an extravaga t and p y selfish expenditure. The house, with its many courtyards w^ new and handsome, and money glared from 'every 'point through a noble stretch of rich UL^I^ Zr^Z fairly clean crops, and bordered by low, serrated, denuded aiKl much corrugated ranges, faintly tinged with green O^ his gently rolling plain are many towns'and villages l2 the larger of which are Won Ju, Chung Ju, Chong-phyTg! and Tan-Yang, all on or near the river, by which they con vemently export their surplus produce, chiefly beans, tobacco Tsilertle. ^"" '' '''' ^^^^°" °^ ^°^ ^^^ ^'^ ^-^^ was Higher up the scenery changes. Lofty limestone bluffs often caverned rise abruptly from the river, and wall in 1; f rtile and populous valleys which descend up^n it, givi g pi ce h.gher up to grand basaltic formation, range beLid range terraces of columnar basalt occasionally appearing. ¥"^1 lovely season, warm days, cold nighls. brilliant sunshine great white masses of sunlit clouds on a sky of heave ./be dsances Idealized in a blue veil which was not a mist, lollr's at heir freshest, every bird that has a note or a cry voca butterflies and red and blue dragon-flies hovering over the ^a^ and water, fish leaping, all nature awake and ub la scarlet azaleas, or synngas, contorted or stately pines, and Views Afloat 91 Ampelopsis Veitchiana rose-pink in its early leafage. Tiiere was a note of gladness in the air. Eight days above Seoul, on the left bank of the river, there IS a riunous pagoda built of large blocks of hewn stone, stand- ing solitary in the centre of a level plain formed by a bend of the Han. The people, on being asked about it, said, " When Korea was surveyed so long ago that nol)ody knows when, this was the centre of it." They call it the - Halfway Place " After that the only suggestions of antiquity are some stone foundations, and a few stone tombs among the trees, which, from their shape, may denote the sites of monasteries. Near that pagoda were a number of men very drunk, and there were few days on which the habit of drinking to excess was not more or less prominent. The junkmen celebrated the evening s rest by hard drinking, and the crowd which nightly assembled on the shore when we tied up was usually enlivened by the noisy antics of one or more intoxicated men. From my observafon on the Han journey and afterwards, I should say that drunkenness is an outstanding feature in Korea. And it IS not disreputable. If a man drinks rice wine till he loses his reason, no one regards him as a beast. A great dignitary even may roll on the floor drunk at the end of a meal, at wiifch he has eaten to repletion, without losing caste, and on becoming sober receives the congratulations of inferiors on being rich enough to afford such a luxury. Along with the tasfe for French clocks and German gilding, a love of foreign liquors IS becoming somewhat fashionable among the young yangLns, and willing caterers are found who produce potato spirit rich m fusel oil as;' old Cognac," and a very effervescent chan- pagne at a shilling a bottle I The fermented liquors of Korea are probably not unwhole- some, but the hking for them is an acquired taste with Euro- peans. They vary from a smooth white drink resembling buttermilk in appearance, and very mild, to a water-white spirit of strong smell and fiery taste. Between these comes :' '<■', h\> \ >^i3 f! (1 \k 9^ Korea and Her Neighbors '«l°a'f Japanese ropleifrtauh.""' "T "'"' "" '^"''""^ a- a drunken .tre."ora"z-e„;^!;r"=-'--°'"--"-^ why/h '"he Ha°n' if?"" 'T ""■' "^S""^' '"' '^P^-is for Iw \,r !^ ""'"'' """"S'" '^^y ■""''e our progress slo», had not suggested serious difficulty, far less risk bmZ rougrre°h Tf' ''-' ""' '-^- -V c'hi":i .rea.tiore\:svreUz:ra:s r; rtr foam, vaned by deep pools, presenting formidable "L", »me seasons insuperable, obstacles to nfvigation To all ap Ss° of 1 :V" '" ""'= ■'""^"""^ •'- *= cde Led In* atte^^ tl"' ^ '"" ■"" '"^'"^ "' ''"'^' -^f'^ and jnnks attest their destructive properties. Thev occur ., cataract '""'' ^" ""^'"^'^^^ ^^P'd or anf i^M ''""^'' ^fi^'^'^'omely, was far too stingy to pay for any help en route, h.s ropes were manifestly bought in - ,^^e servant toiled at the tow ropes, and in great exigencies I J Views Afloat 93 gave a haul myself, we sometimes made only 7 miles a dav with might and mam m the boat, and three tugging with all the.r strength on shore. Often the ropes snapped, w^, the boat went sp.nn.ng and flying to the foot of the rapid some! escap.ng. After a few of such risks I habitually la.ided either o.. a boatman's back or wading i„ waterprooVweU^^^^^^^^ wh,ch caused great wonderment in the 'lookers o 'S worst rap.ds were always in the most beautiful places and the T r« ^l'"'^ °' ''''' °^ ^-^ h°"- -long thorl^rltl hrough fields with bounteous crops, througlf odorous Spanth w Idlentr;' *'""^' '^"^^^'^ ^'^^ ^'^'■^ fascinathrb ' w.lderments of roses, clematis, and honeysuckle, and past farmhouses w th their nrivaru r.e v. u ^ cKo^^ r ui . privacy of bamboo screens, and deeo shade of blossoming fruit trees, were very delightful ' In ten days from Seoul we reach Chong-phyong a town of some pretensions, where in connection witVthe ^T is I emple ,,„ ..ith a high white chair, facing aCb w Uh candlest.cks upon it, floor, table, and chair deep Tdust ough the building is used regularly for offeri.„rs a„d acnfices for the King. Dust is not noteworthy fn wl but groups of S.X noblemen wearing fine horsehair palace hats w. h w.ngs each man holding a piece of folded paper in h hand and hsten.ng intently as he bends forward towar the Zt' J T''P''°" and technique of these paintings are admirable, and the sunset scenes on the back w.ll tf t -^rior in execution, are the work of a true art. ' '""'' hi.h hf ^ I! ' ^T^ P'''''°" ^^"g'"g °v«r the edge of a ha, been very handsome; bu, the phrase -has bTen" de i . *' Mi f 1 ii ill m 94 Korea and Her Neighbors scribes most things Korean, and official squalor and neglect could scarcely go farther. At Chong-phyong and elsewhere the common people, in spite of their overpowering curiosity, were not rude, and usually retired to a respectful distance to watch us eat; but from the class of scholars who hang on round all yamens we met with a good deal of underbred impertinence, some of the men going so far as to raise the curtain of my compartment and introduce their heads and shoulders beneath it, brow- beating the boatmen when they politely asked them to desist. On the other hand, men of the non-cultured class showed us various small attentions, sometimes helping with a haul at the ropes at a rapid, only asking in return that their wives might see me, a request with which I always gladly complied. At Chong-phyong, so great was female curiosity that a number of women waded waist deep after the boat to peer under the mats of the roof, and one of them, scrambling out to a rock for a final stare, overbalanced herself and fell into deep water. At one point, in the very early morning, some women presented themselves at the boat, having walked several // with a present of eggs, the payment for which was *o be a sight of me and my poor equipments, they having heard that there was a boat with a foreign woman on board. The old cambric curtains brought from Persia, with a red pattern on a white ground, always attracted them greatly, and the small Japanese cooking utensils. In thirteen days from Seoul we reached Tan -Yang, a magis- tracy prettily situated on the left bank of the Han, with a picturesque Confucian temple on the hill above ; and a day later entered upon mountainous country of extreme beauty. The paucity of tributaries is very marked. Up to that point, except the north branch, there are but two— one which joins the Han at the village of Hu-nan Chang, on the right bank, and is navigable for 60 //, as far as the important town of Wan Ju; and another, which enters 2 // above the pictur- Views Afloat 95 esquely-situated village of So-il, on the left bank. Above Tan-Yang the river forms long and violent rapids, alternating with broad stretches of blue, quiet water from lo to 20 feet deep, roirng majestically, making sharp and extraordinary bends among lofty limestone precipices. Villages on natural terraces occur constantly, the lower terrace planted with mul- berry or weeping willows. Hemp is cultivated in great quan- tities, and is used for sackcloth for mourners' wear, bags, and rope. In my walks along the river I had several opportunities of seeing the curious method of separating the fibre, rude and primitive, but effectual. At the bottom of a stone paved pit large stones are placed, which are heated from a rough oven at the side. The hemp is pressed down in bundles upon these, and stakes are driven in among them. Piles of coarse Korean grass are placed over the hemp, and earth over all, well beaten down. The stakes are then pulled up and water is poured into the holes left by them. This, falling on the heated stones, pro- duces a dense steam, and in twenty-four hours the hemp fibre is so completely disintegrated as to be easily separated. A grand gorge, 3 miles long, with lofty cliffs of much-cav- erned limestone, varied by rock needles draped with Ampelopsis and clematis, and giving foothold to azaleas, spirea, syringa, pear, hawthorn, climbing roses, wistaria, cyclamen, lycopo- dium, yellow vetches, many Labiata, and much else, contains but one village, piled step above step in a deep wooded fold of the hills, on which millet culture is carried to a great height, on slopes too steep to be ploughed by oxen. This gorge opens out on slopes of rich soil, some of which is still uncultivated. The hamlets are small, and grow much hemp, and each has its hemp pit. I'hey also grow Urtica Nivea, from the bleached fibre of which their grass cloth summer clothes are made. All these are surrounded with mulberry groves. The large village of Cham-su-ki, at the head of two severe rapids, in ascending which our ropes snapped three times, offers a good example of the popular belief in spirits. It is approached 4 ..1 ^^ 96 Korea and Her Neighbors fr under a tasselled straw rope, one end of which is wound round a fine tree with a stone altar below it. On another rope were suspended a few small bags containing offerings of food If a person dies of the pestilence o by the roadside, or a woman dies V. childbirth, the spirit invariably takes up its abode in a tree To such spirits offerings are made on the stone altar of cake wine, and pork, but where the tree is the domicile of the spirit of a man who has been killed by a tiger, dog's flesh is offered instead of pork. The Cham-su-ki tree is a fine well-grown elm. Gnarled trees, of which we saw several on hilltops and sides, are occupied by the spirits of persons who have died be- fore reaching a cycle, i.e. sixty years of age. A steep cliff above Cham-su-ki is also denoted as the abode of djemons by a straw rope and a stone altar. We had some very cold and windy days near the end of April, the mercury falling to 34°, and one night of tempestuous rain It would be absurd to write of sufferings, but at that tempera- ture in an open boat, with the roof lifting and flapping and threatening to take its departure, it was impossible to sleep. Afterwards the weather was again splendid. Abrupt turns, long rapids full of jagged rocks, long stretches of deep, still water, abounding in fish, narrow gorges walled in by terraces of basalt, lateral ravines disclosing fine snow- streaked peaks, succeeded each other, the shores becoming less and less peopled, while the parallel valleys abounded in fairly well-to-do villages. Just below a long and dangerous rapid we stopped to dine, and though the place seemed quite solitary, a crowd soon gathered, and sat on the adjacent stones talking noisily, trying to get into the boat, lifting the mats, discussing whether it were polite to watch people at dinner, some taking one side and some another, those who were half tipsy taking the affirmative. Some said that they had got news from sev- eral miles below that this great sight was coming up the river, and it was a shame to deprive them of it by keeping the cur- tains down. After a good deal of obstreperousness, mainly the Views Afloat 97 result of wine, a man overbalanced himself and fell into the river, which raised a laugh, and then they followed us good- naturedly up the rapid, one man helping to track, and asking as his reward that his wife might see me, on which I exhibited myself on the bow of the boat. At the village of Pang-wha San, built, contrary to Korean practice, on a height of 800 feet, there is a stone platform, on which was nightly lighted one of that chain of beacon-fires ter- minating at Nam-San in Seoul, which assured the King that his kingdom was at peace.» Another village, Ha-chin, was im- pressive from the frightful ugliness of its women. After leav- ing Tan- Yang the curiosity increased. People walked great dis- tances to see us, saying they had never seen foreigners, and bringing eggs to pay for the sight, which I paid for, telling the people that we had nothing to show ; but extravagant rumors 01 what was to be seen in the boat had preceded us, and as the people assembled at daylight and generally waited patiently I always yielded to their wishes, raised the thatch, and made the most of the red and white curtains. In one place I gave them some tea to drink. They had never seen it, and thought it was medicine, and on tasting it said, «• It must be very good for indigestion ! " •The telegraph has now superseded this picturesque arrangement. J I li^i CHAPTER VIII NATURAL BEAUTY — THE RAPIDS IN superb weather, and in the full glory of spring, we con- tinued the exploration of the Han above Tan-Yang, en- countering innumerable rapids, some of them very severe and horrible to look upon. The river valley, continually narrow- ing into gorges, rarely admits of hamlets, and the population IS relegated to lateral and parallel valleys. On the 30th of April we tugged and poled the boat up seven long and severe rapids, with deep still stretches of water between them. The flora increased in variety, and the shapes of the mountains be- came very definite. Among other trees there were a large branching Acanthopanax ricinifolia, two species of euonymus, mistletoe on the walnut and mulberry, the Rhus semi-alata and Rhus vernicifera, pines, firs, the Abies microsperma, the Actinidia pueraria, Elaagnus, Spanish chestnuts in great groves, alders, birches, maples, elms, limes, and a tree infre- quently seen which I believe to be a Zelkawa. Among the flowers, there were marigolds, buttercups, scentless white and purple violets, yellow violas, white aconite, lady's slipper, hawk- weed, camomile, red and white dandelions, guelder roses, wyge- lias, mountain peonies, martagon and tiger lilies, gentians, pink spirea, yellow day lilies, white honeysuckle, the Iris Rossii, and many others. The day after leaving Tan-Yang we entered on the most beautiful part of the river. Great limestone cliffs swing open at times to reveal glorious glimpses, through fantastic gorges, of peaks and ranges, partly forest-covered, fading in the far distance into the delicious blue veil of dreamland j the river, 88 1 / Natural Beauty— The Rapids 99 occasionally compressed by its colossal walls, vents its fury in flurry and foam, or expands into broad reaches 20 and even 30 feet in depth, where pure emerald water laps gently upon crags festooned with roses and honeysuckle, or in fairy bays on peb- bly beaches and white sand. Tiie air was full of gladness. The loud call of the fearless ringed pheasant was heard every- where, bees hummed and butterflies and dragon-flies flashed through the fragrant air. What mattered it that our ropes broke three times, that we stuck on a rock in a rapid and hung there for an hour in a deafening din and a lather of foam, and that we " beat the record " in only making 5 miles in twelve hours ! The limestone cliff's are much caverned, and near the village of To-tam, where they fall back considerably from the river, we explored one cave worthy of notice, with a fine entrance arch 43 feet in height, admitting into a vault considerably higher, with a roof of stalagmites. We ascended this cavern for 315 feet, and then had to return for lack of light. Near the mouth a natural shaft and rock-ladder give access to a fine upper gallery 12 feet high, only 60 feet of which we were able to investigate. Just above To-tam there is another limestone freak on the river bank, a natural bridge or arch, 127 feet in height and 30 feet wide, below which a fair green lawn slopes up to a height above. The bridge is admirably buttressed and draped with roses, honeysuckle, and clematis, and various fantastic specimens of coniferae grow out of its rifts. The beauty of the Han culminates at To-tam in the finest river view I had then ever seen, a broad stretch, with a deep bay and lofty limestone cliff's, between which, on a green slope the picturesque, deep-eaved, brown-roofed houses of the village are built. The gray cliff' is crowned with a goodly group of umbrella pines, in Korea called "Parasol Pines," because they resemble in shape those carried before the King Guard- ing the entrance of the bay are three picturesque jagged pyram- idal rocks much covered with the Ampdopsis Veitchiana, \ s\a 'H 'I ■\\ It / 100 Korea and Her Neighbors and of course sacred to daemon worship. These sentinels are from 40 to 83 feet high. To the southwest the Han, dark and deep, rolls out of sight round a pine-clad bluff, among the magnificent ranges of the Sol-rak-San mountains-masses of partially pine-clothed peaks and pinnacles of naked rock. To the northeast the river makes an abrupt bend below superb limestone cliffs, and disappears at the foot of Solmi-San, a triplet of lofty peaks. To-tam on its park-like slopes embraces this view, and were it not for the rapids and their delays and risks, might be a delightful summer resort from Seoul. Therft is fertility as well as grandeur, for the ridge behind the village, abrupt on the riverside, falls gently down on the other to a broad, well-watered level valley, cultivated for rice with extreme neatness and care, and which, after gladdening the eye with its productiveness for several miles, windi. (.it of view among the mountains. There, and in most parts of the Han valley, I was much surprised with the neatness of the cultivation. It was not what the reports of other travellers had led me to expect, and It gives me the impression that the river passes through one of the most productive and prosperous portions of Korea. The crops of wheat and barley were usually superb, and remarkably free from weeds_in fact, the cleanliness would do credit to ''high farming" in the Lothians. It was no uncommon thing to find from 12 to 18 stalks as the product of one grain At the end of April the barley was in ear, and beginning to change color, and the wheat was 6 inches high. As a general rule the stones were carefully picked off the land and were used for retaining walls for the rice terraces, or piled in heaps. Steep hillsides were being cleared of scrub and stones for cot- ton planting, and in many instances the cultivation is carried to a height of 1,000 feet, the cultivators always, however, liv- ing in the holes. All the parallel valleys are neatly and care- fully cultivated. The favorable climate, with its abundant, but not superabundant, rainfall, renders irrigation needless, Natural Beauty— The Rapids loi except in the case of rice. Every valley has its streamlet, and « barred across by dykes of mud from its head do^vn to the Han r.ce with tobacco, beans, hemp, and cotton, being the great articles of export. On the whole, I was ver; agrefably TtTa: itTs'' ^W^r"^'"- ^f ^'- Han valley,'and douJi not that t ,s capable of enormous development if the earnings of industry were secure. The soil is most prolific, heavy crops being raised without the aid of fertilizers After leaving beautiful To-tam, the rapids become more and more frequent and exasperating, and when Kim sank down tlZV^Z""' 'r''"^' ^' well-simulated exhaustion, i feared It would soon become real. The ropes broke frequen ty, and he constant scraping and bumping over rocks increased the leakuHss of the boat so much, that in a lovely reach where crystal water rippled on the white sand, I pitched my tent, and unloaded and beached the craft for repairs. In o^e stiZd"' :f' '''' ''' ''' ^°P^ Parted,'and the b swirled down the surges, striking rocks as she spun down wifh i:l LTtddlr' ' """^'^^ '' P^otographic^egatives and At the beautifully situated village of Pa-ka Mi, a post bore the following inscription in large characters-.' If any servant well, all right, but ,f he behaves badly he will be beaten " an assertion of independence as refreshing as it is rare - For among the curses of Korea is the existence of this priv- leged class of ^^.^-W or nobles, who m„st not work for t e'rXi '"''i'7' '' '' -d'Vace to be supported by the r relations, and who often live on the clandestine industry of their wives in sewing and laundry work. A yJZTclr Class oom. Custom insist that when a member of this class Zt H " '^'^ "'' ''"" '' '"^"^ attendants as let muster. He is supported on his led horse, and supreme help- V. ■I! ' r«f 102 Korea and Her Neighbors lessness is the conventional requirement. His servants brow- beat and bully the people and take their fowls and eggs with- out payment, which explains the meaning of the notice at Pa-ka Mi.' There is no doubt that the people, /. e. the vast mass of the unprivileged, on whose shoulders rests the burden of taxation, are hard pressed by the yang-bans, who not only use their labor without paying for it, but make merciless exactions under tlie name of loans. As soon as it is rumored or known that a merchant or peasant has laid up a certain amount of cash, a yang-ban or official seeks a loan. Practically it is a levy, for 'f It IS refused the man is either thrown into prison on a false charge and whipped every morning until he or his relations pay the sum demanded, or he is seized and practically im- prisoned on low diet in Xht ycxng-ban^ s house until the money IS forthcoming. It is the best of the nobles who disguise their exactions under the name of loans, but the lender never sees p^ncipal or interest. It is a very common thing for a noble when he buys a house or field, to dispense with paying for it,' and no mandarin will enforce payment. At Paik-kui Mi' where I paid off my boatmen, the yattg-ban's servants were impressing all the boats for the purpose of taking roofing tiles to Seoul without payment. Kim begged me to give him some trifle to take down the river, with a ^t^y cash as payment, and a line to say that the boat was in my employment, service with a foreigner being a protection from such an exaction. There were two days more of most severe toil, in which it was scarcely possible to make any progress. The rapids were frightful, and when we reached a very bad one below the town of Yong-chhun, Kim, after making several abortive efforts not I think, in good faith, to ascend it, collapsed, and said he could not get up any higher. At another season boats of light draught can ascend to Yang-w6l, 20 // farther. We had per- « Class privileges are now abolished, on paper at least, but their tradi- tion carries weight. Natural Beauty— The Rapids 103 formed a great feat in getting up to Y6ng-chhun in early May. There were no boats on tlie higher waters, and for much of the distance my sampan could hardly be said to be afloat At Yong-chhun we were within 40 miles of the Sea of Japan Wind and heavy rain which raised the river forbade all lo- comotion until the following evening, when we crossed the Han and reached the Yong-chhun ferry l>y a pretty road through a village and a wood, most attractive country, with many novelties in its flora. At the ferry a still expanse of the Han IS over 10 feet deep, but the roar of another rapid is heard immcdintoly above. A double avenue of noble elms with fine turf underneath them leads to the town, a magistracy of 1,500 people, a quiet market-place without shops, situated in a rich farming basin of alluvial soil, covered in May with heavy crops of barley and wheat, among which were fields niUocked for melons. The magistracy buildings are large and rambling, with what has been a fine entrance gate, with a drum and other instru- rnents of aural torture for making the deafening din with which the yamen is closed and opened at sunrise and sunset. There a^ many stone tablets (not spontaneously erected) to worthy officials, a large enclosure in which sacrifices are offered to ' Heaven '• (probably to the Spirits of the Land), a Confucian temple, and a king's pavilion, all very squalid and ruinous A crowd not altogether polite followed us to the yamen, where 1 hoped that some information regarding an overland route to the Diamond Mountain might be obtained. On enter- ing the yamen precincts the underling officials were most insolent, and it was only after enduring their unpleasant be- havior for some time that we were conducted to a squalid inner room, where a deputy-mandarin sat on the floor with a smok- ing apparatus beside him, a man with a scornful and sinister physiognomy, who took not the slightest notice of us. and when he deigned to speak gave curt replies through an under- ling, while we stood outside the entrance, withstanding with I \ I n !^ n fl,)i1 ;■!{: i I I! if •a ill M\ I M 104 Korea and Her Neighbors difficulty the pressure of the crowd, which had surged in after us, private interviews being rare in the East. This was my last visit to a Korean yamen. As we walked back to the town, the crowd followed us closely, led by some "swells" of the literary class. One young man came up behind me and kicked me on the ankle, stepping back and then coming forward and repeating the of- fense. He was about to give me a third kick, when Mr. Miller turned round and very quietly, without anger, dealt him a scientific blow on the chest, which sent him off the road upon his back into a barley field. There was a roar of laughter from the crowd, and the young bully's companions begged Mr. Miller not to punish him any more. The crowd dispersed, the bullies, cowards like all their species, fell far behind, and we had a pleasant walk back to the ferry, where, although we had to wait a long time in the ferry boat, there was no as- semblage, and the ferryman and passengers were very civil. Mr. Miller regretted the necessity for inflicting punishment. It was Lynch law no doubt, but it was summary justice, and the perfect coolness with which it was administered would no doubt leave a salutary impression. The ferryman told us that a tiger had carried off a pig from Yong-chhun the previous night, and said that the walk to our boat through the wood without lanterns was very unsafe. Oui boatmen had become alarmed and were hunting for us with torches. The circum- stances were eerie, and I was glad to see the lights. Ferries are free. The Government provides the broad, strong boats which are used for ferrying cattle as well as people, and the villages provide the ferrymen with food. Passengers who are not poor usually give a small douceur. A gale of wind with torrents of rain set in that night, and the rain continued till the next afternoon, giving me an oppor- tunity of seeing more of the detail of the magnificent cliffs of laminated limestone, which occur frequently, and are the most striking geological features of the Han valley, continually I < 1 Natural Beauty— The Rapids 105 presenting the appearance of the leaves of a colossal book. Above the Yong-chhun rapid, on a steep and almost inacces- sible dechvuy. buttressed by these cliffs, are the remains of a very ancient fortress, the outer wall of which, enclosing the summit of the hill, is 2,500 feet in circumference, 25 feet high on the outs.de, from i to 12 feet on the inside, and from 9 to 12 feet thick. It is so arranged that its two gates, which open on nearly direct descents of 20 feet, and are approached by very narrow pathways, could only admit one man at a time. It was obviously incapable of reduction by any force but starvation. No mortar is used in the walls, which are very efficiently bu.it of small slabs of stone never more than 6 ,nn h TZ Ju" P'°P'' ^''' "° *^^^'''°"« °f i*« construc- tion, but Mr. Miller, who is familiar with the fortresses of Nam- San and Puk Han, thinks that it is of a much earlier date than either. One of the signal fire stations is visible from this point on the river. * ^ On the 3rd of May we began the descent of the Han. The worn-out ropes were used for the cooking fire, the poles were stowed away, and paddles took their place. The heavy rains had raised the river a foot, and changed its bright waterj into a turbid flood, down which we often descended in two minutes distances which had taken two laborious hours on the upward journey, flying down the centre of the stream instead of crawling up the sides. Many small disasters occurred. Several times the boat was nearly swamped by heavy surges, or shivered by striking sunken rocks ; or, losing steerage way spun round and round, progressing downwards with many Jy- rations, usually stern foremost, amidst billows and foam, but Kim, who was at his best on such occasions, usually contrived to bring her to shore, bow on, at the foot of the rapid. On one occasion, however, in a long rapid, in which the surges ""u'^ ? / '^'■''"^' ^y '"'"^ mismanagement, regarding which the boatmen quarrelled for an hour afterwards, the sam pan shipped such heavy seas from both sides as nearly to I io6 Korea and Her Neighbors swamp her. I was all but washed off my camp-bed, which was on a level with the gunwale; a number of sheets of geo- graphical notes were washed away, some instruments belong- ing to the R.G.S. were drowned in their box, more than forty photographic negatives were destroyed, and clothing, bedding, and flour were all soaked ! The rapids were in fact most ex- citing, and their risks throw those of the Fu and the Yangtze from Cheng-tu to Ichang quite into the shade. In spite of a delay of half a day at Tan- Yang, owing to a futile attempt to get cash for silver, and another half-day spent in beaching and repairing the boat, which had been badly bumped on a rock, we did the distance from Nang-chhon to Ma-chai on the forks in four and a half days, or less than a third of the time taken by the laborious ascent. The penniless situation became so serious that one day be- fore reaching Ma-chai I had to decide on returning to Seoul for cash / The treasuries were said to be empty ; no one be- lieved in silver or knew anything about it, and supplies could not be obtained. Fortunately we arrived at the market-place of Ma-Kyo, a village of 1,850 people, on the market day, and the pedlars gladly exchanged cash for 35 silver jj-m at the rate of 3,oGo, and would willingly have changed 70. It took six men to carry the coin to the boat, which was once more sub- stantially ballasted. Ma-Kyo is the river port of Che-chon, and has an unusually flourishing aspect, boasting of many good houses with tiled roofs. It exports rice, beans, and grain from the very rich agricultural country on both sides of the river, and imports foreign cottons, Korean sackcloth, and salt. Cotton in 20 cash the measure of 20 inches dearer at Ma-Kyo than m Seoul, and at Nang-chhon 70 cash dearer. When we reached the forks at Ma-chai, the boatmen, who were tired of the trip, wanted to go back, but eventually they were induced to fulfil their contract, and we entered the nor^h branch of the Han on a cool, glorious afternoon, following on a night and morning of wind and rain. This north branch Natural Beauty— The Rapids 107 also rises in the Keum-kang San or Diamond Mountain in the province of Kong-won, and after a turbulent course of about 98 miles unites with the southern and larger branch of the Han about two days' journey from Seoul. For a considerable distance the country which it drains is popi^lous and well cul- tivated, and the hills of its higher reaches provide much of the timber which is used in Seoul, as well as a large proportion of the firewood and charcoal. The timber is made up into very peculiar rafts, which come down at high water, but even then are frequently demolished in the rapids. The river widens out above Ma-chai, and for a considerable distance has an average breadth of 440 yards, but as a rule it is shal- low, and Its bottom dangerously rocky, and it has incessant rapids full of jagged rocks, some of which are very dangerous and so " ugly " that as I went up them I was truly glad that I had not to descend them. Many a long, hard tug and broken hawser we had, but succeeded in hauling the sampan 7 miles above the limit of low water navigation, which is the same distance from the termination of boat traffic at high water I estimate the distance from Ma-chai to Ut-Kiri, where further progress was stopped by an insurmountable rapid, at 76 miles which took nine days, though Kim and his man, anxious to go home, worked much harder than on our earlier trip. For the first few days there are villages every quarter of a mile, and lateral and parallel valleys, then rich in clean crops of barley and wheat. The river villages are surrounded by groves of Spanish chestnut, mulberry, cherry, persimmons, and weeping willows. There are deep crateriform cavities, now full of trees and abundant vegetation. The hills are covered with oak scrub, affording cover for tigers, which appear to abound. The characteristics of the villages and the agricul- ture hardly vary from those on the south branch, except that the potato IS more extensively grown. Tiie absence of provin- cial and local peculiarities is a feature of Korea. An alley in Seoul may serve for a village street anywhere else. 'ii :; ! ? ''• Hi H! 108 Korea and Her Neighbors Oold in small quantities is found along the river, and rumor says that Ur-rop-so, a conical hill near the dangerous rapid of Chum-yol ,s nch in it, but that the district official prohibits digging. Higher up a number of men were washing for gold The.r apparatus consists of a wooden sieve or gridiron, on which the supposed auriferous earth is placed above a deep wooden tray, and rocked under water till the heavier stuff passes through, to be again rocked in search of the glittering particles. The results are placed on the river bankin pieces of broken pottery, each watched by a man. The earth is ob- tained by removing the heavy shingle of the river bank and d'ggmg up the sand to a depth of about 2 feet, when rock is r,if :. .f °"" ,t° *° '°° ''^y' ^'^ "^"^^ t° ^ bushel and a naif, and the yield of this quantity averages half a thimbleful of gold ma state of fine subdivision. These gold-washers se-dom make more than i6s. per month, and only about ^os when working in the best goldfields. * Gold ornaments are rarely seen in Korea, gold is scarcely if at a 1 used ,n the arts (if arts there are), and gold coins do not exist. Nevertheless, as is shown by the Customs Reports, the quantity of gold dust exported, chiefly to Japan, is very far from being despicable, although the reefs which presumably contam the metal, of which the washings are the proof, have not yet been touched. The fees paid by the miners to the Government vary with tne locality. Gold-digging without Government authorization is prohibited by law under most severe penalties. Among the richest goldfields in Korea are Phyong Kang, not far from the Han, and Keum-San in Phyong-an Do, not far from the Tai-dong. The larger wash- ings collect as elsewhere the scum of the country, and riots often occur among the miners. I know not on which subject the Korean ,s the more voluble, tigers or gold. He is proud of Korea as a gold-producing country, and speaks as if its dust were golden sand I The groves of Spanish chestnuts with which the North Han Natural Beauty— The Rapids 109 is fringed gave off an overpowering odor. Their fruit is an important article of diet. Usually the arable land below the villages IS little more than u terrace, but on the hillsides above the gram rippled in long yellow waves in the breeze, and the hills constantly swing apart and reveal terraced valleys and brown orchard embowered hamlets; or slightly receding ex- pose stretches of white sand or heaps of fantastic boulders. After two days of severe work we reached the beautifully situated town of Ka-phyong, which straggles along the valley of a small tributary of the Han on slopes backed by high mountains which, following the usual Korean custom, are with- out names. The bright green of the wheat fields, varied by the darker green of clumps of conifers and chestnuts, arranged as If oy a landscape gardener, and the lines of trees along the river bank were enchanting, but Ka-phyong does not bear close inspection. The telegraph wire from Seoul to Won-san crosses the river at Sin-gang Kam, and there is actually a tele- graph station at Chun-chon, the most important town of that region, at which messages are received and sent about once a month ! Chun-chon is four miles from the Han on its left bank It IS fortified, and has nominally a garrison of 300 men. Hav- uig a population of 3,000, and being in the centre of a fine agricultural district, it is a place of some trade, as trade is understood in Korea. Just below it the Han, after running for some distance below a lofty quartz ridge, makes an abrupt turn and penetrates it, the walls of the passage having the regularity of a railway cutting, while the bed of the stream is of pure white quartz. Beyond this singular gateway the river valley opens out, and the spectacle, rare in Korea, of cattle is to be seen. Indeed. I only once saw cattle feeding elsewhere. The grass is coarse and sour, and hand feeding is customary. It was most pleas- ant to be awoke in the dewy morning by bellowing of cattle, shouts and laughter of boys and yelping of dogs, as bulls old f ri 110 Korea and Her Neighbors and young were driven to the river bank to be tethered in the flowery grass. The frolicsome bull calves, which are brought up in the Korean home, and are attended to by the children, who are their natural playmates, develop under such treatment into t maturity of mingled gentleness and stateliness which is characteristic of the Korean bull,— the one grand thing re- maining to Korea, When full grown a bull can carry from 350 to SCO lbs. They are fed on boiled beans, cut millet stalks, and cut pea haulm, and the water in which the beans are boiled. They are led by a rope passed round the horns from a bamboo ring in the nose. The prevailing color is a warm red, and the huge animal in build much resembles the shorthorn. The Korean cow, which is to be seen carrying loads in Northern Korea, is a worthy dam of such a splendid progeny. The scenery, though always pretty, becomes monotonous after a few days, and monotonous too were the adventures in the rapids, which were innumerable, and the ceaseless toiling, dragging, and tugging they involved. Reaching Won-chon, a post station on the road to Won-san, we halted and engaged horses for a land journey, at a very high rate, but they and their mapu or grooms turned out well, and as Wong senten- tiously remarked, "If you pay well, you will be served well." The agreement, which I caused to be put into writing, and which I made use of in other journeys, with much mutual satisfaction, was duly signed, and we continued the boat journey. After spending half a day at the prefectural town of Nang- chhon, where I am glad to record that the officials were very courteous, we ascended the Han to a point above the wild hamlet of Ut-Kiri, on a severe rapid full of jagged rocks. Ut-Kiri is above the head of low water navigation, but in two summer months during the rains small boats can reach Ku-mu- nio, " the last village," 20 // higher. It was a wild termina- tion of the long boat journey. An abrupt turn of the river, Natural Beauty— The Rapids m and its monotonous prettiness is left beliind, and there is a superb mountain view of saddleback ridges and lofty gray peaks surrounding a dark expanse of water, with a margin of gray boulders and needles of gray rock draped with the Ampelopsis, a yellow clematis, and a white honeysuckle. It was somewhat sad not to be able to penetrate the grim austerity to the northward, but the rapids were so severe and the water ofttimes so hallow that it was impossible to drag the sampan farther, though at that time she only drew 2 inches of water. From Ma-chai on the forks she had been poled and dragged up forty rapids, making eighty-six on the whole journey. From the thinly peopled solitudes of these upper waters we descended rapidly, though not without some severe bumps, to the populous river banks, where villages are half hidden among orchards and chestnut and mulberry groves, and the crops are heavy, and that abundance of the necessaries of life which in Korea passes for prosperity is the rule. Ta-rai, a neat, prosperous place of 240 people, among orchards, and hillsides terraced and bearing superb crops is an example of the riverine villages. Its houses are built step above step along the sides of a ravine, down which a perennial stream flows, affording water power for an automatic rice hull- mg machi-e. For exports and imports the Han at high water is a cheap and convenient highway. The hill slopes above the village, with their rich soil, afford space for agricul- tural expans.on for years to come. And not to dwell alto- gether on the material, there is a shrine of much repute on a fork-bke slope near the river. It contains a group of mirioks, in this case stones worn by the action of water into the sem- blance of human beings. The central figure, larger than life may even to a dull imagination represent a person carrying an iniant, and its eyes, nose, and mouth are touched in with Chma ink. It is surroundeu by Phallic symbols and mirioks, which may be supposed to represent children, and women make prayers and offerings in this shrine in the hope of ob- 112 Korea and Her Neighbors i 1 I taming a much coveted increase in their families, for male children are still regarded as a blessing in Korea, and " happy IS the man that hath his quiver full of them." Ka-phyong again, a small prefectural town of 400 houses ii^ miles from the river, is a good specimen of the small towns of the Han valley, with a rmnous yamgn, of course, with its non- producing mob of hangers-on. It is on the verge of an alluvial plain, rolling up to picturesque hil's, gashed by valleys, abounding in hamlets surrounded by chestnut g.oves and care- ful cultivation. The slopes above Ka-phyong break up into knolls richly wooded with conifers and hard-wood trees, fring- ing off into clumps and groups which would not do discredit to the slopes of Windsor. The people of a large district bring their produce into the town, and barter it for goods in the market. The telegraph wire to Won-san crosses the affluent on which Ka-phyong is built, and is carried along a bridle path which for some // runs along the river bank. Junks loaded 10 feet above their gunwales, as well as 4 feet outside of them with firewood, and large rafts were waiting for the water to rise. Boats were being built and great quantities of the strong rope used for towing and other purposes, which is made from a "creeper" which grows profusely in Central Korea, were awaiting water carriage. Yet Ka-phyong, like other small Korean towns, has no life or go. Its " merchants " are but pedlars, its commercial ideas do not rise above those of the huckster, and though poverty, as we understand it, is unknown, prosperity as we understand it is absent. There are no special industries in any of the riverine towns, and if they were all to disappear in some catastrophe it would not cause a ripple on the surface of the general commercial apathy of the country. Similar remarks apply to the prefectural town of Nang- chhon, where we again wasted some hours, while Kim's rice was first bargained for and then cleaned. At that point there IS a fine deep stretch of the river 230 yards broad abounding Natural Beauty— The Rapids 113 in fish. From Nang-chh6n we dropped down the Han to a deep and pretty bay on which the small village of Paik-kui Mi IS situated, where we halted for Sunday, our last day in the sampan -^hxch had been a not altogether comfortless home for five weeks and a half. 3 t i !] / CHAPTER IX KOREAN MARRIAGE CUSTOMS pAIK-KUl MI was not without a certain degree of life on that 1 Sunday. A yang-l^an^s steward impressed boats for the gratuuous carr.age of tiles to Seoul, which caused a 1 tUe fie ble excitement among the junkmen. There was a sick ^rsoT and a .^ ^r female exorcist was engaged during theTcJ; day n the attempt to expel the malevolent daemon which ws affl ctmg him the process being accompanied by the constln bals. Lastly, there was a marriage, and this deserves moTe " than a passing notice, marriage, burial, and exorcism with their ceremonials, being the outstanding features of KoTe'a" The Korean is nobody until he is married. He is a bein^ of no account, a «- hobbledehoy." The weddingi; tZ entrance on respectability and manhood, and mark! a lean ' wards on te social ladder. The youth, with long aimfd Zt" shTrt .rV" '''" ""^^'^ ''^"^ P'^'^^^ -' '^^ back, wear ng a sho t. girdled coat, and looking as if he had no placehthe * world though he may be quite grown up, and who "2 ' taken by strangers for a girl, is transformed by the formaTre ZZ: Tr ^^^'■^\--^'^-^ ^^e binding cereZn of marriage. He has received the tonsure, and the long hair sur rounding ,t is drawn into the now celebrated topknot" He .s invested with the mangan, a crownless skullcap or fi^;t of horsehair, without which, thereafter, he is never seen He •The notes on marriage customs which follow were Hven me bv Pn» l.sh-speakmg Koreans and were taken down at the tiSr ^h.^ T chiefly to the middle class. ' ^^^ ^PP^^ "4 / I / Korean Marriage Customs >»5 wears a black hat and a long full coat, and his awkward ..it s metamorphosed into a dignified swing. His boy conZlZl u^ be^me his inferiors. His nam^takes the Ic S 7 inthnr. r ' '.'^'^""•^'fi-^ »^"«' '>e used in addressing him- '" sho t from be.ng a " nobody " he becomes a " somebody." A g rl by marrying fulfils her " manifest destiny." Spins- rhood .n Korea .s relegated to the Buddhist nunneries, w'here t has no reputation for sanctity. Absolutely secluded in the •nner court of her father's house from the age of seven a . r 1 passes abc -t the age of seventeen to the absolute c us'ion^f the inner rooms of her father-in-law's house. The o d es are broken, and her husband's home is thenceforth her pWson covers a lelt hardship. It ,s needless to add that the younjr coufjes do not choose each other. The marriage is a raS by the fathers, and is consented to as a matter of course. A tnan gams the reputation of being a neglectful father who a ows h.s son to reach the age of twenty unmarried Seven- teen or eighteen is the usual age at which a man marries 1 g.rl may go through the marriage ceremony as a m^e "h id it her parents think an '. eligible " may slip through th rtgerf IS sixteen. On the other hand, boys of ten and twelve years of age are constantly married when their parents for any reason w.sh to see the affair settled and a desirable connectiorpre sents uself and the yellow hats and pink and blue c^s ad z:^:r^^::L'' "^'^ ''''''''---- -^^ A go-bet»eEn is generally employed for Ihe preliminary ar- rangemenrs. No money is given to the bride'^ farter by the bndegroom nor does ,he daughter receive a dowry, bm she fe snpp ,ed .v„h a large ,«„„„„, „,,i,h .-^ ^^ ^^^IS^^ marnage chests with brass clamps and decorations. Theris no betrothal ceremony, and after the arrangement hasten made the marr,age may be delayed for weeks or even monTta -' ' f Il6 Korea and Her Neighbors Wl,en it is thought desirable that it should take place, but not u.lt.1 the evening before, the bridegroom's father sends a sort of marnage-contract to the br.de's father, who receives it with- out replying, and two pieces of silk are sent to the bride, out of^whah her outer garments must be made for the mar;iage enf.rT^' °f "^'" ^^^••^•"g m 'ilk lanterns bear this pres- ent to the bnde, and on the way are met by a party of men from her father's house bearing torches, and a'figUeLr w .d. ,s often more than a make-believe one, for seLus bloJ; are exchanged, and on both sides some are hurt. Death Zl If theT? ""."""" ^° '°"°^°" ^^^-""^« -eived L h ^".^'f "^"^^ P'^'y '•« worsted in the »,e/,e it is a sign that h. W.11 have bad luck; if the bride's, that she will have m.sfortunes. The night before the marriage the parents of the bnde and groom sacrifice in their respective houses before the ancestral tablets, and acquaint the ancestors with the ev nl which IS to occur on the morrow. The auspicious day having been decided on by the sorcerer m Court dress, leaves h.s father's house, and on that occasion only a plebeian can pass a yang-^an on the road without dis- mounting. Two men walk before him, one carrying a white umbrella, and the other, who is dressed in red cloth,', goo e which is the emblem of conjugal fidelity. He is also attended se^trL""'" carrying unlighted red silk lanterns, by various ervants, by a married brother, if he has one. or by his father from Z T. ^Vr'""^' ''^ '"^'"^'•°" ■- '^'^^ the g-se from the hands of the man in red, goes into the housefand efved 77 " '''^' ^^^^-^^ °f ^'^■■^ ^-^'^^ -t --t be ob- Tnd is. •'""'""'' '''"'^^^ only required from the wife, and IS a feminine virtue only leadTheTr "'° "! ""^ *° '^''''' °" -^'^ occasions lead the bride on to the veranda, or an estrade. and place her opposite the bridegroo.n, who stands facing her, but at some Korean Marriage Customs i»7 little distance from her. The wedding guests fill the court- yard. This ,s the man's first view of his future wife. She may have seen h.m through a chink in the lattice or a hole in tl^e wall. A queer object she is to our thinking. Her fa e covered wah white powder, patched with spots of red, and h eyehds are glued together by an adhesive compound. At 1 e -t^afon of her attendants she bows twice t^her lord ad tion'wr V'T '" '"• '' '^ '''■■^ P"^"^ --FO-l "salu- tation which alone constitutes a valid marriage After it if he repudiates her, he cannot take another wiff. The pe L nence of the marriage tie is fully recognized in Kore t'o" . a man can form as many illicit connections as he chooses A ll^s'it '' " ''"''' ^° '''' »^''^^' ^ho merely set1,eforT[he I'T ^'" '"'" ' *^''^ "'^'^ ^ ^-'"^J^ ^'""er is set before the husband. a eats sparingly. The bride retires to he won,en's rooms, and the groom rejoices with his fr k Each . ; ''"'^""^'- '^'"" ^' "° simultaneous banq" Each guest on arriving is supplied with a table of food. S h 1 ; T ° "'•^' ^"^ ^ ^^"-y <=''eap wedding costs seven y-five^.„ so that several daughters are' misfor une Durinp the afternoon the husband returns to his father', house and after a time the bride, bundled p in ^ nss If wedding clothes, and with her eyelids still sealed tte 2" by the two women mentioned before, some hired g rls .nd men w.th lanterns, goes thither also, in a rigidly dosed c air n the gay decorations of which red predominates. Ther I ^ " oTles ' " '^'"^ ^"' -other-in-law, to whom sfe bow the htse of 7""' 'P'"'^"^- ''^^ '^ ^'^^" --^^ back to the house of her own parents, her eyelids are unsealed, and the powder ,s washed from her face. At five her husband ar nves but returns to his father's house on the followi g morn. •ng, this process of going and returning being repeated for i h ,- i) , '■ il^i nm ii8 Korea and Her Neighbors tV: \fZ "'? '': '"'^ '' ^-'^^ - ^ PJ- chair to she i Ino«.r ' '•'" '°"^ °^ '''' parents-in-law, where bir^h ^-,"7' ^T"f °" '^''" ''^^ ^^'- P"«"t« soon after her brth s dropped, and she is known thereafter only as "the b d HH "' '"I °' " '''' "^^"^^^ °^ so -"d so." 'ner hus band addresses her by the word ja^u, signifying'^Look here " whjch ^s significant of her relations to hinf ^ Silence is regarded as a wife's first duty. During the whole of the marnage day the bride must be as mute as a statue f ofydT,' ""f r ^"" -"^'^^ ^ ^'^" ^^^ becomes aTobie of ridicule, and her silence must remain unbroken even h^hel own room, though her husband may attempt to break i bl taunts jeers, or coaxing, for the female servants are aU on th^ ^m vw. for such a breach of etiquette as neech i about the doors and chinks to catch up nrgoslpe^.;"! reVctcirVhr'?"' rT ^- -^--'^-e: ner circ e This custopi of silence is observed with th*. greatest rigidity in the higher classes. It may be a week or several months before the husband knows the's^ „d of h wife s voice, and even after that for a length of tim^ «l,! opens her mouth for necessary speech. ^^Z^^L the law of silence is even more rigid. The daughter-in-laT : woXi-r ^^^'^^"^ '-'''^ '- '^- ^° ^- -^^-si:^ few'^'f f: iThr";;""' '"'" ^° '^ ''"^^^"^' ^"* ^e has withL^;;-j\--tt=^ scorn and ridicule if he showed her affection or trt ted 1 1 a companion. Among the upper classes a bd 1 groo^ t passing three or four days with his wife, leaves hTfor ; con siderable time to show his indifference T^ . '^^^ ^ *^on- would be "bad fnrm >• AT /"°'"^'^^"ce. To act otherwise of imerests and ZT , ' 'T"''''''' '' '^''' "'« community interests and occupations which poverty gives, and the em- Korean Marriage Customs no bargo which it lays on other connections, in Korea as in some other Oriental countries, produces happier marriages among the lower orders than among the higher. Korean women have always borne the yoke. They accept inferiority as their natural lot; they do not look for affection in marriage, and probably the idea of breaking custom never occurs to them. Usually they submit quietly to the rule of the belle-mire, and those who are insubordinate and provoke scenes of anger and scandal are reduced to order by a severe beating, when they are women of the people. But in the noble class custom for- bids a husband to strike his wife, and as his only remedy is a ' divorce, and remarriage is difficult, he usually resigns himself to his fate. But if, in addition to tormenting him and de- stroying the peace of his house, the wife is unfaithful, he can take her to a mandarin, who. after giving her a severe beating may bestow her on a satellite. The seclusion of girls in the parental home is carried on after marriage, and in the case of women of the upper and middle classes is as complete as is possible. They never go out by daylight except in completely closed chairs. At night attended by a woman and a servant with a lantern, and with I mantle over her head, a wife may stir abroad and visit her fe- male friends, but never without her husband's permission, who requires or may require, proof that the visit has been actually paid. Shopping is done by servants, or goods are brought to the veranda, the vendors discreetly retiring. Time, which among the leisured classes hangs heavily on the hands, is spent in spasmodic cooking, sewing, embroidering, reading very light literature in En-mun, and in the never-failing resources of gossip and the interminable discussion of babies If a wife IS very dull indeed, she can, with her husband's permis- sion, send for actors, or rather posturing reciters, to the com- pound, and look at them through the chinks of the bamboo blinds Through these also many Korean ladies have seen the splendors of the Kttr-dong. n 120 Korea and Her Neighbors improved. Girls, as being unable to support their parents in a e Z thV° '"'"". ''' ^"^^^^^^^ "*-' '- not pLTasto are, yet they are neither superfluous nor unwelcome as in .nl! Eastern countries The birth of a girl is not Tade an^Z sion for rejoicing, but that of the firstborn son is and Jt^T rndKand are p„. .„ sleep by >.i., t.^, U.M^Z: Z ft / -7 ^ /'J '/ A KOREAN LADY. I CHAPTER X THE KOREAN PONY-KOREAN ROADS AND INNS A GRAY and murky morning darkening into drizzle, which ^ 4. ""ckened into a dav*s noiirino r^.v . "^' '^""=" becinn-. ,f „ i ,' .^'"'""8 ™n. "as an inauspicious no«h ■ , h a i ^ " '""'•"'''• ''"' ">' crawling „p ,he wcl s ab,f T"" "'°"'"°"°"» -" ^"-'8' -d actio, «nged th ?ol f "^ r "t*™"c«' -"leteer, I had ar- Z,T„ '^'''' '"">' «" "J""^% as to obviate tl,e r„ wir /""T "' ""-^^ " grooms at starting I The men were not regular m° to con,?; .i.e co:r:^^ri-™ ;':r '""»' -^ ""> - A European wo^' h d ofbT :' Z ^^ ^' "'"^ "°™"- journey, and I suffered aeeo d ng . ^1.7 ""^ °' "" as a specimen . ^^' ^^'^■P^"g Kori may serve My quarters were opoosite tn fr,« ^ • of the foul and erowdXourlrd "^T' °" ' """^'"^ with a space under ,1,. J7 , ""' *"' '"o rooms, on which the^ri, ,i ir " "«?' '""'" ""^^ "»" tablished Wmsel 'w = 'ff '^^^^ -"^P"''^". =» culty, and a li.ele rice left "^ r ^^«' "'""""''»■'"> *«!- room had .hre papeTd l""' ^T "'?r' ''"^- "^ filled up with a crowd „f„ ""''"''' "P"" »' once paper w'a s o „ off"' JZT' T'"' """ '""'"'"• A" ">' faces ,00k its pt ' I h ,'/ " "?' "' ^'■">' """^oHan sticks were produced a„5 1 ' '™''™ ""'""'' •"« '""K middle Of ,he room xt '^ T,"" ""'' P*'' '"'" '^^ filled .he small Z°e nM o""""*. '?"''' '" '"' ""O"' '"d small space nol occupied by myself and my gear The Korean Pony-Roads and Inns 127 The women and children saf nn r«., k ^ • . in long p,.,s down their backs. T^^::^^:^^ Wong cSd the r. ^'""P^^^f^. °f 800, were intolerable, they 1 ed 1 ir "" ' "''^ ''"'"' '"^ ^"^gested that when ZhZ ^ ^^ '" ^^^'"' *^^>' should find me sitting on the bed cleaning „,y revolver, a suggestion I accep d ^He dor'LSTn^r:;:/" Tr'^i; ""'f -'-^ "'^' -^^ -■ markets, are al™ fo„ ,h l^!'""'/'" ^°'"^ ^PP'^ *« tempting to deprive nthf^rc r.r ^i ', r.''^^ Keeping and at- Th/fea? or tiger:ir;:m:?^^^^^^^^^ 'ng by night, which is as well, as the S of 'ffi ''"'"' ' e^ v?C^;;'r ^° .^--^ - escortXlbe^ f;: fa~'cL'^^,^^^^^^^^^^ the way- torches, yelling, and be t; g t ThTd' '^T "\"^^'"^ is so universal as to warrant thlrv "^ °^ '^' ''^^' "The KnrP.n r , '?'^'^"t t'le Chinese proverbial sayine. The Korean hunts the tiger one half of the year, and th; I 'M ii { 128 Korea and Her Neighbors tiger hunts the Korean tlie other half." As I have before re- marked, the mandarins and yangbans, with their trains, quarter themselves on the magistracies, and eat the fat of the land. Should they be compelled to have recourse to the dis- comforts of an inn and the food of a village, they appropriate the best of everything without paying for it. Hence the visit of a foreigner armed with a kwan-ja is such an object of dread that on this land journey I never let it be known that I had one, and on my second journey discarded it altogether, trust- mg in both to the reputation for scrupulous honesty which I at once established with my men to overcome the repugnance which the innkeepers felt to receiving me. The roads along which the traveller rides or trudges, at a pace, in either case, of 3 miles an hour, are simply infamous. There are few made roads, and those which exist are deep in dust m summer and in mud in winter, where they are not polished tracks over irregular surfaces and ledges of rock In most cases they are merely paths worn by the passage of animals and men into some degree of legibility. Many of the streams are unbridged, and most of the bridges, the roadways of which are only of twigs and sod, are carried away by the rains of early July, and are not restored till the middle of October. In some regions traffic has to betake itself to fords or femes when it reaches a stream, with their necessary risks and detentions. Even on the "Six Great Roads" which centre m the capital, the bridges are apt to be in such a rot- ten condition that a mapu usually goes over in advance of his horses to ascertain if they will bear their weight. Among the mountains, roads are frequently nothing else than boulder- strewn torrent beds, and on the best, that between Seoul and Chemulpo, during the winter, there are tracts on which the mud IS fron, one to three feet deep. These infamous bridle tracks, of which I have had extensive experience, are one of the great hindrances to the development of Korea Among the worst of these is that part of the main road from ^ The Korean Pony— Roads and Inns 129 Seoul to Won-san wliich we followed from Sar-pang Kori for two days to Sang-nang Dung, where we branched off for the region known as Keum-Kang San, or the Diamond Mountain. Ihe earlier part of this route was through wooded valleys where lilies of the valley carpeted the ground, and over the very pretty pass of Chyu-pha (1,300 feet), on the top of which IS a large spirit shrine, containing some coarsely painted pictures of men who look like Chinese generals, the usual of- ferings of old shoes, lags, and infinitesimal portions of rice and a tablet inscribed, "I, the spirit Song-an-chi, dwell in this place." There, as at the various trees hung with rags and the heaps of stones on the tops of passes, the mapu bowed and expectorated, as is customary at the abodes of daemons. More than once we passed not far from houses outside of which the mutang or sorceress, with much feasting, beating of drums, and clashing of cymbals, was exercising the d^raon w.i!ch had caused the sickness of some person within Por- tions of the expensive feast prepared on these occasions are offered to the evil spirit, and after the exorcism part of the food so offered is given to the patient, in the belief that it is a curative medicine, often seriously aggravating the disease, as when a patient suffering from typhoid fever or dysentery is stuffed with pork or kimshi / Recently a case c, me under the notice of Dr. Jaisohn {So Chat pil) in Seoul, in which a man, suffering from the latter malady, died immediately after eating raw turnips, given him by the mutang after being offered to the demons at the usual feast at the ceremony of exorcism There is much wet rice along the route, as well as dry rice, with a double line of beans between every two rows, and in the rice revel and croak large frogs of extreme beauty, vivid green with black velvet spots, the under side of the legs and bodies being cardinal red. These appeared to be the prey of the graceful white and pink ibis, the latter in the intensified Hush of his spring coloring. A descent from a second pass leads to the Keum-San Kang, «t.'i. jiiXl 130 Korea and Her Neighbors a largish liver in a rich agricultural region, and to the village of Pan-pyong, where they weic making in the rudest fashion the great cast-iron pots used for boiling horse food, from iron obtained and smelted 33 // farther north. On two successive days there were tremendous thimder- storms, the second succeeded, just as we were at the head of a wild glen, by a brief tornado, which nearly blew over the ponies, and snapped trees of some size as though they h.t ! been matchwood. Then came a profound calm. The clouds lay banked in pink illuminated masses on a sky of tender green, rleft by gray mountain peaks. Mountain torrents boomed, crashed, sparkled, and foamed, the silent wo(./ls re- joiced the eye by the vividness of their greenery and their masses of white and yellow blossom, and sweet heavy odors enriched the evening air. On that and several other occasions, I recognized that Korea has its own special beauties, which fix themselves in the memory ; but they must be sought for in spring and autumn, and off the beaten track. Dirty and squalid as the villages are, at a little distance their deep-eaved brown roofs, massed among orchards, on gentle slopes, or on the banks of sparkling streams, add color and life to the scenery, and men in their queer white clothes and dress hats, with their firm tread, and bundled-up women, with a shoggling walk and long staffs, brought round with a semicircular swing at every step, are adjuncts which one would not willingly dis- pense with. Before reaching the Paik-yang Kang, a broad, full river, an affluent of the northern Han, with singularly abrupt turns and perpendicular cliffs of a formation resembling that of the Palisades on the Hudson River, we crossed one of the great lava fields described by Consul Carles.* This, which we crossed in a northeasterly direction, is a rough oval about 40 miles by 30, a tableland, in fact, sur- ' " Recent Journeys in Korea," Proceedings 0/ the Royal Geographical Society, May, 1896. # The Korean Pony— Roads and Inns 131 rounded by a deep chasm where the torrents which encircle It meet the mountains. Its plateaux are from 60 to 100 feet above these streams, which are all affluents of the Hi„ and are supported on palisades of basalt, exhibiting the pris- rnatic columnar formation in ;:; very ,Jriking manner. In some places the lava, which is oflf . covered .ither with conglomerate or a stiffish clay, is very ne,r : ,e surf- ,.e. and large blocks of " lie along the streams. It ••; ., mo'.= fertile tract, and could support a large population, b.;' not being suited for rice is very little cultivated, and grows chiefly oats, njilkt, and beans which are not affected by the strong winds. ' There are two Dolmens, not far from the Paik-yang Kang In one the upper stone is from 7 to 10 feet long, by 7 feei wide, and ,7 inches deep, resting on three stones 4 feet 2 Iftl r ^^'^ "^^^ '''^'' '' '°™^^^^* ^'"^"^^- The openings of both face due north. ^ After crossing the Paik-yang Kang, there 162 yards wide and 16 feet deep, by a ferry boat of remarkably ingenious con- struction rendered necessary by the fact that the long bridge over the broad stream was in ruins, and that the appropriation for us reconstruction had been diverted by the local officials to their own enrichment, we entered the spurs or ribs of the great mountain chain which, running north and south, divides H^VZX. "' ""'"'' '"''"'"^^ p"'°" '' *^^ ^^^■ The scenery became very varied and pretty. Forests clothed rnany of the hills .ith a fair blossoming undergrowth untouched by the fuel gatherers' remorseless hook; tor en^ Irded " °T ''r^' '^^'' '"^^^ ^^^^^g^' - bubbled and gu g^d out of sight; the little patches of cultivation were cal^fd rotdT"' n T" '^" "^'^^''^^"^^' -^ *he tracks called roads were little better than the stony beds of streams. A they became less and less obvious, and the valleys more solitary our tergiversations were more frequent and prolonged. the mapu drove the ponies as fast as they could walk, the ford l( i 11 li; ii m 1 ( ;|fr '. iij'.i 1'^ i ; V • ! ru M 132 Korea and Her Neighbors I were many and deep, and two of the party were unhorsed in them, still we hurried on faster and faster. Not a word was spoken, but I knew that the men had tiger on the brain / Blundering through the twilight, it was dark when we reached the lower village of Ma-ri Kei, where we were to halt for the night, two miles from the Pass of Tan-pa-Ryong, which was to be crossed the next day. There the villagers could not or would not take us in. They said they had neither rice nor beans, which may have been true so late in the spring. How- ever, it is, or then was, Korean law that if a village could not entertain travellers it must convoy them to the next halt- ing-place. The mapti were frantic. They yelled and stormed and banged at the hovels, and succeeded in turning out four sleepy peasants, who were reinforced by four more a little farther on ; but the torches were too short, and after sputtering and flaring' went out one by one, and the fresh ones lighted slowly. The mapu lost their reason. They thrashed the torchbearers with their heavy sticks; I lashed my mapu with my light whip for doing it; they yelled, they danced. Then things improved. Gloriously glared the pine knots on the leaping crystal torrents that we forded, reddening the white clothes of the men and the stony track and the warm-tinted stems of the pines, and so with shouts and yells and waving torches we passed up the wooded glen in the frosty night air, under a firmament of stars, to the mountain hamlet of upper Ma-ri Kei, consisting of five hovels, only three of whicl". were inhabited. It is a very forlorn place and very poor, and it was an hour before my party of eight human beings and four ponies were established in its miserable shelter, though even that was wel- come after being eleven hours in the saddle. A CHAPTER XI DIAMOND MOUNTAIN MONASTERIES TT was a glorious day for he Pass of Tan-pa-Ryong (1,320 J. feet above Ma-ri Kei), the western barrier . . the Keum- Kang San region. Mr. Campbell, of H.B.M.'s Consular i»ervice, one of the few Europeans who has crossed it, in his charming narrative mentions that it is impassable for laden ani- mals, and engaged porters for the ascent, but though the track IS nothing better than a torrent bed abounding in great boul- ders, angular and shelving rocks, and slippery corrugations of entangled tree roots, I rode over tiie worst part, and my ponies made nothing of carrying the baggage up the rock ladders. The mountain-side is covered with luxuriant and odorous vege- tation, specially oak, chestnut, hawthorn, varieties of maple pale pink azalea, and yellow clematis, interspersed with a kw distorted pines, primulas and lilies of the valley covering the mossy ground. ^ From the spirit shrine on the summit a lovely panorama un- folds Itself, billows of hilly woodland, gleams of water, wavy outlines of hills, backed by a jngged mountain wall, attaining an altitude of over 6,000 feet in the loftiest pinnacle of the Keum-Kang San. A fair land of promise, truly ! But this pass IS a nibicon to him who seeks the Diamond Mountain with the intention of immuring himself for life in one of its many monasteries. For its name. Tan-pa, "crop-hair," was bestowed on it early in the history of Korean Buddliism for a reason which remains. There those who have chosen the cbister emphasize their abandonment of the world by cutting off the ''topknot " of married dignity, or the heavy braid of bachelorhood. m m ■I n I . H i i f 'i\m t Un 133 »34 Korea and Her Neighbors The eastern descent of the Tan-pa-Ry6ng is by a series of zigzags, through woods and a profusion of varied and magnifi- cent ferns. A long day followed of ascents and descents, deep fords of turbulent streams, valley villages with terrace cultivation of buckwheat, and glimpses of gray rock needles through pme and persimmon groves, and in the late afternoon, after struggling through a rough ford in which the water was halfway up the sides of the ponies, we entered a gorge and struck a smooth, broad, well-made road, the work of the monks, which traverses a fine forest of pines and firs above a booming torrent. Towards evening "The hills swung open to the light ": through the parting branches there were glimpses of granit^ walls and peaks reddening into glory; red stems, glowing in he slant sunbeams, lighted up the blue gloom of the conifers ; there were glints of foam from the loud-tongued torrent below the dew fell heavily, laden with aromatic odors of pines, and as the valley narrowed again and the blue shadows fell the picture was as fair as one could hope to see. The monks, though road-makers, are not bridge-builders, and there were difficult fords to cross, through which the ponies were left to struggle by themselves, the mapu crossing on single logs In the deep water I discovered that its temperature was almost icy. The worst ford is at the point where the first view of Chang-an Sa, the Temple of Eternal Rest, the oldest of the Keum-Kang San monasteries, is obtained, a great pile of tern- pie buildings with deep curved roofs, in a glorious situation, crowded upon a small g, sy plateau in one of the narrowest ^Ta-^ ^^^'^^' ""''"^ ^'^^ mountains fall back a little and afi-ord Buddhism a peaceful shelter, secluded from the outer world by snow for four months of the year. Crossing the torrent and passing under ^Xohy Hon^-Sal- Mun OT "red arrow gate," significant in Korea of the patron- age of royalty, we were at once among the Chang-an Sa build- ings, which consist of temples large and small, a stage for Diamond Mountain Monasteries 13^ religious dramas, bell and tablet houses, stables for the ponies of wayfarers, cells, dormitories, and a refectory for the abbo and monks, quarters for servants and neophytes, huge kitchens IZ r?;"' T' ' """"^^^- B-^es'thJe there a"; quarters devoted to the lame, halt, blind, infirm, and solitary; to widows, orphans, and the destitute. These guests, numbering 100, seemed well treated Be- ZreZt' '''''"''' '".^ ^''' P'^'P^""^ ^°^ '^' Fi^thood UD To e 'h^ '" ""'' '"' '° """^ °' ^" ^S^^' ^^°- girlhood up to eighty-seven years. This large number of persons is supported by the rent and produce of Church lands outs de the mountains, the contributions of pilgrims and guests the expeditions even up to the gates of Seoul, which at that time "was death for any priest to enter, and benefactions from the late Queen, which had become increasingly liberal vard on^"*,'"'"^'''''?" °^ '•'' P^"'""" ""' '^'' '^ ^^^ ^ wood- yard on a large scale. Great logs and piles of planks were heaped under the stately pines and under a superb'jj;^;^ JT^ "'. V '''' " ''''''' 4° carpenters were saw^nl planing and hammering, and 40 or jo laborers were hau n^ m logs to the music of a wild chant, for mendicant effort had been resorted to energetically, with the result that the great Zfir "'"'""' "P""' ''""''' amounting to a re'con JJ iTihl'T^"\7r'"''''' '"^ "^""^^^'^ ^^""^« which and snnnl "u ^'""'''"' ""'^^"^'"^ "^ picturesqueness and supplying it with a religious and human interest, Chang-an Sa may be taken as a fair specimen of the three largest Is it .s undoubtedly the oldest, assuming the correctness'o 'a i - tor la, record quoted by Mr. Campbell, which gives the date of us restoration by two monks, Yul-sa and Chin h'yo, as a 7 515, in the reign of Pop-heung, a king of Silla. then the mosi important of the kingdoms, afterwards amalgamated alKo'ea The large temple is a fine old building of the type adapted I '1 i ii ' ■ .■ |i| ii 'III it, A PiW \lii Si .! 136 Korea and Her Neighbors from Chinese Buddhist architecture, oblong, with a heavy tiled roof 48 feet in height, with wings, deep eaves protecting masses of richly-colored wood-carving. The lofty reticulated roof is internally supported on an arrangement of heavy beams, elaborately carved and painted in rich colors The panels of the doors, which serve as windows, and let in a "d.ni religious light," are bold fretwork, decorated in colors enriched with gold. The roofs of the actual shrines are supported on wooden pillars 3 feet in diameter, formed of single trees, and the panelled ceilings are embellished with intricate designs in col- ors and gold. In one Sakyamuni's image, with a distinctly Hindu cast of r juntenance, and a look of ineffable abstrac- tion, sits under a highly decorative reticulated wooden canopy, with an altar before it, on which are brass inconse burners, books of prayer, and lists of those deceased persons for whose souls masses have been duly paid for. Much rich brocado soiled and dusty, and many gonfalons, hang round this shrine. The "Hall of the Four Sages" contains three Buddhas in different attitudes of abstraction or meditation, a picture wonderfully worked in gold and silks in Chinese embroidery' of Buddha and his disciples, for which the monks claim an antiquity of fourteen centuries, and sixteen Lohans, with their attendants. Along the side walls are a host of daemons and animals. Another striking shrine is that dedicated to the Lord of the Buddhistic Hell and his ten princes. The monks call It the " Temple of the Ten Judges." This is a shrine of great resort, and is much blackened by the smoke of incense and candles, but the infernal torments depicted in the pictures at the back of each judge are only too conspicuous. They are horrible beyond conception, and show a diabolical genius in hellish art, akin to that which inspired the creation of the groups in the Inferno of the temple of Kwan-yin at Ting-hai on Chusan, familiar to some of my readers. Besides the ecclesiastical buildings and'the common guest- Diamond Mountain Monasteries 137 room, there are Governn. ^nt buildings marked with the Korean national emblem, for the use of officials who go up to Chang- an ba for pleasure. It was difficult for me to find accommodation, but eventually a very pleasing young priest of high rank gave up his cell to me. Unfortunately, it was next the guests' kitchen, and the flues from the fires passing under it, I was baked in a tempera- ture of 91°, although, in spite of warnings about tigers, the dangers from which are by no means imaginary, I kept both door and window open all night. The cell h.d for its furni- ure a shnne of Gautama and an image of Kwan-yin on a shelf and a few books, which I learned were Buddhist classics, not volumes, as in a cell which I occupied later, full of pic- tures by no means inculcating holiness. In the next room, equally hot, and without a chink open for ventilation, thirt^ guests moaned and tossed all night, a single candle dimly I'ghting a picture of Buddha and the dusty and hideous orna- ments on the altar below. A 9 P.M midnight, and again at 4 a.m., which is the hour at which the monks rise, bells were rung, cymbals and gongs were beaten, and the praises of Buddha were chanted in an unknown tongue. A feature at once cheerful and cheerless is the presence at Chang-an Sa of a number of bright, active, orphan boys from ten to thirteen years old, who are at presen servitors, but who will one day become priests It IS an exercise of forbearance to abstain from writing much abou the beaur.es of Chang-an Sa as seen in two days of per- f ct heavenliness. It is a calm retreat, that small, green, mjcircular plateau which the receding hills have left walling in tl^ bade a^d sides with rocky precipices half cloui.d with forest, while the bridgeless torrent in front, raging and thun- denn ^uge boulders of pink granite, sfcufdes it from reA ''; V'^^^^'7"'"'-°"«- Alike in the rose of sunrise, in the red and gdd of sunset, or gleaming steely blue in the prosaic gla.e of midday, the great rock peak on the left bank, one of hi m f ?■ .Ml : >l 5 5 ' If , t f:i 138 Korea and Her Neighbors the highest in the range, compels ceaseless admiration Th. appearance of its huge vertical topmost ribs h '5! ^^I of «,; dis0;V"' hf^ "■^■^ Diamond Mountain Monasteries 139 number of peaks is probably nearer i..co than i.,ooo. Their ye low granite pmnacles, weathered into silver gay, rose up drape the r lower he.ghts-winter above and summer below- tw l.ght till each glowing summit died out as lamps which are extinguished one by one, and the whole took on the ashy hu" The situation of P'yo-un Sa is romantic, on the right bank of the torren , and is approached by a bridge, and by passing und r several roofed gateways. The monastery had be n newly rebudt, and is one mass of fretwork, carvhig. gilding and color, the whole decoration being the work of tt monks The front of the "Temple of the Believing Mind" is a magnificent piece of bold wood-carving, the L/ being he IrJ' . 7r' °' "" '"''^'"^ -'^■^h is not stone of tUe mal be'h H "T' " '•"^' "^' "'^'^^' g-"' -d gold ^' i'mnl nf tT' '"' '!, '' '"'"'^ ^P'^"^-- There too is BudJh.?. °^ J"^^'"^"*' ^'th hideous representations of the which the deeds of men's mortal lives are written. The fifty monks of P'yo-un Sa were very friendly, and not ZseT;":. """f ' ^" *° '"^ ^'« --"'^^ cell, bu rep -d himself for the sacrifice b - .bulging in ceaseless staring The wind bells of the establish, ent and the big bell have Tmelodv ;"eHsTf an" "^' ^^ ' '"^ '^'''^ ^^^^^' -^ when a UA m' th n s, ep" ''Ze tones announced that ''prayer is'bette; than sleep, there was nothmt about the sounds to jar on the pu e freshness of morning. The monks ar. well dressed and jol y, and have a well-to-do air which clashes wU ny pre s tvi: ""'"'"^ ^'' "^^ °^ *^-« monasteriesTa strict vegetarianism which allows neither milk nor eass and mals. Not to wound the prejudices of my hosts, I lived on tea, rice, honey water, edible pine nuts, and a most satisfying > i I I ii*!! ■I. i 1^:1 ill? fi I V. r n '4° Korea and Her Neighbors monastery grounds, in order to die in its n Zhr T M a luxiirv Tl,? ' " exported in quantities soon are 'being seieT 'tLT' '"^ f '^' ="" '"" """"^ Th, 1,..i ■ ! " ''"""^J' '^ "'«> locally produced .he roctae: r" ,""""'' ''"" '™ "-gather in' cavh'sfn ...orr„:nerXT„:'r::';:s^^^^^^^^^^ X^re^d'tetit^Tr ^^ '- '^ "^ ""- ^n. or Seoul gains t^i. fXlt' rptZJ. ^ H^^: conta n,„g shnnes of pi,grin,age, for most Korea s despise Teh rielrM i'n" Ko^n ^J 't ^'"'^7 ' '^^"''=" an,! .v,„ -c ^'"uc(i, jagged, and inaccessibe Deak-Kang San can be pc ratd' tl^ one which, after following the bed of a singularly ro gh to which the" "■ T'^'"'^ '' An-mun-chai and'on o'r near tart^o^ ^: "/"' '"^ '"^^^"""^ P^^^- ^°^h routes Mrrreli^! '°° T"'' '"^ ^'""^ 5° nuns, who add to iie^r rehgious exercises the weaving of .otton and iiempen cloti> absou. .re than 300 of the whole number. AH except the gh monastic ..fficials beg through tl.e country, Is bo'w . hand the only distinctive features of their dress being a verv peculiar hat and the rosarv Th^,- k / 7 ,• ^ o A AX. c , rubdry. inej/ chant the 1 tan es of Buddha from house to hou^ ,nH ti,. • c , ''''"'^^ ^^ (r.r.A o„^ t J ■ "" "^^'^ are few who de them food and lodging and a few cash or a little rice. ''abbL'"-'T"-'' ""^T'^^^ °^^^ ^y what we should call abbots, superiors of the first or second class according to the importance of the establishment. These Chon, T' d Taction. Beyond the confirmation of tl,. election of th^ .he cl TZ ' T "««■»«' State interference. I„ >l>e case of restoring and rebuilding shrines, large sums are II M '42 Korea and Her Neighbors in Rn Mr'" ^'°"' '"^' '''' '""'''"" P^°^'"^^«' ^^ough faith in Buddhism as a creed rarely exists. On rnaking inquiries through Mr. Miller as to the way in wh.ch the number of monks is kept up, I learned that the m jonty are euher orphans or children whose parents have gi"n them to the monasteries at a very early age owing to povmy Ihese are more or less educated and trained by the monks' It must be supposed that among the number there are a few who escape from the weariness and friction of secular'^e imi a reg.on .n which seclusion and devotion are possTb e Of l>.s type was the pale and nueresting young priest ho gave up ^o^^^ '' ""'^Tl ''' ^"' ^^° '•' accompa^elus to Yu-chom Sa, one of whom chanted JVa Mu Ami Ta/1 rosary for each ten repetitions. Mr. Miller asked him what ^eaZ buMf "J"^'^r^'"^-ep,ied; ..theyhav:no meaning but if you say them many times you will get to heaven better." Then he gave Mr. Miller the ros y and aught him the mystic syllables, saying, .-Now, yo ke'; 1 e beads, say the words, and you will go to heaven." Tml the younger pnests several seemed in earnest. Others make the monasteries (as is largely the case with the celebmed shrines of Kwan-yin on the Chinese island of Pu-tu) a Xe from justice or creditors, some remain desiring peac ful h do ence, and not a few are vowed and tonsured who came implv As to the moribund Buddhism which has found its most se- ret-at in these mountains, it is overlaid with dlono . a ry and like that of China is smothered under a host 0^. deified heroes Of the lofty aims and aspirations after Hgl eousness which distinguish the great reforming sects r.apan such as the Monto, it knows nothing. '^ ' The monks are grossly ignorant and superstitious. They know nearly nothing of the history and tenets of their 'n < ( a 1( S n, 1 nianumd Mountain Monasteries ,43 cre«l, or of ,he purport of their li„„„i« „„,., , ■» .!« mumbling or loud i„.„ "™f Sa^'"'' "'.f '"l' ™sis„ of tlie meaning of wliich il„.„ i,, ' ' '■*""' !''"">«, .ion Of most „? tl e ml 1 CI 'Z ?k '""T""'- '^'>' '"'I""' - ab.oi„,.i, without :t:^'or zt, ri'T'-"' •niong a few, does not exist Th T ' ''^'"^f' ^''"P' >.« .0 .hem gross p,„,"cy "^,'^°'""""--ally at.riL of the large monasteriJir '"""= "' "■'»':l' '< one b« hetween .h r "ma ti^ 'T''""' ""' '" "^'^"""^ "-re order and quie.:i7t'l":f T'T' »-rou„dings, the and destitute, who fiM a pl™l '!;','''""*''- '" ">e old Ihe main their courtesy anH^r. •*'.""' """' """"' """ '■> ™ie .hat the, exercil^'^a " Im '""'' ' "" '^°"'P'"=-' "> "* •o remember their" tue, raTe , ""ir""?' "'" '"« ' P'^'" Mature by the their shrines. ""' Po^'""". ""d decoration of i. -^.'yTe X'msX!? ?■'"»"■ «^- "^« " -nes, this, in romantic posWons"" T T""'"" "'™"- Along Sa, Ma-ha-ly-a„ s'a ^^ Y„ " 'Ts^'h ■"r^'"'"''>-"° •n-aller shrines, with from ,„„, f ' "^"^'^ " """ber of especially, Po-t^a,^ f;™edTc:, d ToV""""'" '''"' °"' beyond description_a hmZ\T, f ™°-y'". piCuresque of a cliff, a. r heigh' of o" i et"* .'"'" °" f'""" "" ''« «n.re by a pillar, round which ,'■ , "i''''"""'' '«'°»' 'he and an A,nj>Lj>s, S„W IM""""'"* "'"'^ "^'^a.is, ieafage, had ent inedltSs'h" ;::;r ""* "' "^ ''""^ Sa. Vo^XTgh't^X:::^ C'^'^r "-■ Chang.. ->..wo,o„gpo4Jtha%:l:-t:iLT^^^^^ fs * '. *I I 1 ■ 1 1 :^r| M't ■ .. m ■ i rm 14^1- Korea and Her Neighbors of rope for the feet, and light uprights bound together with a wistaria rope to support tiie back, can be used, but the occu- pant of the chair has to walk much of the way. The torrent bed contracts above Chang-an'sa, opens out here and there, and above P'yo-un Sa narrows into a gash, only opening out again at the foot of the An-niun-chai. Surely the beauty of that ii miles is not much exceeded anywhere on earth. Colossal cliffs, upbearing mountains, forests, and gray gleaming peaks, rifted to give roothold to pines and maples ofttimes contracting till the blue heaven above is narrowed to a strip, boulders of pink granite 40 and 50 feet high, pines on their crests and ferns and lilies in their crevices, round which the clear waters swirl, before sliding down over smooth sur- faces of pink granite to rest awhile in deep pink pools where they take a more brilliant than an emerald green with the flash- ing lustre of a diamond—rocks and ledges over which the crys- tal stream dashes in drifts of foam, shelving rock surfaces on which the decorative Chinese characters, the laborious work of pilgrims, afford the only foothold, slides, steeper still, made passable for determined climbers by holes, drilled by the monks and fitted with pegs and rails, rocks with bas-reliefs, or small shrines of Buddha draped with flowering trailers, a cliff with a bas-relief of Buddha, 45 feet high on a pedestal 30 feet broad rocks carved into lanterns and altars, whose harsh outlines are softened by mosses and lichens, and above, huge timber and fantastic peaks rising into The summer heaven's delicious blue. A description can be only a catalogue. The actuality was in- toxicating, a canyon on the grandest scale, with every element of beauty present. This route cannot be traversed in European shoes. In Korean string foot-gear, however, I never slipped once. There was much jumping from boulder to boulder, much winding round rocky projections, clinging to their irregularities with scarcely foothold, and one's back to the torrent far below, and much r ii Diamond Mountain Monasteries ,4^ of the torrent bed hll™ "^ '"'' '° ''"" "" '"«■:''"!« *c,..eHa:t^olrt::r.:::-:^:\=r;^^^^^^^ normal rock and pool, such as the mUi w , ,' figure of Buddha referred ,„ t,.r *' '"'^ colossal bed of the stream tr'ah^^^^^^^^^^^^^ sattva, the Fire Dragon p!ol 7u ! ""^ "'^'^'^^' ^°d'"'- in the' fantaslfc Z;oti"^^^^^^^^^^ and the Lion Stone which reneS^^ ^'''''''^' nese invaders in 159. ^'"'"^ '^" ^'^"^"^^ °^ ^^e Japa- ^^'^:^:::t:::::^ sr ^-^^ i-^es wider and the s,y, and'final,, le^ ^g Js'^L^^^^^^^^^^ the open grassy summit of the An mun cZ ,1" "^ '° pears, cherries bln.h .,.1 ! """"-chai, on which plums, streamers of the erav „rL„ r , v ""^ <'«P«"^«"« of ,l,e ower oy itself. A dim paper lantern on a dustv rafter bareW gh e up .„e white-robed figure of the devoteef a cS ■he bell, cha„,n.g m a most musical voice a San crit litanv ^r : n Co? "^ T TT'' '"'-'"^ *= ''osrofrie Then ir r •'" "" ''"' '°- "'■'f =" ho" passed thus circled the bell with a greater and ever-increasini? m«i„' „r ?::![ fsiu :'':;?:;^i°:trf"'''"^ '^ ^"*'^'"^ ^ ^"-" seizins th. c ^^^"'""'^^'■^ "foment exhausted. Then. wo fn td "r "^' ""' '" ^'"^^ ^"" ^°"- -'^i'^h end th worship, and which are produced by striking the bell on the and down .evai^^r:;::";^^;:^^ youiig monk's sinceri', . 7 ha-.e not one doubt '' ;vhrr! ! "r '" "'" ^'''' '''''^'' " ^^^* " chamber of ima^jerv " Where a so itarv mrmi- ^ h .-,f»^ i, r ""'•fetrry, from a «ni;t , ' ^ ^^^^ ^^^"""^ ^" ^Itar in the light .%ht ,e/t cave.,!: ^. :;',: ; r:,^- ,;^',^» which eves and tpt^th ,.,^ , lerapie, from eyes and teeth, weapons, and arms and legs of other- h 148 Korea and Her Neighbors 'i ? wise invisible gods and devils sliowed uncannily. Behind the altar is a rude and monstrous piece of wood-carving represent- ing the upturned roots of a tree, among which fifty-three idols are sitting and standing. As well by daylight as in the dim- ness of midnight, there are an uncouthness and power about this gigantic representation which are very impressive. Beiow the carving are three frightful dragons, on whose faces the artist has contrived to impress an expression of torture and defeat. The legend of the altar-piece runs thus. When fifty-three priests come to Korea from India to introduce Buddhism, they reached this place, and being weary, sat down by a wel! under a spreading tree. Presently three dragons came up from the well and began a combat with the Buddhists, in the course of which they called up a great wind which tore up the tree. Not to be out-manceuvred, each priest placed an image of Bud- dha on a root of the tree, turning it into an altar. Finally, the priests overcome the dragons, forced them into the well, and piled great rocks on ihe top of it to keep them there, founded the monastery, and built this temple over the dragons' grave. On either side of this unique altar-piece is a bouquet of peonies 4 feet wide by 10 feet high. The "private apartments " of this and the other monasteries consist of a living room, and very small single cells, each with thr shrine of its occupant, and all very clean. It must be re- membered, however, that this easy, peaceful, luxurious life only lasts for a part of the year, and that all but a few of the monks must make an annual tramp, wallet and begging-bowl in hand, over rough, miry, or dusty Korean roads, put up with vile and dirty accommodation, beg for their living from those who scorn their tonsure and their creed, and receive "low talk " from the lowest in the land. Just before we left, the old abbot invited us into his very charming suite of rooms, anO with graceful hospitality pre- pared a repast for us with his own hands — square cakes of rich oily pine nuts glued together with honey, thin cakes of <( Diamond Mountain Monasteries ,49 'popped" rice and honey, sweet cake CUin.. por.n,e„,, contrast very favorably with .he f "o^^ce le " for a short distance. "" ""^ ""'^^ accompanying us leads'dow^Tte* ,"" *"= '^ '"^ "^"-""^^ -" »'-,, ios oown to the large monastery of Sin-livei S, .. .1 northeast foot of the Keum-Kang San « efH f v ^^oniders a„'rm^°L^r:— rrt::x^^^^^^ ^teX: ca„r f: r r^' -{-f - =2 (ft II ^i CHAPTER XII ALONG THE COAST /^N leaving Chang-an Sa for Won-san we retraced our route V^ as far as Kal-ron-gi, and afterwards crossed the Mak-pai Pass, from which there is a grand view of the Keum-Kang San. Much of a somewhat tedious day was spent in crossing a roll- ing elevated plateau bordered by high denuded hills, on which the potatoe flourishes at a height of 2,500 feet. The soil is very fertile, but not being suited to rice, is very little occupied Crossing the Sai-kal-chai, 2,200 feet in altitude, the infamous road descends on a beautiful alluvial valley, a rich farming country, sprinkled with hamlets and surrounded by pretty hills wooded with scrub oak, whicli in the spring is very largely used for fertilizing rice fields. The branches are laid on the inundated surface till the leaves rot off, and they are then re- moved for fuel. In this innocent-looking valley the tiger scare was in full force. A tiger, the people said, had carried off a woman the previous week, and a dog and pig the pre- vious night. It seemed incredible, yet there was a consensus of evidence. Tigers are occasionally trapped in that region by baiting a pit with a dog or pig, and the ensnared animal is destroyed by poison or hunger to avoid injury to the skin which, if It is that of a fine animal, is very valuable. A man is not the least ashamed of saying that he has not nerve or pluck for tiger-hunting, which in Korea is a danger- ous game, for the hunters are stationed at the head of a gorge, usually behind brushwood, and sometimes behind rocks, the big game, tigers and leopards, being driven up towards them by 150 Along the Coast »5i large bodies of men. When one realizes that the arms used are matchlocks lighted by slow matches from cords wound round the arm and that the charge consists of three imper- fectly rounded balls the size of a pea, and that, owing to the thickness of the screen behind which the hunters are posted, the game is only sighted when quite close upon them, one ceases to wonder at the reluctance of the village peasants to turn out in pursuit of a man-eater, even though the bones bring a very high price as Chinese medicine. verynign We put up at the only inn in the region. It had no " clean room, but the landlord's wife gave up hers to me on con- dition that I would not keep the door open for fear of a tiger. The temperature was 93°, and to secure a little ventilation and yet keep my promise, I tore the paper off the lattice-work of the door. Mr. Miller described his circumstances thus " I wanted to sleep in the yard, but the host would not let me for fear of tigers, sol had to sleep in a room 8 feet by 10 " (with a hot floor), -with seven other men, a cat, and a bird. By from death by suffocation, and could have had a good night's kthe'n " Th'' TUT' '"" "°^^^^^ '"^° ^- ^^^l'« - the kitchen 1 hey found their quarters so close that they squealed kicked bit, and fought all night, and their drivers helped them o make night hideous by their yelling." Nobody slept, and I had my Ml share of the unrest and disturbance, a bad preparation for an eleven hours' ride on the next day which was fiercely ot, as were the remaining six days of the jLurnly at Chvnn! T I u''' ^'^er-haunted valley to the sea level at Chyung-Tai is for the most part through valleys very sparsely peopled. Much forest land, however, was being cleared for the planting of cotton, and the peasant farmers are energetic enough to carry their cultivation to a height of 2,000 feet [On nearly the whole of this journey I estimated that the land IS capable of supporting double its present population.] At Hoa-chung, a prettily situated market-place, a student who m ! i I'M '■• V' m ; ■; (' ; I . s 1 JJ »52 Korea and Her Neighbors Hi had successfully passed the literary examination at the Kwa^^a in Seoul, surrounded by a crowd in bright colored festive clothing, was celebrating his return by sacrificing at his father's grave. On the various roads there were many proces- sions escorting village students home from the great competi- tion in the Royal presence at the capital, the student in colored clothes, on a gaily-caparisoned horse or ass, with music and flags in front of him, and friends, gaily dressed, walking beside him. On approaching his village he was met with flags and music, the headman and villagers, even the women in gay apparel, going out to welcome him. After this success he ;vas entitled to erect a tall pole, with a painted dragon upon it, in front of his house. Success was, how- ever, very costly, and often hung the millstone of debt round a man's neck for the remainder of his life. After " passing " the student became .r!i^,ible for official position, the sole object of ambition to an " ,; i .u.ed " Korean. At Hoa-chun- v. , ,:, d eastwards, and took the main road to the coast, attains..! ;ia altitude (uncorrected) of 3,117 feet by continued ascents over rounded hills, which, when not ab- solutely bare except for coarse, unlovely grasses, only produced stunted hazel bush. After this an easy ascent among abso- lutely denuded hills leads up to a spirit shrine of more than usual importance, crowded with the customary worthless ex votos rags and old straw shoes. At that point the road makes an altogether unexpected and surprising plunge over the bare shoulders of a bare hill into Paradise ! This pass of the "Ninety-nine Turns," Tchyu-Chi-chang, deserves its name, the number of sharp zigzags not being ex- aggerated, as in the case of the "Twelve Thousand Peaks " It IS so absolutely rocky, and so difficult in consequence, that It IS rnore passable in snow than in summer. Its abrupt turns lead down a forest-clothed mountain ridge into a magnificent gorge, densely wooded w^h oak, Spanish chestnut, weeping lime, Abies excelsa, and magnolia, looped together with the ( ( a r a ti f( Along the Coast i 'f3 half .„e toad coding <,„„„ „p„„ a ^m ' .. !l tw' TTfihi '"■'«°'"'"8 ""■gnolia, syrmga, and roses. * 1 he filthy, miserab e hamlet of f 'hv,,.,™ t • far as they are kept on, by big stones Thlt . , ' .be ntonntains Is aLyai ierv!,:^ Ide'^L'^"^: ^7^,: of th,s dynasty, who bufit stone walls ronnd the U gertj" places .reTr '° "°"" ^' ^"^""^-T"'' "" '" ""x °'"er places, the extreme voracity of the Koreans. They eat not o satisfy hunger, b„t to enjoy the sensation of teple L C atn.ng for this enjoyment begins at a very early l"s I Id several opportunities of observinn A ,„„,i / f ,' child with rice, and when 't can ^-^ "«"'>" f'=^*l«'- young position, lays it'on its back : , ^e" lap a"„°d 3 '", "" "''"«'" s;rh-^-:~S?S^?- anTsatT'set::^' ;Hrrb:;.r' t'- ^^""''' ^" «*■ - -- a day, b„t ^^T^J^Zril^a ii IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 Itt tu u IK IB IU£ 2.5 2.2 1^ I3j6 iM HZO 1-25 iu 1.6 150mm - 4' */ *} /IPPLIED^ IIVUGE . Inc JBS 1653 East Main Street J^sr ^ Rochester, NY 14609 USA .ssr^ Phone: 716/482-0300 •3^.^SS Fax: 716/288-5989 O 1993. ApplWd lm«g«. Inc . AH Rigtits Rcswvod ^V \ i\^ <\ ^ ^o"^ r o r* 54 Korea and Hor Neighbors M In this respect of voracity all classes are alike. The great merit of a meal is not so much quality as quantity, and from infancy onwards one object in life is to give the stomach as much capacity and elasticity as is possible, so that four pounds to ,00° in the shade, and sel- dom fallmg below 80- at night, phenomenal heat for the first days of June. Takmg advantage of it, the whole male popu- at.on was ,n the fields rice planting. Rice valleys, reaching he unusual magnitude for Korea of from 3 to 7 miles in breadth, and from 6 to ,4 miles in length, sloping gently to tl e sea, with mnumerable villages on tl:e slopes of the hills wh.ch surround them, were numerous. Among them I saw for the only tmie reservoirs for the storage of water for irriga- tion. The pndc .b,s and the spotted green frog were abundant everywhere. The country there has a look of passable pros- perity, but the people are kept at a low level by official exac- On this coast of Kong-w6n-Do are the P'al-kyong or " Eight of Xm T r "'rt '''"'' '■" ^^^^^- ^^^'p--« 'vo of them. Su-chuPg Dai (The Place Between the Waters) is a narrow strip of elevated white sand with the long roll of the 1 1 i\ w i m i Ml I •i'-' ■ ■■ > i*,iih*ii| .56 Korea and Her Neighbors Pacific on the east, and the gentle plash of a lovely fresh-water lake on the west. This lake of Ma-cha Tong, the only body of fresh water which I saw in Korea, about 6 miles in length by 2 in breadth, has mountainous shores much broken by bays and inlets, at the head of each of which is a village half hid- den among trees in the folds of the hills, while wooded conical islets break the mirror of the surface. On the white barrier of sand there are some fine specimens of the red-stemmed Pinus sy/vesttis, with a carpet of dwarf crimson roses and pnik lilies. Among the mountain forests are leopards, tigers, and deer, and the call of the pheasant and tlic cooing of the wdd dove floated sweetly from the lake shore. It was an idyll of peace and beauty. The other of the " P:ight Views" is rather a curiosity than a beauty, miles of cream-colored sand blown up in wavy billows as high as the plumy tops of thou- sands of fir trees wliich are helplessly embedded in it. During the long hot ride of eleven hours, visions of the evening halt at a peaceful village on the seashore filled my mind, and hope made the toilsome climb over several promon- tories of black basalt tolerable, even though the descents wer 'iO steep that the fn,t/>u held tiie ponies up by their tails ! > the early twiijglu, when the fierce sun blaze was over, in the smoky redness of a healed evening atmosphere, when every rock was giving forth the heat it had absorbed in the day, across the stream which is at once the outlet of She lake and the boundary between the provinces of Kang-won and Hara- gyong, appeared a large, straggling, gray-roofed village, above high-water mark, on a beach of white sand. Several fishing junks were lying in shelter at the mouth of the stream. Women were beating clothes and drawing water, and children and dogs were rolling over each other on the sand, all more or less idealized by being silhouetted in purple against the hot. lurid sky. As the enchantment of distance faded and f ^a-cha TOng revealed itself in plain prose, fading from purple into sober 'li M mtumii Aiong the Coast , .^ gray, the ideal of a romantic halt by the m.r.. «, • u , erated into an open sewer, down which thirt „r T The inn, if i„„ i, ^3, g^„ „^ ^ _ Z th' ', '?'■■ '"^''■■*'''' f" « »- "« family l„"t .ron shoes of ploughs , ,d spaUes, Unulle, of fou nlsJI' from my rL and - m """""" '"'""'•'"g wswan.ed -« into .^vo i„' r; rc t c „ ^'t* '■:!' """"'"^ "^'f^- vcraln which revel ••^1,,!,.'"' »' cockroaches and over mv M IT J; ""' '° ''«"'' "' "«• "^'ch ran «l r(| 12 ■58 Korea and Her Neighbors f i • r- ;- of travelling, some of it very severe and comfortless, that night stands out as hideously memorablr. The raisff/t tfi'/re of Ma-cha long, and the numerous coast villages which exist wherever a convenient shore and a protec- tion for boals occur togetlier, is the coast fishing. The fact that a floating population of over 8,000 Japanese fishermen make a living by fishing on the coast near Fusan shows that there is a redundant harvest to be reaped. The Korean fisii- erman is credited with utter want of enterprise, and Mr. Oiesen, in the Customs' report for Wonsan for 1891, accuses him of "remaining content with such fish as will run into crudely and easily constructed traps, set out along the shore, which only require attention for an hour or so each day." I must, however, say that each village that I passed possessed from seven to twelve fishing junks, which were kept at sea. They are unseaworthy boats, and it is not surprising that they hug the shore. I believe that the fishing industry, with every other, is paralyzed by the complete insecurity of the earnings of labor and by the exactions of officials, and that the Korean fisherman does not care to earn money of which he will surely be deprived on any or no pretence, and that, along with the members of the industrial classes generally, be seeks the pro- tection of poverty. The fish taken on this coast, when salted and dried, find their way by boat to Won-san, and from thence over central Korea, but in winter pedlars carry them directly inland from the fishing villages. Salterns on the plan of those often seen in China occur frequently near the villages. The oi^eration of making salt from sea water is absolutely primitive, and so rough and dirty that the whiteness of the coarse product which re- sults is an astonishment. In spite of heavy losses and heavier " squeezings," this industry, which is carried on from May to October, is a profitable one. The road beyond tliat noisome halting-place traverses pic- turesque country for many miles, being cut out of the sides of Along the Coast "ow on dizzy preci, ic« I'T V "^' '^'•"" '" "« "*»• «a 'vns green a,„i iole,nLT,f 1 "'•*'''■' "'.'''«''■ '''"« l"."s and brmvn «L L ' , ," " ""'""'K '«'"'» "i"' Bray 'o 38 fee., are nnknown'on .1 eas Z, ""'■""'' '""" '^ •..gl. and l„.v „a,er Wing wi.^:,! ^ .'e^^" """"°" '-"'«" It was the Iiottest div nf .1 "■. preuiiy .i,„a.S iTrtolrif s"" " "T '°""""*= "•"' cl. .., inn, in „|,icl, it «n, „ ^ *^°""" ''"'' =" "^" "'"f ,■>»';. and .0 ge. a goo^; . :r*;:;;'*;/ '^^ —day herbs, sauces, ami rice for .1,. c ' , '"' ''^'^ ^^^'^ vegetables, also, being tiie m rket .bv Mr r., '"" ^""^^ ^«'^- '^'-^^ fine fit uXlS ;,;f "1 ^'^";'^ ^'^'•" -•''' ^ -erve of sand n^ounds 1,0!,';,"'"^ ''^"' "^ ^^^ '^ "-^- great reached at sunset .? ^^ " '""''" ^^ '^-'' - lage of nine houses, of Sh '"' '"^"'''^''>' ^''"'^'^^ vil- to the general rule we w f °"? '"' '" '"" ^^'^"^' -""'^ary nine families at S" J ""'^^"^^ The boats. '^"' ^'•^^^^««^^' seven good-sized fishing TM inn is Of unusual construction. There is a broad .ud -ithout paying for ,. „,' , , ' , ^^''J ^ '-; ^^ -ery.hing he can get e'gners. led ,0 „,ore or Jess umv li! " "•"'"'"•''' '"^'""'' "^ for- the .«./« having to cons e .he ^ f T' ''' ""'"■^ "'^ '" "-"^ ■''--. P"cc for all r go, and that cvcninVr'"?"*'' '''''•'' '^^^ window I paid for it I " "^'''" ^ """^ '^ *heet of paper from the m l6o Korea and Her Neighbors platform of which fireplaces and utensils for cooking for nun and beast occupy one half, and the other .s matted for sleeping and eating. My room, which had no window, but was clean and plastered, opened on this, and as the mercury was at i . . umil 3 A. M. ow?ng to the heated floor. 1 sat at the door nearly all night, so the dawn and an early start, and the coolness of the green and violet shades of the almost r.ppleless ocean which laved its varied shore of bays, promontories, and lofty rliffs were very welcome. . A valley opening on the sea which it took five hours to sk.rt and cross, covered with grain and newly planted nee. .s liter- ally fringid with villages, which look comfortably prosperous in spite of exactions. A smaller valley contains abou 3.000 a res of rice land only, and on the slopes surrounding all the«. are rich lands, bearing heavy crops of wheat, millet, barley, cotton, tobacco, castor oil. sesamum, oats, turn.i)S, peas beans, :„d pitatoes. The ponies are larger and better kepn^^ region, and the red bulls are of immense sue. 1 he black p.g, ho'wev;r. is as small and mean as ever. The crops were clea^ and the vice dykes and irrigation channels well kept. Good and honest government would create as happy and prosperous a people as the traveller finds in Japan, the sod being very similar, while Korea has a far better climate. D^ing the land journey from Chang-an Sa to Won^n had better opportunities of seeing the agricultural methods of tl^ KoreansTan in the valleys of the Han. As compared wUh the exquisite neatness of the Japanese and the diligen hriftiness of the Chinese. Korean agriculture is to some exten la ful and untidy. Weeds are not kept down in the summer Is they ought to be. stones are often left on the ground and there La raggedness about the margins of fields and dykes and a dilapidaUon about stone walls which is unpleasing to the e. The paths through the fields are apt to be much worn and fringed with weeds, and the furrows are not so straight as they might be. Yet on the whole the cultivation is much bet- Alorif; the Coast (er and llie i6i M,o^ „r &„„, ,„j'X, d ' IT":' ""I" '" "" ""Si- ceding toili.y very „„,e„„,,l," ' '" """'" '" "' « unknown „ eal,l^° , ,"''7''' ""^'"^'' ^^P""' »« 'ice, Which i, .he ';.":, k'„T' E " T" "''"^'^ "" lands, two crop, a year are rli^-jH ^ ■" "" """'" "« "" Korea, the rice W,/„,i'°''*''°"' ""''"' ^"''«>"'h- planted from theTur^ti^ if:"", '•" .^''"^' ">' ™"" •"".- harvested early inXo^r p ^^ " '""''" '" '"'y- »"' ■> barley or rye is "ow" „t L " ""«"'""'' » "'""S'-'l and "« "ex. y«r. af er whS Lr'" ,'" i""' " '"" J""' "f plough«i while fl^ri atdX h" !' '"• "" " " "«"'" of •• dnmps," two or fonr „ ' '" "' °"' '" ""» Where only „„. "ro! "raiTe. T "" """" '"' ' """™P" the end of 'oc.oberTu he^^o T "'" "" '■'"'°'' ''""' or rye fields ,he sowi g ' i "ocZr alfi .k"'."""'- ■«'"" or June, after which beans L? 7' , "" *"'"" '•" "")' Along the "great roa^-'i!!' '"<' °"«"'8«aUes are sown, vated watch-sheds a° tcte, tr^u"""'''' "'«"«'■ •■«- depredations. The cr"^ on .1 ^ ?' °' ""'*""'"' "«""« -^rid be imtnense were it „o. f .' '' '" '">" *"'- ^"d ■naterial. " °"" '" "» Pa"city of fertilising 'he furrows the reve J way' „ ours ! ",:^"' "'"^'' """» •hod with iron, is largely „L^f°r ""^'" 'P"""'' "■» excites the ridicule of foreSnf "'' ":"''• ^his, which Po-'er, is furnished wi.h seS ° *""'"°''= '"'''' °' "«" each of which i, jerW bTa „^ 'op« a,,,^^^^ ,^ ^^^ •he blade in.o the Z^,d L ,,^7 ""l''' """•" «"'" «"«« P-en^arethesarrXCrntrdXtet^'- M', » -: ii' Jill l62 Korea and Her Neighbors ;„ use in China, an.l which in ihe hands of the eastern ZZi Us the place of shovel, hoe. and spade a rc.ap.ng CI short UnL. a barrow, and a bamboo rake wh.ch .. larcelv used in the denudation of the hdls. Grain peas. .nestle worked ^^ir foot, the ..,-.-/• or. as has been pre.^^^^^^^ .iLcribed. by a " «/«A" or water «'/"«A'-«- 1^'*^^." TZ by b^'b!; the ears over a board, and all grain .s w.nnowed by being thrown up in the wind. ;. j„„- !»« The oony is not nsed in agricnltnre. Ploughing . done by the LS, noble, tractable. Korean bull, a cane rrng placed ' huTo^rils when young rendering hint ""-^-^ ? -','^''f. tM^th'e hill^ and P"''-/- ^^^^i .^^^ :ra:rb"rrtUtear:n:ip^r.^'produreand Zis the loads being adjusted evenly on -»<>- J" J Ldte or in the case of small articles in pann.ers of plaited suaw "; net d rope. In the latter, ingeniously mad. to open n. Uttom and discharge their contents, manure ,s earned t the fields. Both bulls and l«.nies are shod w,th .ron. The 'X car's from .60 to aoo ll». Sore back, are lamentably '"TrLed of pigs is very small. Pigs are always blacU and loahtmeThe'r'bristles stand up along their backs, and they areTan active, and of specially revolting habits. The dogs cature the Scotch collie in thetr aspect. The fowls Alonj. tl„. c„,,„ 'f'3 plelxjian, and for wildness ir»i«;i., i -••inallcl i„ n,,ex,j;r;r t^'k "are'rr "' """' "' Korea are re^rved f„, R„; ^ ,„, . ' '^^I,;""" "-' '" "MM million oi, lalile, in S,. . , ."'■"= »:™wnan, "Bricullnre are usnall,. orL , 1 ,'""* """'•"'"'" ''^ liasly iraveller passe, lliro 1- , I '' ■ " ' """"= "'"''■ 'I" .l.«e, nearly every ho2 1 ' '"'"r""" "' ""= '»"<'• '" f.«l can J Ob In r" 7""^'' """ '" """' » »l>'cl, village, „l,ich ca" «, , 'S"« " """ 1--I"!. «".! .I,c f««- The fact ll,at U e la ^ '" "' "" "' """ "« .v«a,nnc„rrec.:.t:x:;;;i.:r^^^^^^^^ ru".o„, ga.e-,o»er,, a larg^ c i, ,t '"""'''"' '"" ernmen, l„nl,li„g, a,e .vc I ke 7'an '"""'" "'"' ""'" "■"■ "> sinking conL. to It' te ,'"' '" "^' '""'"■ '" The "main sireei" ,. . l«"<'"sly seen on the ronle. The .ow,: as a ;. J i, '"r"' """""« b„. a dirly alley. -m. paper from ., e Z^ ;:^rT'T' "'"""' '' ■""■" Khool,, and exchanL-es 2^ ""■■/'-/>y-/,ra, and ha, several '"»vonl,y „f iis posiii^, „, iLitZHf I ;:,"', '? "'"*"'■" province of Hara-cvSnir n„, • i , '"^ P''"=" '" "" remarkably broad rfv7bedbt-H" '"' ""^ """« ' dilapidated that ts/I ' '"'«' '" '"' '""g. «> •ods several til """'" ""' "■='' '«' "■""g" i« rollen sa'r.t"-SCd^zro;ir ;";' "''•'- ^-- ''™- «dio,i, ride through 11,11,^ 1. *""'""' " ' '°"S »"'' full of graves. wt^:t'^^^ .ZTl! r' "'"* "°«" u liigius mere at a very noisy and if' i * Ifii ri I :'!!'!! 164 Korea ami H«r Neighbors I ' II 1 1 tlisagrceal)Ic inn, in which privacy wm unattainable and the vermin were appalling. There the host was specially unwill- ing to take in foreigners, on the ground that we should not pay, a suspicion which irritated our friendly »m/»//, who vociferated at the top of their voices that we paid " even for the smallest things we got." The swinging season was at hand, each amusement having its defmite date for beginning and ending, and in every village swings were being erected on tall straight poles. Wong could never resist the temptation of taking a swing, which always amused the iieople. At this inn there were some musical jKjrformers who made both night and day wearisome to me, but gave great pleasure to others. I have not previously mentioned my sufferings on the Han from the sounds produced by itinerant musicians, and by the tnutanf[ or sorceress and her coadjutors ; but, as has been forcibly brought out in a paper on Korean music by Mr. Hulbert in the Korean Repository,^ the sounds are peculiar and unpleasing, because we neither know nor feel what they are intended to express, and we bring to Korean music not the Korean temperament and training but the Western, which de- mands '• time " as an essential. It maybe added that the Koreans, like their neighbors the Japanese, love our music as little as we love theirs, and for the same reason, that the ideas we express by it are unfamiliar to them. One reason of the afflictive and discordant sounds is that the gamut of Korea differs from the musical scale of European countries, with the result that whenever music seems to be trembling on the verge of a harmony, a discord assails the ear. The musical instruments are many, but they are not carefully finished. Among instruments of percussion are drums, cym- bals, gongs, and a species of castanet. For wind instruments there are unkeyed bugles, flutes, and long and short trumpets; and the stringed instruments are a large guitar, a twenty-five stringed guitar, a mandolin, and a five-stringed violin. The > February, 1896. ti Along the Coast 165 of S •" ""°" " "' "'"""■« »"" ^'-"S of ".« 8al« There are three daw. of Korean v,K:al n,,«ic, the first beint ^M hat , e ha. quavered leg enough „,x,n on. note n e tu ' " ':: "T"- "'"'. " ""' l-y "- Korean. ,0 require •ucl, long an.l patienl practise that onlyihc dancinir irirl. .-.n xcel ,„ „ a, they alone have leisure to cul ivaf T O^ banch of ,t deals with convivial song,, of o e of whic" I The Korean. pri«,ned during the winter in his small dart d.r.,,.„d n,alodorou, rooms, with neither . glolg'nrlid; • I Twas years ago that Kim and I Struck hands and swore, however dry The lip might be or sad the heart, Tlic merry wine should have no part In niitigating sorrow's blow Or (juenching thirst. Twas long ago. II And now I've reached the flood-tide mark Of life ; the ebb begins, and dark The fuiu.c lowers. The tide of wine VV.II never ebb. Twill aye be mine 10 mourn the desecrated fane Where that lost pletlge of youth lies slain. Ill Nay. nay, begone! The jocun.l bowl Agam shall Iwlster up my soul Against itself. What, good-man, hold ! C anst tell me where red wine is sold ? Nay. just beyond that peach tree liiere ? Good luck be thine. Ml thither fare. 11) jt'l [=^ »^ h ■ I I 166 Korea and Her Neighbors nor brilliant lamp to mitigate the gloom, welcomes spring with lively excitement, and demands music and song as its natural ac- companiment — song that shall express the emancipation, bieath- ing space, and unalloyed physical pleasure which have no coun- terpart in our English feelings. Thus a classical song runs : — The willow catkin bears the vernal blush of summer's dawn When winter's night is done; The oriole, who preens herself aloft on swaying bough, Is summer's harbinger ; The butterfly, with noiseless fiil-fiil of her pulsing wing, Marks off the summer hour. Quick, boy, thy zither ! Do its strings accord ? 'Tis well. Strike up ! / must have song. The second style of Korean vocal music is the Ha CKi or popular. The most conspicuous song in this class is the A-ra- riing, of 782 verses. If is said that the A-ra-riini[ holds to the Korean in music the same place that rice does in his food — all else being a mere appendage. The tune, but with the trills and quavers, of which there are one or two to each note, left out, is given here, though Mr. Hulbert, to whom I am greatly indebted, calls it " a very weak attempt to score it." :^^S^^^illMf=l-IJr:e^ A - ro-rting a - ra-riing ra - n - o - • a- ra-rung mn - pai ddi-o - ra. Mun-gyuugaai-cbai pnk-tala-n. ta na - kau - da. - houg-do-kai puu<;-niaing-i The chorus of A-rariins; is invariable, but the verses which are sung in connection with it take a wide range through the fields of lyrics, epics, and didactics. There is a rhird style, which is between the classical and the popular, but which hardly deserves mention. mmmmmm ^'^smtmemm Along the Coast 167 To my thinking, the melancholy which seems the mofi/of most Oriental mrsic becomes an extreme plaintiveness in that of Korea, partly due probably to the unlimited quavering on one note. While what may be called concerted music is torture to a Western ear, solos on the flute ofttimes combine a singular sweetness with their mournfulness and suggest " Far off Melodies." Love songs are popular, and there is a tender grace about some of them, as well as an occasional glint of humor, as indicated by the last line of the third stanza of one translated by Mr. Gale.' The all-.ions to Nature generally > LOVE SONvi Farewell's a fire that burns one's heart, And tears are rains that quench in part, But then the winds blow in one's sighs. And cause the flames again to rise. My soul I've mixed up with the wine. And now my love is drinking, Into his orifices nine Deep down its spirit's sinking. To keep him true to me and mine, A potent mixture is the wine. Silvery moon and frosty air, Eve and dawn are meeting; Widowed wild goose flying there. Hear my words of greeting! On your journey should you see Him I love so broken-hearted, Kindly say this word for me, That it's death when we are parted. Flapping oflF the wild goose clambers, Says she will if she remembers. Fill the ink-stone, bring the water. To my love I'll write a letter; Ink and paper soon will see T!ie one that's all the world to me. While the pen and I together, Left behind, condole each other. 1^ m i'ii I -i II >:^l fin i68 Korea and Her Neighbors show a quick and sympathetic insight into her beauties, and occa- sional stanzas, of which the one cited is among several translated by Mr. Hulbert, have a delicacy of touch not unworthy of an Elizabethan poet.» The Korean Repository is doing a good work in making Korean poetry accessible to English readers. There was not, however, any flute music at Ta-ri-mak. There were classical songs, with a direful drum accompani- ment, and a wearisome repetition of the A-ra-riing, continuing all day and late into the hot night. A few pedlars passed by, selling tobacco, necessaries, and children's toys, the latter rudely made, and only attractive in a country in which artistic feeling appears dead. There are shops m Seoul, Phyong-yang. and other cities devoted to the sale of such toys, painted in staring colors, and illustrative chiefly of adult life. There are also monkeys, puppies, and tigers on wheels, all for boys, and soldiers in European uni- forms have appeared during the recent military craze, and boys are very early taught to look forward to official life by representations of mandarins' chairs, red-tasselled umbrellas, and fringed hats. Girls being of comparatively small account,' toys specially suited to them are not many. Japanese lucifer matches, which, when of the cheap sort seem only slightly inflammable, as I have several times used a whole box without igniting one, were in the stock of the ped- lars, and are making rapid headway in the towns, but even so near Won-san as Ta-ri-mak is, the people were still using flint and steel to light chips of wood dipped in sulphur, though the cheap and smoky kerosene lamp has displaced the tall, upright candlestick and the old-fashioned dish lamps there and in very many other country places. > I asked the spotted butterfly To take me on his wing and fly To yonder mountain's breezy side. The trixy tiger moth I'll ride As home I come. n ::i '-y^ ^ Along the Coast 169 'Lis singularly b.au. fu sZ A,a f„rr ,""°" '"■'''■ '" in religious exercises «m^ j ^ "'*■ '""* ""' »?='" 'he 4erb tre« ^Wch .J' °"« f"^'^''""' ="d many of whicl, SOk-JarsIissieuaL" ""^"J"' ■"<■-"-■" clefe i„ bj- his hands, ms rl ia a'd r't ""1 '" '''™ 1^" '>''""=-' . building by .hel«?v«',r°' '""'"' P"»'"«' i- except ,hf dL aor^rn V^""" " ="''«*J-0 en.er 'ideof a c.ea:lrrstr, X •hrou'r'''' '"'^"'°"«- prosperous-lDoking counlrv .nH ^ '"■'' P''">' ^'"1 some miles ,0 thf tee "f 'T """ "°'^«' '"">"'"'» '»' for a leng,h of ime ,h° K u ■"°'"""" ■^"«'- *^e passed .ic propfrty ,hr.h/h^ "r'^ ""* '■'""/■'i">bered monas- which ,he ulg" ed Lrea T.t °" r""""'" ""•"'' ™<"' » of an avenue of "oble cTn^r"'""^''- ""''"'J"''"^' 'rancing glimi^s^f , J 7' '/'F.""^ »"" "=en giving en- Ay. of aV^Tgorg fdar rJh r" T "' "" '"■"■"" green of maples and n.l,„ j ' ""eorenea oy the tender of foam from a torrent w™°"' ""'' '"<■ '">' «^^''« boulders. ^"""« """""S 6'«' -oss-covered s.of«"u„*d\Tca™ra„d"pa,*Sr " '°°"' »'"'°"' '°""'- .ablets, glorious vi t of a'Z W Trr', 'Tj""" "°"' ^.)l Wl .41 /«^R Mpp^m 170 Korea and Her Neighbors i arched the road, a long irregular line of temples and monastic buildings appeared, clinging in singular picturesqueness to the sides of the ravine, which there ascends somewhat rapidly towards the mountain, which closes it. An abbot, framed in the doorway of a quaint building, and looking like a picture of a portly, jolly, mediaeval friar, wel- comed Ub, and he and his moi.ks regaled us with honey water in the large guest- hall, but simultaneously produced a visitors' book and asked us how much we were going to pay, the sum being duly recorded. The graspi ng ways of these monks, who fleeced the mupu so badly as to make them say they " had fallen among thieves," contrast with the friendly hospitality of their brethren of tlie Diamond Mountain, and can only be accounted for by the contaminating influences of a treaty port, from which they are distant only a long day's journey ! •' See the sights first and then pay," they said, the glorious views and the quaint picturesqueness of the monastic buildings clustering on the crags above the cataracts being the sight par excellence. It was refreshing to turn from the contemplation of the sensual, acquisitive, greedy faces of most of the monks to Nature at her fresliest and fairest, on one of the loveliest days of early June. The interiors of the temples are shabby and dirty, the paint is scaling off the roofs, and the floors and even the altars were hidden under layers of herbs drying for kitchen use. Besides the tablet to the first king of the present dynasty in a hand- some tablet-house, tlie noteworthy "sight" to be seen is a small temple dedicated to the "Five Hundred Disciples." Sok-wang Sa is not a holy place, and the artist who carica- tured the devout and ascetic followers of the ascetic Sakymuni has bequeathed a legacy of unhallowed suggestion to its in- mates ! The " Five Hundred " are stone images not a foot in height, arranged round the dusty temple in sevtiai tiers, each one with a silk cap on, worn with more or less of a jaunty air on Along the Coast »7i one side of the head or falling over the brow. The variety of features and expression is wonderful ; all Eastern nationalities • are represented, and there are not two faces or attitudes alike. The whole display shows genius, though not of a high order. * Among the infinite variety, one figure has deeply set eyes, an aquil.ne nose, and thin lips; another a pug nose, squinting eyes, and a broad grinning mouth ; one is Mongolian, another Caucasiar.. and another approximates to tlie Negro type Here IS a stout, jolly fellow, with a leer and a broad grin suggestive of casks of porter and the archaic London drayman ; there is an id.ot with drooping head, receding brow and chin, and a vacant stare; here again is a dark stage villain, with red cheeks and a cap drawn low over his forehead ; then Mr Pecksniff confronts one with an air of sanctimoniousness obvi- ously difficult to retain ; Falstaff outdoes his legendary jollity • and priests and monks of all nations leer at the beholders from under their jaunty caps. It is an exhibition of unsancti- fied genius. Nearly all the figures look worse for drink, and fatuous smiles, drunken leers, and farcical grins are the rule, the effect of all being aggravated by the varied and absurd arrangements of the caps. The grotesqueness is indescribable and altogether " unedifying." It was a great change to get on the broad main road to Wonsan. and to see telegraph poles once more. There was plenty ot goods and passenger traffic across the fine plain covered with rice and grain, margined by bluffs, and dotted with what have obviously once been islands, near which Won- san IS situated. Where the road is broad, a high heap of hardened mud runs along the centre, with hardened mud corrugations on either side ; where narrow, it is merely the top of a rice dyke. 1 he bridges are specially infamous ; in fact, they were so rot- ten that the mapu would not trust their pomes upon them, and we forded all the streams. Yet this road, which I found '"«s}m»uttSMamm«f»&fii 172 Korea and Her Neighbors equally bad at the three points at which I touched it, is one of the leading thoroughfares by which goods pass from the east to the west coast and vtW versa,— tohncco, copper, salt fish, sea- weed, galena, and hides from the east, and foreign shirtings, watches, and miscellaneous native and foreign articles from the west. The heat of the sun was but poorly indicated by a shade temperature of 84°, and it was in his full noontide fierceness that we reached the huddle of foul and narrow alleys and ir- regular rows of thatched shops along the high road which make up the busy and growing Korean town of Won-san, which, with an estimated population of 15,000 people, lies along a strip of beach below a pine-clolhed bluff and ranges of mountains, then green to their summits, but which I saw in December of the same year in the majesty of the snow which covers from November to May. Tiie smells were fearful, the dirt aL. .ainabie, and the quantity of wretched dogs and of pieces of bleeding meat blackening in the sun perfectly sicken- ing. This aspect of meat, produced by the mode of killing It, has made foreigners entirely dependent on the Japanese butchers in Seoul and elsewhere. The Koreans cut the throat of the animal and insert a peg in the opening. Then the butcher takes a hatchet and beats the animal on the rump until It dies. The process takes about an hour, and the beast suffers agonies of terror and pain before it loses consciousness. Very little blood is lost during the operation ; the beef is full of it, and its heavier weight in consequence is to the advantage of the vendor. Then came a level stretch of about a mile, much planted with potatoes, glimpses of American Protestant mission-houses in conspicuous and eligible positions (eligible, that is, for everything but mission work), and the uneven Korean road glided imperceptibly into a broad gravel road, fringed on both sides with neat wooden houses standing in gardens, which gradually thickened into the neatest, trimmest, and most at- Along the Coast »73 to foreign trade generally in 1883. Broad and well-kept streets, neat wharves, trim and fair)., iN.y.K., the Japan Mail Steamship Company (an abbrevia- t.on as fam.har to residents in the Far East as '^P & O 'T a Japanese Bank of solid reputation, Customs' buildings o? wh e Eu:;ot ''^''^.^r'' ^-- ^ P-^, neat Japanese' op larschoT ? '"' ^^ b-ght at moderate price Ja large schodhouse, with a teacher in European dress and et: nTmlffled"' '^'''7 '" graceful lomen,::^:: anese cln? V k"?' "' '^' ^'''''''' of this pleasant Jap- anese colony, which is so fortunate as to have no history its n^Tr'r d7'. "°' "P'^' ^^^'"^ ^-" P>-"^ an peac'e'f not marred by fnct.on either with Koreans or foreigners of other nationahties; and even the recent war, thought ed to the removal of the Chinese consul and his countrymen an il significant fraction of the population h.^ w. traces evr^nt tu.*- *i, Pop"'ation, had left no special bv tS T ^ u ! ' '"°™°"' ^'"g^^ P^'d to transport coolies by the^Japanese had enabled them to gamble with yen instead I was most hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs. Gale of the portant one of the preparation of a dictionary of the Korean i„„^"r« "?' '""':' ^"J' "'"'''' I »1»"' « W8n.sa„ I made a WKt corner of wh.ch the port is situated. It is a superb bav fl '° "'V '""' "" ^""= "-"-• ^ depth of frr6 ,0 r'^ IS sheltered by promontones and mountains from the winds of it ;3l ' m m \§ Ml »74 Korea and Her Neigfibors every quarter, and its entrance is protected by islands. To English readers it is probable that the sole interest of this fine bay lies in the fact that its northern arm, Port Lazareff, which was the object of my cruise, is the harbor which Russia is credited with desiring to gain possession of for the terminus of her Trans-Siberian Railway. Whether this be so or no, or whether Port Shestakofi", on the same coast, but 60 miles farther north, is more defensible and better adapted for a naval as well as a terminal port, tlie time has gone by for grudging to Russia an outlet on the Pacific, and I for one should prefer it on the coast of eastern Korea than on the northern shore of the "^ellow Sea. The head of Port Lazareff is about 16 miles from Wonsan, and is formed by the swampy outlets of the river Dim-gan, among the many branches of which lie inhabited, low-lying islands. There are rude but extensive salt works at the shal- lows in which this noble inlet terminates, after receiving several streams besides the Dun-gan. Port Lazareff has, in addition, abundant supplies of water from natural springs. The high hills which surround the bay are grassy to their sum- mits, but there is very little wood, and the villages are small and far between. Game is singularly abundant. Pheasanjs are nearly as plentiful as sparrows are with us, the wary turkey bustard abounds, there are snipe in the late summer, and pigeons, plover, and water-hen are common. In spring and autumn wild fowl innumerable crowd the waters of every stream and inlet, swans, teal, geese, and ducks darkening the air, which they rend with their clamor as the sportsman in- vades their haunts. A Korean junk does not impress one by its seaworthiness, and it is not surprising that the junkmen hug the shore and seek shelter whenever a good sailing breeze comes on. She is built without nails, iron, or preservative paint, and looks rather like a temporary and fortuitous aggregation of beams and planks than a deliberate construction. Two tall, heavy Along the Coast »75 masts fixed by wedges among tl.e timbers at the bottom of the boat requ.re frequent attention, as they are always swaying a threatemng to come down. The sails are of matting, with a number of bamboos running transversely, with a cord attached to e ch, un.ted.nto one sheet, by means of which tacking is effected, or rather m.ght be. Practically, navigation conlsts m run....g before a light breeze, and dropping the mass of mats and bamboos on the confusion below whenever it freshens varying the process by an easy pull at the sweeps, one at the stern and two working on pins in transverse beams amidships. whu:h project 3 feet on each side. The junk is fitted with I board °' r'"""' "'/ ^'•'' '''"^ ''' P''^'''^" ^^'« - - keel cZ: -...^."r" '' '^'°'" ^° '° ^° '^^^"^"- This singular s ant t ' h °" ''' "'"'' '"* ""^^^ °»'-' circumstances IS apt to become unmanageable. chTJUT ^u l"^'^''^'^'^ communication with Seoul, and bv mos "'r the enterprise of the N.Y.K.. it is connected by most comfortable steamers with Korean ports and with ChetrN ' u""''' "'' ''^^"^'^•' ^oug.Ko.,, Shanghai line call '?"^^'"^"^' ^"^ Ti«"tsin. Steamers of a Russian re no W ."'" "' 'V'' ^""'"^ ^'^ ^"""'^^ ^'^'on. There are no Western merchants or Western residents except the mis! s^nanes and the Customs staff, and foreign trade is chiefly 'n the hands of the Japanese. ^ About 60 // from Won-san are some large grass-covered mounds, of which the Koreans do not care to speTk as tl ev regard them as associated with an ancient Ko^ran a s tm c^^ ooked upon as barbarous. During the last dynasty, and .^I than five centur.es ago. it was customary, when people from age and .nfirmity became burdensome to iheir reladons toT w.tl a l.ttle food and water, and leave them there to die In sundar mounds, elsewhere in Korea, bowls and jW c J^ SI "^ been found, as well as a few speciLns of gr^y^ III m i . 1 It' 176 Korea and Her Neighbors There is nothing sii sational alKuit Uon-san.' It has no " booms "in trade or land, but •• keeps the even tenor of its way." It is to me far the most attractive of the treaty ports. Its trim Japanese settlement, from which green hills rise abruptly, backed by fine mountain forms, dignified by snow for seven months of the year, and above all, the exquisite caves to the northwest, where the sea murmurs in cool grottos, and beats the pure white sand into ripples at the feet of cliffs hidden by flowers, ferns, and grass, and its air of dreamy re- pose—" a land where it is always afternoon "—point to its future as that of a salubrious and popular sanitarium. In January of 1897 Japanese Chinese American German British the population of Wansan was as follows:—. i,a99 39 8 3 a French Russian Danish Norwegian , a 2 I I ».3S7 Estimated Korean population, 15,000. ' CHAPTER XIII IMPENDING WAR-EXCITEMENT AT CHEMULPO IT AVING heard nothing at all of public events during my 11 long >»Jand journey, and only a few rumors of unlocal zed collisions between the Tong-haks (rebels) and the Royal troops, the atmosphere of canards at Won-san was somewhat stimulating though I had already been long enough in Korea not to attach much importance to the stories with which the air was thick. One day it was said that the Tong-haks had gained great successes and had taken Catling guns from the Royal army, another that they had been crushed and their mysterious and ubiquitous leader beheaded, while the latest rumor before my departure was that they were marching in great force on Fusan. Judging from the proclamation which they circulated, and which, while stating that they rose against corrupt officials and traitorous advisers, professed unswerving oyalty to the throne, it seemed credible that, if there were a throb of patriotism anywhere in Korea, it was in the breasts of these peasants. Their risings appeared to be free from ex- cesses and useless bloodshed, and tiiey confined themselves to the attempt to carry out their programme of reform. Some foreign sympathy was bestowed upon them, because it was bought that the iniquities of misrule could go no further, and hat he time was ripe for an armed protest on a larger scale than the ordinary peasant risings against intolerable exactions «ut at the very moment when these matters were being dis- cussed in W3n-san with not more than a languid interest, a formidable menace to the established order of things was tak- ing shape, destined in a it^ days to cast the Tong-haks into 177 iHl Korea ami Her Ntighbors ihe shade, »n(l cncei.trate the attention of the world on this insignificant peninsula. Leaving Won-san by steamer on 17th June, and arriving at Fusan on the 19th, I ivas not surprise.! to f.nd a Japanese gun- boat m the liarbor. and that 220 Japanese soldiers had been landed from the Higo Maru that morning and were quartered •n the Buddhist temples on the hill, and that the rebels had cut the telegraph wires between Fusan and Seoul. Among the few Europeans at Fusan there was no uneasiness 'I he Japanese, with their large mercantile colony there, have considerable interests to safeguard, and nothing seemed more natural than the course they took. A rumor that Japanese troops had been landed at Ciiemulpo was quite disregarded On arriving at Chemulpo, however, early on the morning of the 21st, a very exciting state of matters revealed itself. A large fleet, six Japanese ships of war, the American flag ship two French, one Russian, and two Chinese, were lying in the outer harbor. The limited accommodation of the inner har- bor was taxed to its utmost capacity. Japanese transports were landing troops, horses, and war material in steam launches, junks were discharging rice and other stores for the commis- sariat department, coolies were stacking it on the beach, and the movement by sea and land was ceaseless. Visitors from the shore, excited and agitated, brought a budget of astound- ing rui;;ors, but confessed to being mainly in the dark. On landing, I found the deadly dull port transformed: the streets resounded to the tread of Japano'.e troops in heavy marching order, trains of mat and forage carts blocked th- road. Every house in the main street of the Japanese settle- ment was turned into a barrack and crowded with troops rifles and accoutrements gleamed in the balconies, crowds of Koreans, 1: •».. and dazed, lounged in the streets or sat on the knolls, gann^ v-;.. Hy at the transformation of their port into a foreign csn p, '\^y vwo hours had passed since the first of the troops laoJt-; aau when I vv -ted the camp with a young ■waiaHMuaa Iiiip Glycene hispides (Dr, Morrison). •According to information obtained by the Russian Diplomatic Mission in Peking. l88 Korea and Her Neighbors posed the shaven forehead and the pigtail on all Chinese men successfully, while it absolutely failed to prevent the women tZ^c'iri^'f !r:' ^'^""^"^ "P *° ^his day no woman with .'Golden L.l.es" (crushed feet) is allowed to enter the Imperial palace, naturally turn attention to this viceroyalf which, ni point of its area of 380,000 square miles, is large than Austria and Great Britain and Ireland put together, while us population IS estimated at from x8,ooo,ooo to'.o,c;o,ooo only Thus it offers a vast field for emigration from the con- gest d provinces of Northern China, and Chinese immigrants are eaddy flocking in from Shan-tung, Chi-li, and Shen-si, so that Southern Manchuria at this time is little behind the inner provinces of China in density of population. It IS different in the northern province, where a cold climate ut r. ''T ' °^ ^°'''' '^"^^^ agriculture more difficult. If It had not been for the war and its attendant complications, I had purposed to travel through it from Northern Korea But It IS unsettled at all times. The majority of its immi- . grants consists of convicts, fugitive criminals, soldiers who have eft the colors, and gold and ginseng hunters. There is something almost comical about some of the doings of this unpromising community. ^ It comprises large organized bands of mounted brigands well led and armed, who do not hesitate to come into collision at t^-me! 'T' r^^P'' ^^'^"'"^'^ ^°™'"g ««■ "^'^^'ors, and hLr n I """" '" ^"^'^'"' ^^^^^'"g f^^ts from their hands. During the Taiping rebellion, when the Chinese troops were withdrawn from Manchuria, these bands carried vmres^'ruledT "."'"T' "^' "'""^ "P°" ^^^^ ^^^ villages, ruled them by right of conquest ! ' In recent years the Government has decided to let voluntary colonists settle m the northern provinces, and has even furnished them with material assistance. Still, things are bad, and the brigands have come to be re- Information received by the Russian Diplomatic Mission in Peking. Deported to Manchuria 189 garded as a necessary evil, and are '• arranged with " Tliev are not scrupulous as to human life, and when they catch I r.ch merchant from the .outh. they send an envoy to his guild with a claim for ransom, strengthened by the threat that if it be cul off" r? '\'" T' ^'''' '''' ^^P''^^'^ head will be cut off Winter, when the mud is frozen hard, is the only tune for the transit of goods by land, and long trains of mule cart, may hen be seen, a hundred or more together, starting from Newchwang Mukden, and other southern ci/ies, each carrying a small flag, which denotes that a suitable blackmail has been paid to an agent of the brigand chiefs, and that they will not be robbed on the journey ! Later, when I was on' the Siberian frontier of Manchuria, the brigands were in great force and having been joined by half-starved deserters from the Chinese army, were harrying the country, and the peasants were flying in terror from their farms. Among the curious features of Manchurian brigandage is that Its virulence rises or falls with good or bad harvests, fnin- dations, etc. For many of the usually respectable peas nt farmers, i„ times of floods and scanty crops, join the robbe bands, returning to their honest avocations L iext seaso7 In spite, however, of this terrorism in the northeast, Man- churia IS one of the most prosperous of the Chinese v ceroy. rm;:;tater '°^^'^" ''-'- '- -^-"•^-^ ---"^ '•— -^ I was disappointed to find that the Manchus (or Tartars) tloJT^ ""! T °^ ^'''''^^'^S, through which, with certain excep- ton. ' TT"""' '"' '' ""'"^ ^"^^'^' -'''^ a totaUonnage of 334 7.^ 28 per cent, of the whole "^ ''"''""^ '" ^^^i to I • I. W, m IQO Korea and Her Neighbors differ little in appearance from the race which they have sub- dued. The women, however, are taller, comlier, and more robust in appearance, as may be expected from their retaining the natural size and shape of their feet, and not only their coiffure but their costume is different, the Manchu women wearing sleeveless dresses from tiie throat to the feet, over under dresses with wide embroidered sleeves. With some ex- ceptions, they are less secluded than their Chinese sisters, and have an air of far greater freedom. Most of the Manchu customs have disappeared along with the language, which is only spoken in a few remote valleys, and is apparently only artificially preserved because the ruling dynasty is Manchu. It is only those students who are aspir- ants for literary degrees and high office in the viceroyalty who are obliged to learn it. People of pure Manchu race are chiefly met with i v he north. Manchus, as kinsmen of the present Imperial dynasty, enjoy various privileges. Every male adult, as soon as he can string a short and remarkably inflexible bow (no easy task), becomes a "Bannerman," i.e. he is enrolled in one of eight bodies of irregulars, called "Banners" from their distinctive flags, and from that time receives one /rttf/( now about three shillings) per month, increased to from five to seven taels a month when on active service. These "Bannermen," as a rule, are not specially reputable characters. They gamble, hang about yamens for odd bits of work, in hope of permanent official employment, and generally sublet to the Chinese the lands which they receive from the Government. It is a singular anomaly that bows and arrows are relied upon as a means of defence in an empire which buys rifles and Krupp guns. Later, in Peking, which was supposed to be threatened by the Japanese armies, it was intended to post Bannermen with bows and arrows at the embrasures of the wall, and on the Peking and Tungchow road I met twenty carts carrying up loads of these primitive weapons for the de- • w Deported to Manchuria loi fence of the capital ! Bow and arrow drill is one of the most amusing of the many military mediaival sights of China. The Chinese Bannermen are descendants of those Chinese who, in the seventeenth century, espoused the cause of tiie Manchu conquerors of China. The whole military force of the three provinces of the viceroyalty is 280,000 men. Tartar garrisons and •« Tartar cities " exist in many of the great pro- vincial cities of China, and as the interests of these troops are closely bound up with those of the present Tartar dynasty, their faithfulness is relied upon as the backbone of Imperial security. From its history and its audacious and permanent conquest of its gigantic neighbor, its mixed population and numerous aboriginal tribes, its mineral and agricultural wealth, and a certain freedom and breeziness which constitute a distinctive feature, Manchuria is a very interesting viceroyalty, and the two months which I spent in it gave it a strong hold upon me. Mud is a great feature of Newchwang, perhaps the leading feature for some months of the year, during which no traffic by road is possible, and the Bund is the only practicable walk. The night I arrived rain began, and continued with one hour's cessation for five days and nights, for much of the time com- ing down like a continuous thundershower. The atmosphere was steamy and hazy, and the mercury by day and night was pretty stationary at 78°. About 8.46 inches of rain fell on those days. The barometer varied from 29° to 29.3°. After- wards, when the rain ceased for a day, the heat was nearly unbearable. Of course, no boat's crew would start under such ciicnmstances. Rumors of an extensive inundation came down the river, but these and all others of purely local interest gave place to an intense anxiety as to whether war would be declared, and what the effect of war would be on the great trading port of Newchwang. CHAPTER XV A MANCHURIAN DELUGE— A PASSENGER CART AN ACCIDENT IT surprised me much to find that only one foreign resident had visited Mukden, which is only 120 miles distant by a road which is traversable in winter, and is accessible by river during the summer and autumn in from eight to ten days. I left Newchwang on the 3rd of July, and though various cir- cumstances were unpropitious, reached Mukden in eight days, being able to avoid many of the windings of the Liau by sail- ing over an inundation. The kindly foreign community lent me necessaries for the journey, but even with these the hold of a "pea-boat" was not luxurious. My camp-bed took up the greater part of it, and the roof was not much above my head. The descent into the hold and the ascent were difficult, and when wind and rain obliged me to close the front, it was quite dark, cock- roaches swarmed, and the smell of the bilge water was horri- ble. I was very far from well when I started, and in two days was really ill, yet I would not have missed the special interest of that journey for anything, or its solitude, for Wong's lim- ited English counted for nothing and involved no conversa- tional effort. For some distance above Newchwang or Ying-tzu, as far as the real Newchwang, there is a complication of muddy rivers hurrying through vast reed beds, the resort of wild fowl, with here and there a mud bank with a mud hovel or two upon it. At that time reed beds and partially inundated swamps stretched away nearly to the horizon, which is limited in the far distance by the wavy blue outline of some low hills. 19a A Manchurian Deluge iq'i We ran up the river till the evening of the second day be- fore a fair wind, and then were becahned on a reedy expanse swarming with mosquitos. The mercury was at 89 ' in tlie hold that night. I had severe fever, with racking pains in my head, back, and limbs, and in the morning the stamping of the junkmen to and fro, along the narrow strip of deck out- side the roof, was hardly bearable. Wong had used up the ample supply of water, and there was nothing wherewith to quench thirst but the brown, thick water of the Liau, the tea made with which resembled peasoup. On the morning of the third day it began to rain and blow, and for the next awful four days the wind and rain never ceased. The oiled paper which had been tacked over the roof of the boat was torn into strips by the violence of the winds, which forced the rain through every chink. I lay down that night with the mercury at 80°, woke feeling very cold, but, though surprised, fell asleep again. Woke again much colder, feeling as if my feet were bandaged together, extricated myself with difficulty, struck a light, and got up into 6 inches of a mixture of bilge water and rain water, with an overpowering stench, in or on which all things were sunk or floating. Won- dered again at being so very cold, found the temperature at 84°, and that I had been sleeping under a wringing sheet in soaked clothing and on soaked sacking, under a soaked mos- quito net, and that there was not a dry article in the hold. For the next three days and nights things remained in the same condition, and though I was really ill I had to live in wet clothing and drink the " liquid cholera " of the flood, all the wells being submerged. Telegrams later in the English papers announced " Great floods in Manchuria," but of the magnitude of the inundation which destroyed for that season the magnificent crops of the great fertile plain of the Liau, and swept away many of its countless farming villages, only the experience of sailing over it could give any idea. I'; fli ClAt 194 Korea and Her Neighbors In that miserable night there were barkings of dogs, shouts of men, mew.ngs of cats, and general noises of unreft and in the morn.ng of the village of Plengdo opposite to which we had moored the evening before, only one h^c^^se and a ba re! mained, wh.ch were shortly carried away. Many of the peo- pie had escaped in boats, and the remainder, with their owls dogs, and cats, were in the spreading branches of a large t^ee Although the mast of my boat was considerably in the way and n ,,,3 d.fficult to make fast, I succeeded i,f resc^ the whole menagene and in transferring it in two trips to a vHl ge on the other s.de, which was then 5 feet above the water. ' We had reached the most prosperous region of Manchuria a plam 60 m.les .n length, of deep, rich alluvial soil, b ar g splendid crops, the most lucrative of which are the iean, thf 0.1 from which ,s the staple export of the country, the oiil poppy, and tobacco. The great and small millet,'wheatTa" ey, melons, and cucumbers cover the ground, mulber^' trees for the s, kworm surround the farmhouses, and the great plaTn IS an Idyll of bounteousness and fertility. Of all' h s ^^ a trace remamed, except in a few instances the tops of 18 feet tTi^lVT'l '" P^°P'^ "°^ °"'^ withLd, but Vuh fuel, and fodder for their animals The river bank burst during the night, and the waters were roofed village, which the evening before stood among its Tu low and poplar trees. At n a fair wind sprang Tilt gan to move, and my boatmen, wh. VM talked f'r "n^ng untied and moved too. After an exciting scene at a bend ZZl^V u'"7r P'^^'^ °"^ "^^^^^d -"^^-e after and their fo f °' J'°""^ '''''' ^^^"^''^^- ^he people and the.r fowls were in the trees. The women clung to their fowl as much as to their babies. Dugouts, scows, a' da few junks, mine among them, were busy saving life and LVnZ three families and their fowls to Sho-L Ku,':tg:trk ^t A Manchurian Deluge ^11 »95 where a number of houses were still standing. These families P gs, and dogs. On our way we sailed into a farmyard to trJ numped one of the undermined walls down. It was a Iam<^ f rmhouse and full of refugees. The water was 3 feet de ' L - =;r,;-- rJ:f rx'" t''^ beasts. ^ ^ ^" *^^"" ^''ops and their A fearful sight presented itself at Sho-wa K,, tu .u over the fas. dissolving homl * '"'"''' '^"'' -re ,™,,. .p.Tiv:„:ir„' .^,^-^2;^,:-,t'r' of a tremendous rush of water where a hT. ^ J .'^^ ^'^^P^ There we were comnellel L W ? ''""^ ^'^'" ^"^y- afternoon. The vS hfd I J '° r ? "^''^" '" ''^^ ^"'^^ Delude " fr^r ,u • J ^ • -^^ '"'g'^t have been " the JJeluge, for the windows of heaven were onened Th. a muddy, rolling sea anH , Ki i , ^°P^"^^- There were rain, and the fo Le nf^l m ',^' ^''^ ^"'^ tremendous sugg'estive c^^^:^^:^^z'T'''' T ^^°"^ been destroyed by the devouwl; v^ate'l;'' " ^'" ""^'^ '^' In 13 miles just one habitation remain«>d cf,.^; handsome .Wc. „o.e >vi,H e^rancr^r^rrrcu^^ M m s \ '■ III • • !i ; •u 196 Korea and Her Neighbors roofs large farm buildings, and many servants' houses some of which were toppling, and others were submerged uoTo hejr roofs There was a lookout on the principa roof anS he ha.lcd us, but as there were several scows about enough to -ve hfe, I disregarded him, and we sailed on 2 th: tempestuous solitude where we anchored The day darkened slowly into night,' the junk rolled with short plungmg rolls, the rain fell more tremendously tha.) ever, and the strong wind, sweeping through the rigg fg "^^ roof rl^^^^^^ ^''' T^°^"^^ ^'^ ^'-'- --he Ind it wl,- M '''' ""' '^'PP'^ ^^°^"^d t>>^ charcoal, and It was mipossible to make tea or arrowroot. The rain dripped everywhere through the roof. My lamp splutteTed and went out and could not be relighted, bedding ^d"h Z"""'"' "^ ''' ^^^^'^ '"^ ^'^^ -^-' ^he noise was Never in all my journeys have I felt so solitary I real ;zed that no other foreigrxer was travelling in Manchuria tht there was no help in illness, and that the'e was nothh g ^^^^^^^^^ tThett!:r'"^ '' "^"^"^' ^^"'^^^ '' ^'-^^^ ^-!^ ^"- Changed. The sky was blue and cloudless, there was a cool norU. wmd and the waste of water dimpled and glittered the boken sparkle of its mimic waves suggesting the L n aft'e^^a destructive storm has become a calm. Ifter sailiL over broad blue water all day, and passing '« islands " on which tie luckier villages were still standing, towards evening we sai ed «reatlv Zf ^^em, which, being of brick, haa not suffered were in ^^^Z V^" ''''"' '^' dis.p^are6. and others were m process of disappearing. The gardens, farmyards and open spaces were under 5 feet of water, the surfece of whicw covered by a bubbly scum. The h^^ses and "Ll were ,n the rooms of the brick houses where many human l^! • > ) "' • • A Manchurian Deluge ) < 197 [efllj^l, *""'" Z'^"^'- ^ ''^' '"'^^ °f ^^''"'"^ implements ierned the people among the few remaining dwellings At that farm the skipper brought a quantity of rice for his family, and by a lovely moonlight we sailed over the drowned country to his village. The flood currents were strong, and when we got there we were driven against two undermined houses and knocked them down, afterwards drifting into a road with fine trees which entangled the mast and sail, and our stern bumped down the wall of the road, and the current car- ried u, ,„to a square of semi-submerged houses, and eventu- ally we got ,nto the skipper's garden, and saw his family mounted on tables and chairs on the top of the Jtanz Two uneventful days followed. The boatmen wer; in cease- less dread of pirates, and I was so ill that I felt I would rather die than make another effort. Arriving within 3 miles of Mukden, Wong engaged a pas- senger cart a conveyance of the roughest deLiptio'n, wh'ch s only rendered tolerable by having its back, sides, anlbot ton. padded wuh mattresses, and I was destitute of everything f No hmg can exaggerate the horror, of an unameiioratfd Chinese cart on an infamous road. Down into ruts 2 feet deep, out of which three fine mules could scarcely extricate us, over hillocks and big gnarled roots of trees^through quagmires and bnnked ditches, where, in dread of the awTul in ^^f '? 'V'" ""'" -^king a non-simultaneous jump «ett : IT " '' ' ".'' ^^ "^^^''' " '^'- '^ -y ^-t hour,' sptks' so r^ ? 7 "' "''^'^ "^^'^ -^ -^ - ^'^-er of clav 7;/ n, I '" ''^' °' ^'" °"^^'- -» °f l^eaten Clay XX J4 milcs in circuit which surrounds the second city of the empire. Then, through a quagmire out of which we wer dragged by seven mules, I bruised, breathless, and in gr ! pa.n. and up a bank where the cart turned over, pu led t .e myself ,n the roof with the cameras on the top of me and my nght arm twisted under me, a Chinese crowd c'u rious to ^e the m ^^m ■ >.*< 198 Korea and Her Neighbors dazed brain, and Wong raging at large ! Then followed a house' Td'; R 'T "'•' '°""^' ^ '^^^"y -^-- «' ^1- house of Dr. Ross, the senior missionary of the Scotch U P Church, sweet homelike rooms in a metamorphosed Chinese house, a large shady bedroom replete with comforts, the in medmte arnval of Dr. Christie, the medical missionary, who ness ,n wh,ch the horrors of the hold of the " pea-boat " and the o 'f^r Z "'"':'"''^" '""'^ only served' to emphasize the comfort and propitiousness of my surroundings. Ui ::fe<- .» #^K;-.v PASSENGER CART, MUKDEjnS. CHAPTER XVI MUKDEN AND ITS MISSIONS T\/TUKDEN Stands at an altitude of ,60 feet above the iVl sea, in Lat. 41° 51' N. and Long. 123° ^f £., in the centre of an immense alluvial plain, bearing superb crops ad bberally spnnkled with farming villages embowered in wood a wavy hne of low blue hills at a great distance limiting th; honzon It ,s 3 miles from the Hun-ho, a tributary o? the L au, and with.n Its outer wall idles along the silvery Siao-ho or small nver," with a long Bund affording a delightful promenade and an airy position for a number of handsome houses, the residences of missionaries and mandarins, with tWH 7 r "T. '''''' ^^'■^"S'^ "'^■■^'^ g"-P- -e ob- tained of gardens and flowering plants and pots. This city of 260,000 inhabitants, owing to its connection with the reignine dynasty, ,s the second city officially in the empire, and the Peking j« boards" with one exception are nominally dnpli Tartar or , r'^n' ^"°* °"'^ '^^ "^ ^'■"^>' '' Chinese and iTrZ T ^'"^''' ^""^ " ^''^' ^^^'^^"^ P°P">-tion of retired and expectant mandarins, living in handsome houses and making a great display in the streets. There is an in- cessant movement of mule carts, the cabs of Mukden, with their superb animals and their blue canopies covering both mule and driver, official mule carts driven at a trot, wifh four or more outriders with white hats and red plumes, private carts belonging to young mandarin swells, who give daily en- tertainments at a restaurant on the Bund, mandarins on horse- back with runners clearing the way, carts waiting for "lotus viewers," tall, "big-footed" women promenading with their 199 ih- 200 Korea and Her Neighbors children their hair arranged in loops on silver frames and decorated with flowers, hospital patients on stretchers and in chairs, men selling melons and candies, and beggars who by blowing through a leaf imitate the cry of nearly every bird Then in the summer evenings, when the mercury has fallen to 80 the servants of rich men bring out splendid ponies and 'es and walk them on the Bund, and there come the crowds to stare at the foreigners and hang round their gates. The presence of well-dressed women is a feature rare in the East ^n I'fi . r"''^"""'^°"^- At night the dogs bark, gun, are fired, drums and gongs are beaten, and the clappers AU ':"*^J™^" "^^1 ^^^h other in making night hideous AH this life lies between the outer wall and the lofty quad- rangular inner wall. 3 miles in circuit, built of brick, flanked by lofty towers, and pierced by eight gates protected by lofty brick bastions. This wall, on which three carriages could drive abreast, protects the commercial and official part of the city, which is densely crowded, Mukden, besides being a great gram emporium, being the centre of the Chinese fur t?ade which attracts buyers from all parts of the world. Fine streets! though full of humps and quagmires, divide the city into nine wards or quarters, the central quarter being Imperial property and containing a fine palace with much decorative yellow tiling, the examination hall, and a number of palaces and yam^m, all solidly built. To my thinking no Chinese city is so agreeable as Mukden. The Tartar capital is free from that atmosphere of decay which broods over Peking. Its wide streets are comparatively clean. It is regularly built, and its fine residences are well kept up. It is a busy place, and does a large and lucrative trade, specially in grain, beans, and furs. It has various industries, which inch.de the tanning and dress- ing of furs and the weaving of silk stufiTs; its bankers and merchants are rich, and it has great commercial as well as some political importance. f 4 Q S H < M H O a o o o u a. iff 11 ■ 111 J: ^ ! rf ( II II ' Mukden and i^ Missions ■»">.s.m in Pekin 'n°„,l' "" ""'' « '!•= actual re« converge, bordered bT^Cl,^:'"' 8™" "«„es of feshwn of those at the MiL,u. "' '"™* ^'"r the _f Manchu E.pero„ J^'e'l^^ "'" ''""«• ^orn-e^ 'h« »acred city of their dy„a^^^br«'' '" "■=« 'ombs and of this century the Chlne« SL . " "" '"''""' ^^ade «»' a' intervals in solelTp^^S Ht -'^ "» >«»" -". as .heriCC Ir^So""' "'■•^« '•" »'"■«'". a3 -"".strator and by the PrSnT, r".""""* ^y a civil ad- offices of State are MIed X 1 ,vCH^''»- "^'^ S'- and cnm.nals of the ,« racesa rtried .^J"'"""' *'^"'='""' The favorable reception given ,1 rt l"."''!^™' courts, features of Mukden. The iZZ ?'"""'" « one of the « « */*«« everywhere Tr*?^"'"'''^''"»«an Church ;.l.o have been estlbh'w th^ ff?" ^- '"• ""-onari^ f-ndly tern,s with the ^opt f^ 'r^T^ ^ea„, are „n' ">e mandarin, and high officii ''*^'"'''' «'■■''> "any of regard publicly and priatet o„ all '° ''""' """■ '*n'of •he med,cal missionary, i, fhet^Ln ,'""'■ ^- Christie. ">ed,cal adviser of n,a /o the T! ^ '"Z" ^^ «" a= 'he »"ves, who, with every ci°cul„ ^"^ '"*"'''» and their have presented compli„e„'av,!KT "' "^emonial pomp Sether the relations'l.,: ^^f^;^'" '"' '-P«al, and alto': are untque. I attribute the^ snecL" '7 '"" "" ""•«!o„arie, Clares partly ,o ,he fac thaTn? ^ f' °"' "'"• "" "PPer «-— arefultocXTbrrfa;^-- 202 Korea and Her Neighbors while they are not only keen-sighted for the good that is in the Chinese, but bring the best out of them Thus Christianity, divested of the nonchalant or contemp- tuous .nsularuy by which it is often rendered repulsive has made consu erable progress not only in the capitafb tT^ Z provnce, and untd the roads became unsafe there was scarcdy a day during my long visit in which there were not deputa ons from d.stant villages asking for Christian workers, epe- rec;:e'd?:""r 'rf ^^ ^"^' -shippers, who, 'iZ; receiver! some know edce of CliricfiTiW,, r o "' '-iiristianity from converts, col- ti s"a;d"d''^''';Tf"' ""°""^"' -nyidoiatrous ^- cSti:;;^tts ':^^ tirT w "• ^''-"^-^^^^ centage Who had z^Va^jtri:^:^::^'^ U,ou, d ,,re already baptised, and nearly as many aga , ri '"'"'"" ""' ' view to baptism. It was most cu'ons to see men commg daily from remote regions asking for some on to go and nstruct them in the .'Jesus doctrine,'Tor they had learned as much as they could without a teacher " In many parts of Manchuria there are now Christian communitie carryn.g on their own worship and discipline, and it is no wonhy that very many of the converts are members of those Secret Socet.es whose strongest bond of union is the search after righteousness. The Mission Hospital is one of the largest and best equipped .n the Far East, and besides doing a great medical and surgi cal work. ,s a medical school in which students pass through a four years' curriculum. There also Dr. Chrisde gives iUus rated popular scientific lectures in the winter, whL ar a - tended among others by a number of sons of mandarins. Donations, both of money and food, are contributed to this hospita both by officials and merchants; and General Tso a most charitable man and beloved by the poor, only the night that the hospital might not suffer for the lack of it during his * Ill p- le i- Mukden and its Missions 203 absence. Only a few months before he presented it with a liandsome tablet and subscription.' Even in so civilized a city as Mukden, with its schools and ^ literary examinations, its thousands of literary aspirants to official position, its streets full of a busy and splendid official- ism, its enormous trade, its banks and yatfifm, its 20,000 Mussulmans, with their many mosques, and hatred of the pig, and the slow interpenetration of enligiitened Western ideas,' Chinese superstitions of the usual order, well known by every reader, prevail. The system of medicine, though it contains the knowledge and use of some valuable native drugs among the sixty which are exported, is in many respects extremely barbarous. The doctors have no operative surgery and cannot even tie an artery ! They use cupping, the cautery, and acupuncture hot or cold, with long coarse uncleanly needles, with which they pie je the liver, joints, and stomach for pains, sprains, and rheumatism. They close all abscesses, wounds, and ulcers • with a black impervious plaster. Witch doctors are resorted to in cases of hysteria or mental derangement. Vaccination is now to some extent adopted with calf or transferred lymph, the puncture being made in the nostrils. In order to ascer- tain whether a sick person is likely to live, they plunge long ' General Tso's cavalry brigade was perhaps the best disciplined in the Chinese army, and he was a severe disciplinarian, but he was also an earnest philanthropist, and though a strict Mussulman, always showed himself friendly to the Christian religion, specially in its benevolent as- pects. His soup kitchens saved many a family from starvation. He established and was the chief support of a foundling hospital. During the terrible inundation of 1888 he distributed food among the famisliing with his own hands. His friendly help could always be relied on by the missionaries, who joined in the sorrow with which Manchuria mourned for his premature death at Phyong-yang in Korea. The benevolence of rich Chinese ought not to be overlooked. The charities of China are on a gigantic scale, and many of them are admirably administered by men who expend much self-sacrificing effort on their administration. ; I it Hi *! 31 i04 Korea and Her Neighbors needles into the body, and give t,p the case as hopeless if blood does not flow. When death is near the friends dress the^ t-ent .n the best clothes they can afford and remove him from the kan^ the usual elevated sleeping place) to the floor, or lay h.m on ashes. As the spirit departs they cry loudly in the ear In connection with death, it may be mentioned that some of the most stnk.ng shops in Mukden, after the coffin shops, are those in which are manufactured and sold admirable lifesize representations of horses, men. asses, elephants, carts, and all the articles of luxury of this life, which are carried in procession and are burned at the grave, sometimes to the value of ^i.ooo Few children under nine years old are buried, and those\ only among the richest class. When death occurs, the mother, wailing bitterly, wraps the body in matting, and throws it away t.e she places it where the dogs can get at it. This ghastly burden must not be carried out of a door or window, but hrough a new or disused opening, in order that the evil spirit wh^h causes the disease may not enter. The belief is that the Heavenly Dog which eats the sun at the time of an eclipse demands the bodies of children, and that if they ^ustold' " ''"^ '^ ^^" '^'"^ -^^^^" -'-^^^ - U.^ I have mentioned the kan^, which is a marked feature of the houses and inns of Manchuria, which for its latitude has the coldest winter .n the world, the mercury often reaching 170 LtHn "T\ ^\" '''"' '' ^ ^^'■^'^ P'^^^^'-'" covered with rnattmg and heated economically by flues, and is at once sleeping and sitting place. The stalks of the Ifolcus Sorghum are used for uel In winter, when the external temperature may be a little above and much below zero for a month at a tune, the Chinaman, unable to heat his whole room, drops his shoes, mounts his kan^, sits crosslegged on the warm mat, covers his padded socks with his padded robe, and there takes his meals and receives his friends in comfort. When I was invited to climb the kang I felt myself a peruana grata J Mukden and its Missions 205 The pawnshops of Mukden, with their high outer walls of y gateways, two or three well-kept courts,'r...e buUci:::,' and tall stone columns at the outer gate, with the sign of the business upon them, their scrupulous cleanliness, and thei wah us. They demand for every sum borrowed movable property to double its amount. If the pledge be n„i redeemed w.th.n two years, it falls to the pawnbroker. Government fixe, te interest. The proprietor takes the same position a a capuahst owmng a bank in the West, and a sa,L. distiller takes an equal place in local esteem. The prevalence of suicide is a feature of Mukden as of most Chmese c.t.es. Certain peculiarities of Chinese justice rele t a favorite way of wreaking spite upon an employer or neigh bor who ,s haunted besides by the spirit of the self-murde^ Hence servants angry with their masters, shopmen with their employers wjves with their husbands, and above all, daughle .-law wuh their mothers-. n -law, show their spite by d h^on matchLTT' Tl'' '' ^^'"'^' °^ ^^''"^ ''^ tops'of'lufi a.; matches ! It ., quue a common thing for a person who has a grudge against another to go and poison himself in his c urt next by the haunting terrors of his malevolent spirit (oung girls were daily poisoning themselves with luciflr matches o reL i:z.T.::r' " -^-''■'- - ^- -^- But it is not the seamy side which is uppermost in Mukden. * ''. i Jil t 4 CHAPTER XVII CHINESE TROOPS ON THE MARCH ^ npHE weeks which I spent in Mukden were full of rumors X and excitement. A few words on the origin of the war with Japan may make the situation intelligible. The Tong-haks, as was mentioned in chapter xiii., had on several occasions defeated the Royal Korean troops, and after much hesitation the Korean King invoked the help of China China replied promptly by giving Japan notice of her inten- tion to send troops to Korea on 7th June. 1894, both coun- tries, under the treaty of Tientsin, having equal rights to do so under such circumstances as had then arisen. On the same day Japan announced to China a similar intention The Chinese General, Yi, landed at A-san with 3,000 men, and the Japanese occupied Chemulpo and Seoul in force. In the Chinese despatch Korea was twice referred to as " our tributary state." Japan replied that the Imperial Government had never recognized Korea as a tributary state of China. I'hen came three proposals from Japan for the administra- tion of Korea, to be carried out jointly by herself and China Ihese were_(i) Examination of the financial administration • (2) Selection of the central and local officials ; (3) The es- tablishment of a disciplined army for national defence and the preservation of the peace of the land. To these proposals China replied that Korea must be left to reform herself, and that the withdrawal of the Japanese troops must precede any negotiations, a suggestion rejected by Japan who informed China on 14th July, that she should regard the dispatch of any more troops to Japan as a belligerent act. On 206 Chinese Troops on the March 207 20th July Japan demanded that the King of Korea should order the Chinese troops to leave the country, threatening decisive measures " if this course were not adopted Meanwhile, at the request of the King, the representatives Of the Treaty Powers were endeavoring to maintain peace, suggesting the simultaneous withdrawal of the troops of both countries. To this China agreed, but Japan demanded delay. and on 23rd July took the "decisive measure" she had threatened, assaulted and captured the Palace, and practically made the King a prisoner, his father, the Tai-Won-Kun, at his request, but undoubtedly at Japanese instigation, takinc nominally the helm of affairs. After this events marched with great rapidity. On 2Sth July the transport Kowshing, flying the British flag and carry- ing 1,200 Chinese troops, was sunk with great loss of life by tiie Japanese cruiser Naniwa, and four days later the Japanese won the battle of A-san and dispersed the Chinese army, ^efore 30th July Korea gave notice of the renunciation of the Conventions between herself and China, which was equivalent to renouncing Chinese sovereignty. On ist August war was declared Of the sequence of these events, and even of the events themselves, we knew little or nothing, and up to the X middle of July Mukden kept " the even tenor of its way " Manchuria is far less hostile to foreigners than the rest of China, and the name "devil" may even be used as a polite address with the prefix of "honorable " ! No European women had previously passed through the gate of the inner wall and through the city on foot, but I not only was able to do so with- out niolestation, though several times only attended by my serv- ain. but actually was able to photograph in the quieter streets, the curiosity of the crowd being quite friendly. The Scotch missionaries had then been established in Mukden for twenty- two years, were on very friendly terms with the people, there was much social intercourse, and altogether their relations with tne Chinese were unique. ! i m lit: t I- 208 Korea and Her Neighbors in Before the end of July, however, the many wild rumors which were afloat, and the continual passage of troops on their way to Korea (war being a foregone conclusion before it was declared), produced a general ferment. I had to abandon peregrinations in the city, and also photography, a hostile crowd having mobbed me as I was " taking " the Gate of Vic- tory, in the belief that I kept a black devil in the camera, with such a baleful Cyclopean eye that whatever living thing it looked on would die within a year, and any building or wall would crumble away I After war was declared on ist August, 1894, things grew worse rapidly. As Japan had full command of the sea, all Chinese troops sent to Korea were compelled to march through Manchuria, and undisciplined hordes of Manchu soldiers from Kirin, Tsitsihar, and othern northern cities poured through Mukden at the rate of 1,000 a day, having distinguished them- selves on the southern march by seizing on whatever they could get hold of, riotously occupying inns without payment, beat- ing the innkeepers, and wrecking Christian chapels, not from anti-Christian but from anti foreign feeling. Their hatred of foreigners culminated at Liau-yang, 40 miles from Mukden, when Manchu soldiers, after wrecking the Christian chapel, beat Mr. Wylje, a Scotch mission ary, to death, and attacked the chief magistrate for his friendliness to the " foreign_devil5." Anti-foreign feeling rose rapidly in Mukden. The servants of foreigners, and even the hospital assistants, were insulted in the town, and the wildest rumors concerning foreigners were spread and believed. The friendly auth:^rities, who took the safety of the three mission families into serious consideration, requested them to give up their usual journeys into the interior, and to avoid going into the city or outside the walls. Next the "street chapels" were closed, the native Christians, a large body, being very apprehensive for their own safety, being re- garded as " one with the foreigners," who, unfortunately, were generally supposed to be " the same as the Japanese." y\ p u >-■ a: o U O u C ■ill 3 its I \ Chinese Troops on the March 209 The perils of the roads increased. Not a cart or animal was to be seen near them. The great inns were closed or had their shutters wrecked, and the villages and farms were deserted All tracks converging on Mukden were thronged with troops not marchirg, but straggling along anyhow, every tenth man carrying a great silk banner, but few were armed with modern weapons. I saw several regiments of fine physique without a rifle among them ! In some, gingalls were carried by two men each, others were armed with antique muzzle-loading muskets very rusty, or with long matchlocks, and some carried only spears, or bayonets fixed on red poles. All were equipped with such umbrellas and fans as I saw some time later in the ditches of the bloody field of Phyong-yang. It was nothing but mur- der to send thousands of men so armed to meet the Japanese with their deadly Murata rifles, and the men knew it, for when they happened to see a foreigner they made such remarks as. This IS one of the devils for whom we are going to be shot " \ and when a large party of them, in attempting to make a for- cible entry mto the Governor-General's palace, were threat- ened by the guard with being shot, the reply was, " We are going to be shot in Korea, we may as well be shot here " ' The nominal pay of soldiers is higher than that of laborers and It was only after the defeat and the great slaughter at A-san that there was any unwillingness to enter the ranks. The uni form IS easy, but unfit for hard wear, and very stagey_a short loose, sleeved red cloak, bordered with black velvet, loose blue, black, or apricot trousers, and long boots of black cotton cloth with thick soles of quilted rag. The discipline may be inferred from the fact that some regiments of fine physique straggled through Mukden for the seat of war carrying rusty muskets in one hand, and in the other poles with perches, on which singing birds were loosely tethered ! The men fell out of the ranks as they pleased, to buy fruit or tobacco or to speak to friends. Yet they made a goodly scenic display in their brilliant coloring, with their countless long banners of 210 Korea and Her Neighbors 'lf crimson silk undulating in the breezy sunshine, and their offi .ta" '"' "'■= ""' ^^"°" J^'""^ riding Lide Those who had rifles and modern weapons at all had them of all makes; so cartridges of twenty different sorts and si™ were huddled together without any attempt at classMcat on and m one open space all sorts were heaped on the eaj^n and th owtng them back on the heap I There were neither ^. c^ arrangements nor an ambulance corps, Chinese custom X f o'L " Te"^" '"' '''-' '"^■"' """"""' - »ffl ? u ^ commissariat was not only totally in- efficjen but grossly dishonest, and where stores had acc'm;. ated the contractors sold them for their own benefit Thus there was httle provision of food or fodder in advance, and in a very short t.me the soldiers were robbing at large, Ind eat- ing the horses and transport mules. The Chinese soldiers bad as the,r drill and discipline are, are regarded by Europe n offi cars as '« excellent material," but the Manchus of t'lTol (lartars) are a shambling, disorderly, insubordinate horde dreaded by peaceable citizens, presuming on their Imperial' relationship, and in disturbed times little better than licensed Among the first troops to leave the city was the Fengtien Chinese br^ade of cavalry 5,000 strong, under General Tso. a brave and experienced officer, who was at oncelfei^ij^ trusted so that when he fell with his face to the foe at Phyong- yang. his loss demoralized the army, and the Japanese showed the,r appreciation of him by erecting an obelisk to his mem- S./" ^''S:ade was in a state of strict discipline, admirably drilled and on the whole well armed. The troopers were mounted on active, well-built ponies, a little over '3 hand high, up to great weight. After leaving Mukden they were entangled in a quagmire which extended for 100 miles, and CHINESE SOLDIERS =i^- Chinese Troops on the March 211 the telegrams of disaster were ominous. On tlie first day their commander beheaded six n.en for talking melons without pay- ment, and on the second fourteen were decapitated for deser- tion. After General Tso's departure with his disciplined force the disorder increased, and tiie high officials, being left with few reliable soldiers, became alarmed for their own positions, the hatred and jealousy between the Chinese and Manchu troops not only constituting one of the great difficulties of the war but threatening official safety. Rumors of disaster soon began to circulate, and with each one the ferment increased, and an Imperial proclamation sent by courier from Peking in the interests of foreigners, declar- ing that tlie Emperor was only at war with the " rebel wojen " (dwarfs), and was at peace with all other nations, did little to allay It. The able-bodied beggars and unemployed coolies in the city were swept into the army, and were sent off after three weeks drill. Themule-cartsof Mukden and the neighborhood were requisitioned for transport, paralyzing much of the trade of the city. Later, many of these carts were burned as fuel to cook the mules for the starving troops. As Manchu soldiers continued to pour in, the shops were closed and the streets deserted at their approach, and many of the merchants fled to the hills. A Japanese occupation, ensuring security and order, came to be hoped for by many sufferers. The price of pro! visions rose, because the country people had either been robbed of all or did not dare to bring them in, and even the hospital and dispensary for the same reason began to be scantily at- tended. After Mr. Wylie's murder, things became increa- ngly senous, and by the end of August it became apparent to the authorities that the safety of foreigners would be jeopard- Zt ^L'TT^ ™"'^ ^°"^''" ^" ^^"'^^^"- Somewhat later they left, Dr. Ross and Dr. Christie remaining behind for a short time at the special request of the Governor. I left on 20th August, and though my friends were very anxious about .i ?J' :5 ,j 212 Korea and Her Neighbors my safety, I reached Newclmang five days later, having en- countered no worse risk than that of an attack by pirates, who captured some junks with some loss of life, after I had eluded them by travelling at night. n- 10 5d CHAPTER XVIII NAGASAKI — WLADIVOSTOK AFTER the collapse of the rumor regarding the landing of the Japanese in force on the shores of the Gulf of Pe- chili, which obtained credence for nearly a fortnight in the Far East, fluttered every Cabinet in Europe, forced even so cool and well-informed a man as Sir Robert Hart into hasty action, and produced a hurried exodus of Europeans from Peking and a scare generally among the foreign residents in North China, I returned from Peking to Chefoo to await the course of events. The war, its requirements, and its uncertainties disarranged the means of ocean transit so effectually that, after hanging on for some weeks, in the midst of daily rumors of great naval engagements, for a steamer for Wladivostok, I only succeeded in getting a passage in a small German boat which reluctantly carried one passenger, and in which I spent a very comfortless five days, in stormy weather, varied by the pleasant interlude of a day at Nagasaki, then in the full plory of the chrysan- themum season, and aflame with scarlet maples. Lighted, cleaned, and policed to perfection, without a hole or a heap! this trim city of dwarfs and dolls contrasts agreeably with the filth, squalor, loathsomeness, and general abominableness which are found in nearly all Chinese cities outside the foreign settlements. Chinese moved about the streets with an air as of a ruling race, and worked at their trades and pursued the important calling of compradores with perfect freedom from annoyance, the only formality required of them being registration ; while ai3 214 Korea ami Her Nciyrhbors from China all the Japmese had fled by the desire of their ( iisuls, not always unmolested in person and property, and any stray "dwarf" then found in a Chinese city would have been all but certain to lose his life. The enthusiasm for the war was still at a white heat. Gifts in money and kind fell in a continual shower on the Nagasaki authorities, nothing was talked of but military suc( esses, and a theatre holding 3,000 was giving tlie profits of two daily performances to crowded audiences in aid of the War Fund. The fact that ships were only allowed to enter the port by lay- light, and were then piloted by a Government steam-launch in charge of a "torpedo pilot," was the only indication in the harbor of an exceptional state of things. It was warm autumn weather at Nagasaki, but when I reached Wladivostok the hills which surround its superb har- bor were powdered witii the first snows of winter, and a snow- storm two days later covered the country to a depth of 18 inches. Wooded islands, wooded bays, wooded hills, deep sheltered channels and inlets, wooded to the water's edge, bewilder a stranger then comes Fort Godobin, and by a sharp turn the harbor is entered, one of tlie finest in the world, two and a half miles long by nearly one wide, with deep water everywhere, so deep that ships drawing 25 feet lie within a stone's throw of the wharves, and moor at the Government pier. The first view of Wladivostok (" Possession of the East ") is very striking, although the vandalism of its builders has deprived it of its naturally artistic background of wood. Otherwise the purple tone of the land and the blue crystal of the water reminded me of some of our Nova Scotian harbors. There is nothing Asiatic about the aspect of this Pacific capital, and indeed it is rather Transatlantic than European. Seated on a deeply embayed and apparently landlocked harbor, along the shores of which it straggles for more than 3 miles, climbing audaciously up the barren sides of denuded hills, irregular, treeless—lofty buildings with bold fronts, !?' o H 75 c I '■■( Nagasak i — W lad i vostok 215 Government House, "Kuntz and Albers," the glittering domes of a Greek cathedral, a Lutheran church. Government Administrative Offices, the Admiralty, the Arsenal, the Cadet School, the Naval Club, an Emigrant Home, and the grand and solid terminus and offices of the Siberian Railway, rising out of an irregularity which is not picturesque, a:iractand hold the voyager's attention. Requesting to be taken at once to the Customs, the bewil- dered air of astonishment with which my request was met in- formed me that Wladivostok had up to that time been a free port, and that I was at liberty to land unquestioned. After thumping about for some time among a number of stout sampans in the midst of an unspeakable Babel, I was hauled on shore by a number of laughing, shouting, dirty Korean youths, who, after exchanging pretty hard blows with each other for my coveted possessions, shouldered them and ran off with them in different directions, leaving me stranded with the tripod of my camera, to which I had clung desperately in the melie. There were droskies not far off, and four or five Koreans got hold of me, one dragging me towards one vehicle, others to another, yelling Korean into my ears, till a Cossack policeman came and thumped them into order. There were hundreds of them on the wharf, and except that they were noisier and more aggressive, it was like landing at Chemulpo. Getting into a drosky, I said, "Golden Horn Hotel," in my most distinct English, then " Hotel Come d'or," in my most distinct French. The motijik nodded and grinned out of his fur hood, and started at a gallop in the opposite direction ! I clutched him, and made emphatic signs, speech being useless, and he turned and galloped in a right direction, but stopped at the disreputable doorway of one of the lowest of the many drinking saloons with which Wladivostok is infested. There all my Koreans reappeared, vociferating and excited. I started the motijik off again at a gallop, the drosky jumping ruts and bounding out of holes with an energy of elasticity I 2l6 r r Korea and Her Neighbors which took my breath away, the Koreans racing. More gallops, more stoppages at pothouses, and in this fashion I reached at last the Golded Horn Hotel_a long, rambling "disjaskit" building, with a shady air of disreputableness hanging about it,_the escort of Koreans still good-natured and vociferous. The landlady emerged. I tried her in English and French, but she knew neither. The motmk shouted at us both in Russian, a little crowd assembled, each man trying to put matters straight, and when every moment made them more entangled, and the moujik was gathering up his reins to gallop off on a further quest, a Russian officer came up, and in excellent Engl/sl, asked if he could help me, inter- preted my needs to the lady, lent me some /.pecJts with which to appease the Koreans and the mo!,jiJi;, and gave me the en- joyment of listening to my own blessed tongue, which I had not heard for five days. By a long flight of stairs, past a great bar and dining-room, where vo^i^a was much en evidence, even in the forenoon, past a billiard-room, occupied even at that early hour, and through a large, dark, and dusty theatre, I attained my rooms, a "parlor" and bedroom en suite, opening on and looking out upon a yard with pigsties. There were five doors, not one of wh»ch would lock. The rooms were furnished in Louis Quatorze style, much gilding and velvet, all ancient and dusty. They looked as if they had known tragedies, and might know them again. The barrier of language was impass- able, and I must be unskilled in the use of signs, for I quite failed to make any on mderstand that I wanted food. I went out, cashed a circular note at the great German house of Kuntz and Albers, the " Whiteleys " of Eastern Siberia, where all the information that I then needed was given in the most polite way, found it impossible anywhere else to make myself understood in English or French, failed in an attempt to buy postage stamps or to get food, delivered the single letter of introduction which I had somewhat ungraciously accepted, Nagasaki— Wladivostok 217 and returned to my melodramatic domicile to consider the possibilities of travel, which at that moment were not en- couraging. Before long Mr. Charles Smith, the oldest foreign resident in Wladivostok, to whom my letter was addressed, called, a kindly and genial presence, and, as I afterwards found, full of good deeds and benevolence. He took me at once to call on General Unterberger, the Governor of the Maratime Province. I think I never saw so gigantic a man— military, too, from his spurs to his coat collar. As he rose to receive me he looked as if his head might eventually touch the lofty ceiling. Mr. Smith is a persona grata in Wladivostok, and very much so with the Governor, who consequently received me with much friendliness, and asked me to let him know my plans. I explained what I wanted to do, subject to his ap- proval, and presented my credentials, which were of the best. He said that he quite approved of my project, and would do anything he could to help me, and wrote on the spot a letter to the Frontier Commissioner, but he added that the disorgan- ized and undisciplined state of the Chinese army near the frontier might render some modification of my plan neces- sary, as I afterwards found. The Governor and his wife speak excellent English, and the social intercourse which I had with them afterwards was most agreeable and instructive. During the afternoon Mr. Smith returned, and saying that he and his wife could not endure my staying in that hotel, took me away to his home high up on a steep hillside, with a glorious view of the city and harbor, and of which it is diffi- cult to say whether the sunshine were brighter within or with- out. Under such propitious circumstances my two visits became full of sunny memories, and I may be pardoned if I see Wladivostok a little couletir de rose; for the extraordinary kindness which dogs and shadows the traveller in the Far East were met with there in perfection, and where I was received by strangers I left highly valued friends. '■A i 2l8 Korea and Her Neighbors After a snowstorm splendid weather set in. Tlie snow pve- vented dust blasts, the ordinary drawback of an Eastern Siberian winter, the skies were brilliant and unclouded, the sunsets carnivals of color, the air exhilarating, the mercury at night averaging 20°, there was light without heat, the main road was full of sleighs going at a gallop, their bells making low music, all that is unsightly was hidden, and this weather continued for five weeks ! " The Possession of the East " is nothing if not military and naval. Forts, earthworks, at which it is prudent not to look too long or intently, great military hospitals, huge red brick barracks in every direction, offices of military adminis- tration, squads of soldiers in brown ulsters and peaked pasha- liks, carrv'ig pickaxes or spades on their shoulders,* sappers with their tools, in small parties, officers, mostly with port- folios or despatch boxes under their arms, dashing about in sleighs, and the prohibition of photography, all indicate its fortress character. Certainly two out of every three people in the streets are in uniform, and the Cossack police, who abound, are practically soldiers. Naval it is also. There are ships of war in and out of com- mission, a brand-new admiralty, a navy yard, a floating dock, a magnificent dry dock, only just completed, and a naval clubhouse, which is one of the finest buildings in VVladivos- tok. No matter that Nature closes the harbor from Christmas to the end of March I Science has won the victory, and the > The Russian soldier does a great amount of day labor. Far from disporting himself in brilliant uniform before the admiring eyes of boys and " servant girls," he digs, builds, carpenters, makes shoes and harness, and does a good civil day's work in addition to his military duties, and is paid for this as " piecework " on a f^xed scale, his daily earnings bei; g duly entered in a book. When he has served his time these are j.anc^ed over to him, and a steady, industrious man makes enough to set himself up in a small business or on a farm. Vodka and schnaps are the Russian soldier's great enemies. Nagasaki — Whulivostok 219 port has been kept open for the last two winters by means of a powerful ice-breakei and the services of the troops in towing the blocks of ice out to sea. Large steamers of the "Volun- teer Fleet" leave Odessa and Wladivostok monthly or fort- nightly. As the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Rail- way, Wladivostok aspires to be what she surely will be— at once the Gibraltar and Odessa of the Far East, one of the most important of commercial emporiums, as the "distribu- ting point" for the commerce of that vast area of prolific country which lies south of the Amur. Possibly a branch line to Port Shestakoft" in Ham gyong Do may enable the Government to dispense with the services of the ice-brc '^er ! The progress of the city is remarkable. The site, then a forest, was only surveyed in i860. In 1863 many of the trees were felled and some shanties were erected. Later than that a tiger was shot on the site of the new Government House, and a man leaving two horses to be sliod outside the smithy had them both devoured by tigers. Gradually tlie big oaks and pines were cleared away, and wooden houses were slowly added, until 1872, when the removal of the naval establish- ment of 60 men from Nicolaeffk on the Amur to the new set- tlement gave it a decided start. In 1878 it had a population of 1,400. In 1897 its estimated civil population was 25,000, including 3,000 Koreans, who have their own settlement a mile from the city, and are its draymen and porters, and 2,000 Chinese. The letter keep most of the shops, and have ob- tained a monopoly of the business in meat, fish, game, fruit, vegetables, and other perishable commodities, their guild be- ing strong enough to squeeze the Russians out of the trade in these articles, which are sold in four large wooden buildings by the harbor known as the " Bazar." There ;.re some good Japanese shops, but the Japanese are usually domestic servants at high wages, and after a few years return to enjoy their savings in their own country. A naturalized German is the only British subject, and my host and his family are the only Americans. ■llil 'fv: IS ' 1*1 220 Korea and Her Neighbors The capital has two subsidized and two independent lim c of steamers, 700 families of Russian assisted emigrants enter Pnmorsk annually, each head of a household being required to be the possessor of 600 roubles (£60), and from 8,000 to io,coo Chinese from the Shan-tung provmce arrive every spring to fulfil labor contracts, returning to China h Dectia ber, carrying out of the country froM 25 to 50 dollars earh, co,-v,ct labor from the penal settlement of Saghalien buing been abandcr-.v; u, impraciicable. The Chinese ,i;.>p., which ar<. i feature of Wladivostok, un- dersell both Russ-an. and Germans, and have an increasing trade. Kuntz a.i .Ubers, a Hamburg firm of importers; bankers, shu.p,ng .gents, and Whiteleyism in general, with sixty clerics, mostly German, with a few Russians, Danes, and Koreans, conduct an enormous wholesale and retail busin'ss m a " palatial " pile of brick and stone buildings, and has sixteen brunch houses in Eastern Siberia, and the German firm of Langalutje runs them very closely. The railway station and offices are 'solid and handsome; an admirably built railroad, open to the Ussuri Bridge, 186 miles end progressing towards the Amur with great rapidity, points to a new commercial future; streets of shops and dwelling- houses, in which brick and stone are fast replacing wood are extending to the north, east, and west, and along the Gulf of Peter the Great, for fully three miles; and n:wand handsome official and private edifices of much pretension were being rapidly completed. One broad road, with houses sometimes on one, sometimes on both sides, running along the hillside for 2 miles at a considerable height, is the " Main Street" or " H.gli Street " of Wladivostok. Along it are built most of the public buildings, and the great shops and mercantile offices. It is crossed by painfully steep roads climbing up tl.^ hill and descending with equal steepness to the sea. Theif are two or three parallel r^.^s of small importance The builder was at v, -. in all quarters, and the •• k i Nagasak i— W lad i vostok 221 the mason's trowel and the ring of the carpenter's hammer were only silent for a few hours during the night. Several of Government buildings were barely finished, and were occupied before they were painted and stuccoed. Building up and pulling down were going on simultaneously. Roads were being graded, culverts and retaining walls built, and wooden houses showed signs of disappearing from the principal thor- oughfare. There was a " boom " in real property. The value of land has risen fabulously. "Lots "which were bought in 1864 for 600 and 3,000 roubles are now worth 12,- 000 and 20,000, and in the centre of the town land is not to be bought at any price. Newness, progress, hopefulness are characteristics of civil VVladivostok. It has the aspect of a growing city in the American Far West. Few things are finished and all are go- ing ahead. The sidewalks are mostly narrow, and composed of rough planks, with a tendency to tip up or down, but here and there is a fine piece of granite flagging 10 feet wide. The hotels have more of the shady character of "saloons" or barrooms than of anything reputable or established. Hand- some houses of brick and stone shoulder wooden shanties Fashionable carriages or sleighs bounce over ungraded streets The antediluvian r-cart with its Korean driver bumps and creaks through t - .^ ^ets alongside of the troika, with its three galloping hois •- . showy harness, and its occupants in the latest and daintift of Parisian costumes. But the all-pervading flavor of militarism overpowers the suggestion of the American Far West. The first buildings on the barren coast are military hospitals and barracks, and bar- racks thicken as the city is approached. The female element IS in a remarkable minority. The dull roll of artillery and comniissanat wagons, the tramp, morning and night, of brown battalions, and the continual throb of drum and blare of truirfpet and bugle, recall one to the fact that this is the capital of Russia's vast, growing, aspiring, Pacific Empire. II '' I 222 Korea and Her Neighbors Theatricals, concerts, and balls fill up the winter season. Except on the few days on which snow falls, the skies are cloudless, the temperature is not seriously below zero, and the dryness of the air is very invigorating. In winters, happily somewhat exceptional, in which there is no snowfall, and the strong wnids create dust-storms, the climate is less agreeable Spring IS abrupt and pleasant, and autumn is a fine season, but summer is hot, damp, and misty. A fine Greek cathedral, with many domes and lofty gilded crosses, which gleam mysteriously in the sunset when the gloom of twilight has wrapped all else, a prominent Lutheran church, and a Chinese joss-house, provide for the religious «eeds of the population. The Governor of the Maritime Province, several of the leading, and many of the lower offi- cials are of German origin from the Baltic provinces, Luther- ans, and possibly imbued with a few liberal ideas. But among the kindly, cultured, and agreeable people whose acquaintance I made in Wladivostok one peculiarity impressed me forcibly -the absolute stagnation of thought, or the expression of it on politics and all matters connected with them, the adminis- tration of government, religion, the orthodox church, dissent, home and foreign policy, etc. It is true that certain subjects, and these among the most interesting, are carefully eliminated from conversation, and that to introduce any one of them might subject the offender to social ostracism. I \ CHAPTER XIX KOREAN SETTLERS IN SIBERIA 'T^HE chief object of my visit to Russian Manchuria was to 1 settle for myself by personal investigation the vexed question of the condition of those Koreans who have found shelter under the Russian flag, a number estimated in Seoul at 20,000. It was there persistently said that Russia was banish- ing them in large numbers, and that several thousands of them had already recrossed the Tumen, and were in such poverty that the King of Korea had sent agents to the north who were to settle them on lands in Ham-gyong Do. But in Wladivostok the servant-interpreter difficulty was ab- solutely insurmountable. No eff-orts on the part of my friends could obtain what did not exist, and I was on the verge of giving up what proved a very interesting journey, when the Director of the Siberian Telegraph Lines very kindly liberated the senior official in his department, who had not had a holi- day for many years, to go with me. Mr. Heidemann, a Ger- man from the Baltic provinces, spoke German, Russian, and English with nearly equal ease, and as a Russian official was able to make things smoother than they might otherwise have been in a very rough part of Primorsk. He was tall, good- looking, and verging on middle age, very gentlemanly, never failed in any courtesy, understood how to manage moiijiks, and was a capable and willing interpreter ; but he was official, reticent, an-i uninterested, and gave me the impression of be- ing frozen into his uniform ! Fortified as to my project by the cordial approval of the 22.1 J 224 Korea i aiK< Jitr Neighbors Governor, the co.mesy of the Telegraph Drparime.u, and the singular splfiulnr of the weather, I left Wladivostok by a red sunrise in a small steamer, which accomplished the 60 miles to Possiet Bay in seven hours, landi , .., , deep itdet of clear water and white sand, soon to be closed by ice, at the foot of low and absolutely barren hills fringing off into sandy knolls, where Koreans with their ox-carts awaited the steamer A well s;, ead tea-table at the house of the Russian postmaster was very welcome. Such a strong-looking family I had seldom seen but afterwards I found that size and strength are charac- teristic of the Russian settlers in Primorsk. Possiet Bay is a large military station of fine barracks and storehouses. It scarcely seemed to possess a civil population, but there are Korean settlements at no great distance, from which much of the beef supply of Wladivostok is derived. We met a number of strong, thriving-Iooking Koreans driving 60 fine fat cattle down to the steamer. I'ht! post wagon, in which we were cramped up among and under the mail-bags, took us at a two hours' gallop along frozen inlets of the sea and across frozen rivers, over ^^uissy, hilly country, scarcely enlivened by Korean farms in the val- leys, to Nowo Kiewsk, which we reache after niglitfall, and were hospitably rece: A by •he rep- entative ..f Messrs. Kuntz and Albers, who.o large brick and stone establishment is the prominent object in the settlement. Nowo Kiewsk 's a great military post, to which 1,000 civdians, chiefly Koreans a :d Chinese, have been attracted by the prospect of gain. Koreans indeed form she bulk of this population, and do all the hauling of goods .uid fuel widi their ox-teams. The centre of the town ■ rre dusty slope int^r. sected by dusty and glaring roads, ■ .ch sound at intervals from early morning till sunset with the stead> tramp of brown ^)^:-.*.ered battalions. Between Possiet Bay and Nowo Kiewsit there were 10,000 infantry and artillery, and at the latter post 8 pieces of field artillery and 24 two-wheeled ammunition Korean Settlers in Siberia 225 >i wagons. Barracks for 10,000 more men were in course of rapid construction. Long wooden sheds shelter tlje artillery ponies, and villages of low mud houses of two rooms each, with windows consisting of a single small pane of glass, the families of b ,ldiers. There are great drill and parade grounds and an imposing Greek church of the usual pattern. With its great open spaces and wide streets, Nowo Kiewsk looks laid out for futurity, straggling along a treeless and bushless hill slope for 2 uules. In addition to Kunt/. and Albers, with their polyglot staff of clerks, among whom a young Korean in European dress was conspicuous for his gen- tlemanliness and alacrity, there is another German house, and there are forty small shops, chiefly kept by Chinese, at all of which schnaps and vodka are sold. I was detained there for three days while arrangements for my southern journey were being made, and during that time the Chief of Police, who spoke French, took me to several Korean villages. So far as I saw , ,id heard, the whole agri- ciihural population of the neighborhood is Korean, and is in a ver )sperous condition. There, and down to the Korean front, most of these settlers are doing well, and some of them are growing nch as contractors for tl,e supply of meat and grain to the Russian forces. At this they have beaten their Chinese neighbors, and they actually go into Chinese Manchuria, buy up lean cattle, and fatter^ hem for beef. To those .0 have only seen the Koreans in Korea, such a statement will be hard I / credible. Yet it does not stand alone, for I have it on the best authority that the Korean settlers near Khabaroffka have competed so successfully with the Chinese in market garden- ing ♦hat the supplying that city with vegetal es is now en- tirely in their hands ! The Russian tarantass is one of the m^st uncouth of civ'l- ized vehicles— all that can be said of it is that it suits the roads, which in that region are execrable. On two sets of stout wheels and axles, attached to eac. other by long solid timbers, a long •Ml •i 226 Korea and Her Neighbors •hallow box is securef! with one, two, or even three boards, cushioned or not, "roped" across it for seats. It maybe drawn by either two or three horses abreast, one in the sliafts and one or two outside, each with the most slender attachment to the vehicle, and his head held down and inwards by a tight strap. Tl s outer animal is trained to a showy gallop, which never slackens even though the shaft horse may keep up a decorous trot. The tarantass has no springs, and, going at a gallop, bumps and bounces over all obstacles, holes, hillocks, ruts and streams being alike to it. The tarantass of the Chief of Police made nothing of the obstacles on the road to Yantchihc, where we were to hear of a Korean interpreter. The level country, narrowing into a valley bordered by fme mountains, is of deep, rich black soil, and grows almost all cereals and roots. All the crops were gathered in and the land was neatly ploughed. Korean hamlets with houses of a very superior class to those in Korea were sprinkled over the country. At one of the largest villages, where 140 families were settled on 750 acres of rich land, we called at several of the peasant farmers' houses, and were made very welcome, even the women coming out to welcome the official with an air of decided pleasure. The farmers had changed the timid, suspicious, or cringing manner which is characteristic of them to a great extent at home, for an air of frankness and manly independence which was most pleasing. The Chief of Police was a welcome visitor. The Koreans had nothing to fear, unless his quick scent discerned an in- sanitary odor or his eye an anwarrantable garbage heap ! The farmyards were clean and well swept, and tl » domestic animals were lodged in neat sheds. The houses, of strictly Korean architecture, were large, with five or six rooms, carefully thatched, and very neat witliin, abounding L. such comforts and plenishings as would only be dreamed of by mandarins at home. It is insistetl on, however, that, instead of the flues Korean Stttlcrs In Siberia 227 which heat the Hours vomiting forth their smoke through many blackened apertures in the walls, they shall miite in sending it heavenwards through a hollow tree trunk placed at a short dis- tance from the house. This, and cleanly surroundings in the interests of sanitation, are the only .cstrictions on their Korean habits. The clothing and dwellings are the same as in Korea and the " to[>knot " flourishes. ' A little farther on there is the large village of Yantchihe. with a neat schoolhouse, in which Russian and Korean pupils sit side by side at their lessons, a Greek church, singularly rich in internal decorations, and a priest's house adjoining This IS a very prosperous village. In the neat police station a Korean sergeant wrote down my requirements and sent off a smart Korean policeman in search of an interpreter. Four hundred Koreans in this neighborhood have conformed to the Lrreek Church and have received baptism. On asking the priest, who was more picturesque than cultivated, and whose large young family seemed oppressively large for the house what sort of Christians they made, he replied suggestively tha't they had "a great deal to learn." and that there would be " more hope for the next generation." I am not clear in my own mind as to the cause of the suc- cess which has attended " missionary effort " at Yantchihe and elsewhere. The statements I received on the subject differed widely, and in most cases were made hesitatingly, as if my in- formants were not sure of their ground. My impression is that while Russia is tolerant of devil-worship, or any other worship which is not subversive of the externals of morality ''conformity " is required to obtain for the Korean alien those blessings which belong to natr.ralization as a Russian subject Preparations being com.ieted for travelling to the Korean frontier, and into Korea as far as Kyong-heung, a town which a irade Convention in 1888 opened to the residence of Rus- sian subjects in the hope of creating a market there after the style of Kiachta, I had an interview with Mr. Matunin, the 228 Korea and Her Neighbors Frontier Commissioner, who gave me a very unpleasant ac< count of insecurity on the frontier owing to the lawlessness of the Chinese troops, and an introduction to the Governor of Kyong-heung, A large tarantass with three ponies and a driver, a Korean on another pony, and the Korean headman of a neighboring village, who spoke Russian well, and our saddles were our modest outfit. The details of the two days' journey to the Tumen are too monotonous for infliction on the reader. The road was infamous, and at times disappeared altogether on a hillside or in a swamp, and swamps are frequent for the first 40 versts. The tarantass, always attempting a gallop, bounced, bumped, and thumped, till breathing became a series of gasps. Occasionally we stuck fast in swampy streams where the ice was broken, being extricated by a tremendous, united, and apparently trained, jump on the part of the ponies, which compelled a strong grip of the vehicle with hands and feet, and would have dislocated any other. Mr. Heidemann smoked cigarettes unceasingly, and made no remarks. We crossed the head of Possiet Bay and other inlets at a gallop on thin ice, forded several streams in the aforesaid fashion, and passed through several Korean coast villages given up to the making of salt by a rude process, the finished product being carted away to Hun-chun in China in baskets of finely woven reeds. These Chinese carts are drawn by seven mules each, constantly driven at a gallop. After 30 versts the country became very hilly, with rugged mountains in the distance, all without a tree or bush, and covered with coarse and fine grasses mixed up with myriads of with- ered flower stalks of Composites and C/mbelli/erce, and here and there a lonely, belated purple aster shivered in :he strong keen wind, which made an atmosphere at zero somewhat hard to face. The valleys are flat and broad, and their rich black soil, the product of ages of decaying vegetation, is absolutely stoneless. Almost all crops can be raised upon it. Besides •?:. ^ Korean Settlers in Siberia 229 being a rich agricultural country, the region is well suited for cattle breeding. There were large herds on the hills, and hay- stacks thickly scattered over the landscape indicated abundance of winter keep. The potato, which flourishes and is free from the disease, is largely cultivated, and is now with the Koreans an article of ordinary diet. The whole of this fine country is settled by Koreans, for the few hamlets of wretched, tumble-down Chinese houses are of no account. Whether as squatters or purchasers, they are making the best of the land. The number of their domestic animals enables them to fertilize it abundantly ; they plough deep, and rotate their crops, and get a splendid yield from their lands. We halted at Saretchje, a village of 120 families, admirably housed, and with all material comforts abounding about them. Out of its 600 inhabitants, 450 have "con- formed." The Koreans, having no religion, are apparently not unwilling to secure the possible advantages of conversion and though none of the Greek priests who conversed with me were enthusiastic about their " consistency," it is at least more satisfactory to see an '^ Ecce Homo^^ on the wall than the family daemon. At distances of 3 and 4 miles there are Korean villages, of which prosperity in greater or less degree is a characteristic. Ihe houses are large and well built, and the farmyards are well stocked with domestic animals, the people and children are well clothed, and the village lands carefully cultivated. A long ascent, during which the road, which for some time had been intermittent, gradually disappeared, leads to the summit of a high hill, from which the mountainous frontiers of Russia, China, and Korea are seen to converge. After losing our way and our time, and crossing several ranges of hills without a road, just as the winter sun was setting in a flood of red gold, glorifying the mountains on the Chinese frontier, a turn round a 'Mufl" revealed what is geographically and politically a striking view. M m^ ■?r/^ 230 Korea and Her Neighbors The whole of the Russo-Korean frontier, 11 miles in length and a broad river full of sandbanks, passing through a desert of sandhills to the steely blue ocean, lay crimson in the sun- set. On a steep bluff above the river a tall granite slab marks the spot where the Russian and Chinese frontiers meet Across the Tumen, the barren mountains of Korea loomed purple through a haze of gold. Three empires are seen at a glance. A small and poor Korean village is situated in a val- ley below. Close to the Boundary Stone, on the high steep bluff above the Tumen, there is a large mud hut from which most of the whitewash had scaled off, with thatch held on by straw ropes, weighted with stones. It was a very lonely scene. A Korean told us that it was absolutely impossible for us to sleep at the village A Cos- sack came out of the hut, took a long look at us, and returned. Then a forlorn-looking corporal appeared, who also took a long look, and having hospitable instincts, came up and told us that the village was impossible except for the drivers and horses, but that he could put us up roughly in the hut, which consisted of one fair sized room, another very small one, and a lean-to. The latest English papers had stated that "Russia has lately massed 5,000 men on the Korean frontier, and 4,000 at Hun- chun." It is not desirable to make any inquiries about the positions and numbers of Russian troops, and I had prudently abstained from asking questions, and had looked forward with interest to seeing a great display of military force. This hut IS the military post of Krasnoye Celo, and the "army" of Russia " massed on her Korean frontier " consisted of 15 men and a corporal, the officer being required to endure the isola- tion of the position for six months, and the privates for one The roars of laughter which greeted the English statement were not complimentary to newspaper accuracy. The corporal's small room was of no particular shape, and was furnished with only a deal chair and small table, and a I 'Ti Korean Settlers in Siberia 231 n big earthen jar of water, but it was well warmed, and had an iron camp-bed in a recess with a wire-wove mattress, much broken and "sagging," the sharp points of the broken wires sticking up in several places through the one rug with which I attempted to mollify their asperities. This recess, which just contained the bed, was curtained off for me, and the corporal, Mr. Heidemann, and three Korean headmen lay closely packed on the floor. The corporal, glad to have people to talk with, talked more than half the night, and began again before day- break. We supped on barrack fare— black bread, barley brose, and tea, with the addition of a little kwass, a very slightly fermented drink, made from black bread, raisins, sugar, and a little vodka, schiaps and vodka containing 40 per cent, of alcohol. At 9 p.m. I was surprised and delighted with the noble strains of a Greek Litany, chanted in well-balanced parts from the barrack-room, the evening worship of the Cos- sacks. My last sunset view of the Tumen was of a sheet of ice. The headmen of the Korean villages of Sajorni and Krasnoe,' who were in council till near midnight, thought it was impos- sible to get across, and they said that the ferryboat was drawn ashore and was frozen in for the winter, and that two Russian Commissioners ind a General, after waiting for three days, had left the d -^efore, having failed. However, yielding to my urgency, they set all the able-bodied men of Sajorni to work at 2 A.M. to dig the boat out, and by 7 she had moved some yards towards the river, which, however, was still a sheet of ice. Later, the corporal sent i4 of his men to help the Koreans, laughingly saying that I had the " whole Russian frontier army to get me across." At 9 word came that the boat was nearly afloat, and we started, on horseback, with two baggage ponies, and rode a mile over the hills and through the prosperous Korean village of Sajorni, down to a dazzling expanse of sand through which the Tumen flows to the sea. there 10 miles off. f 1 l&, > , M 232 Korea and Her Neighbors The river ice was breaking up into large masses under the morning sun, and between Russia and Korea there was much open water about 600 feet broad. The experts said if we could get over at all it would be between noon and 2, after which the ice would pack and freeze together again. Koreans and Cossacks worked with a will, breaking the ice, digging under the boat, and moving her with levers, but it was noon before the unwieldy craft, used for the ferriage of oxen, moved into the water, accompanied by a hearty cheer. She leaked badly, two men were required to bale her, and the stern plat- form, by which animals enter her, was carried away The baggage was carried in by men wading much over their knees and then came the turn of the ponies, but not the whole Rus- sian army by force or persuasion could get those wretched animals embarked. After a whole hour's work and any amount of kicking plunging, and injuries, from getting one or two legs over the bulwarks, and struggling back, and rolling backwards into the river, two were apparently safe in the ferryboat, when sud- denly they knocked over the man who held them and jumped into the water, one blind animal being rescued with difficulty and the other cutting his legs considerably. The ice was then fast forming, but the soldiers made one more attempt, which tailed, owing to what Americans would not inaptly call the "cussedness" of the Siberian ponies. For the first time on any journey I had to confess myself baffled, for it was impos- sible to swim the contumacious animals across, owing to the heavy ice floes and the low temperature of the water I had sat on my pony watching these proceedings for nearly four hours, watching too the grand Korean mountains as they swept down to the icy river in every shade of cobalt blue, varied by Hid.go shadows of the white cloud masses which sailed slowly across the heavenly sky. At that point from which I most re- uctantly turned back, the Tumen has a large volume of water, but above and below sandbanks render the navigation so diffi- *:\ o _) u u u > o < s OS < (/J (/) Il 'I f-- ■ i i- Korean Settlers in Siberia 233 cult that it is only in the rainy season that flat-bottomed boats n.ake the attempt, and not always with success, to reach th Korean town of K' wan. 80 v^rs^s, or something over 50 miles above Krasnoye Celo. The Chinese, in the'insanf notion that Japan was about to land a large force on the south bank I nhl ', !f T'^ '" '" ""'''' ^^°^^ '"^^ R"--- post pho ographed the " Russian army " and the barracks as wel as the Boundary Stone, and the corporal slouching aga Ls laTdZess ^^"'°"' " "^ '"^^ '^^y ^^-"« ^™ to his The days of the return journey gave me a good opportunity of kar„.„g something of the condition of the W^.s u "d ^ another Government than their own. So long ago as 186, i , fam.hes from Ham -gyong Do crossed the frontier and seuld on the nver Tyzen Ho. a little to the north o/ Possie^ B y By 1866 there were 100 families there, very poor amon^ c^t'att .''"^'^" ^°^^^"'"^" ^'^'^^^-^^ catf/a.:d'seeTf:? Ko?ea'"! !!oV '"""'• '''' ''''' ""'"'''y '" Northern • nZlt' ^^ o ''^"' '"'^'"''^' hunger-driven, into Pri- morsk, some 3,800 of them being absolutely destit te. These eded to V"''"^'.'' "° '"^ ^'■"^' '' ^- territory, on y ceded to Russia a kv^ years before, was but a thinly Lpled wilderness, and was also suffering from a bad harvest ' in 1897 there were in Primorsk 32 village districts t^ vil ages W.U. outlying hamlets, divided' into 5 administrat ^e dt barTm. u f '"' °"' "'"^^^ ^^^°"g« t° the city of Kha- adjace t to Wlad, vostok and Nikolskoye. The total number of Korean imm.grants ,s estimated at from x6.ooo to 18,000. It must be remembered that several thousands of these were lite c arif;?f2 R ^'" '':' '''''''-' '^' "-'^ ^ y^- - l^e to thl f r'"" ^"^'^«"t-^«' ^"^ after that were indebted to them for seed corn. They settled on the rich lands of the a 9 H nlil 234 Korea and Her Neighbors Siberian valleys mostly as squatters, but have been unmolested for many years. Many have purchased the lands they occupy and in other cases villages have acquired community rights to their adjacent lands. It is the intention of Government that squatting shall gradually be replaced by purchase, the purchas- ers receiving legal title-deeds. These alien settlers practically enjoy autonomy. At the head of each district is an Elder or Headman, with from one to three assistants according to its size. The police and their officers are Korean. In each district there are two or three judges with their clerks, who try minor offences. The head- men, who are responsible for order and the collection of taxes, are paid salaries, or receive various allowances. All these officials are Koreans, and are elected by the people themselves from among themselves. Tlie Government taxation is lo roubles (about ^^i) on each farm per annum. The local tax- ation, settled by the villagers in council for their own pur- poses, such as roads, ditches, bridges, and schools, is limited to 3 roubles per farm per annum. Men who are not land- holders pay from i to 2 roubles per annum. Koreans settled in Siberia prior to 1884 can claim rights as Russian subjects, and at this time those who can prove that ■ they have been settled on purchased lands for ten years can do so, as well as certain others, well reported of as being of set- tled lives and good conduct. Owing to the steady influx of settlers from Southern Russia, the rich lands near the railroad are required for colonization, and further immigration from Korea has been prohibited. The sending of Koreans who are either squatters or of unsettled lives to the Amur Province is under discussion. The villages between Krasnoye Celo and Nowo Kiewsk are fair average specimens of Russo-Korean settlements. The roads are fairly good, and the ditches which border them well kept. Sanitary rules are strictly enforced, the headman being made responsible for village cleanliness. Unlike the poor, Koreua Settlers in Siberia ^35 ragged, filthy villages of the peninsula, these are well built in Korean style, of whitewashed mud and laths, trimly thatched, the compounds or farmyards are enclosed by whitewashed walls, or high fences of neatly woven reeds, and look as if they were swept every morning, and the farm buildings are substantial and well kept. Even the pigsties testify to the Argus eyes of the district chiefs of police. Most of the dwellings have four, five, and even six rooms, with papered walls and ceilings, fretwork doors and windows, "glazed" with white translucent paper, finely matted floors, and an amount of plenishings rarely to be found even in a mandarin's house in Korea. Cabinets, bureaus, and rice chests of ornamental wood with handsome brass decorations, low tables, stools, cushions, brass samovars, dressers display- ing brass dinner services, brass bowls, china, tea-glasses, brass candlesticks, brass kerosene lamps, and a host of other things, illustrate the capacity to secure comfort. Pictures of the Tsar and Tsaritza, of the Christ, and of Greek saints, and framed cards of twelve Christian prayers, replace the coarse daubs of the family daemons in very many houses. Out of doors full granaries, ponies, mares with foals, black pigs of an im- proved breed, draught oxen, and fat oxen for the VVladivostok market, with ox-carts and agricultural implements, attest solid material prosperity. It would be impossible for a traveller to meet with more cordial hospitality and more cleanly and com- fortable accommodation than I did in these Korean homes. But there is more than this. The air of the men has under- gone a subtle but real change, and the women, though they nominally keep up their habit of seclusion, have lost the hang- dog air which distinguishes them at home. The suspicious- ness and indolent conceit, and the servility to his betters, which characterize the home-bred Korean have very generally given place to an independence and manliness of manner rather British than Asiatic. The alacrity of movement is a change also, and has replaced the conceited swing of the ^««^. i! H If '^ ! 236 Korea and Her Neighbors ban and tlie heartless lounge of the peasant. There are many chances for making money, and there is neither mandarin nor yang-ban to squeeze it out of the people when made, and com- forts and a certain appearance of wealth no longer attract the repacious attentions of officials, but are rather a credit to a man than a source of insecurity. All who work can be com- fortable, and many of the farmers are rich and engage in trade, making and keeping extensive contracts. Those Koreans who are not settled on lands chiefly in the direction of the Chinese frontier, and who subsist by wood cutting and hauling, are less well off, and their hamlets have something of squalor about them. In Korea I had learned to think of Koreans as the dregs of a race, and to regard their condition as hopeless, but in Pri- morsk I saw reason for considerably modifying my opinion. It must be borne in mind that these people, who have raised themselves into '\ .prosperous farming class, and who get an excellent char^cun im industry and good conduct alike from Russian poli,,» crticlals, Russian settlers, and military officers, were not excepticuolly industrious and thrifty men. They were mostly starving folk who fled from famine, and their prosperity and general demeanor give me the hope that their countrymen in Korea, if they ever have an honest adminis- tration and protection for their earnings, may slowly develop into men. In parts of Western Asia I have had occasion to note the success of Russian administration in conquered or acquired provinces, and with subject races, specially her creation of an orderly, peaceful, and settled agricultural population out of the nomadic and predatory tribes of Turkestan. Her success with the Korean immigrants is in its way as remarkable, for the material is inferior. She is firm where firmness is neces- sary, but outside that limit allows extreme latitude, avoids harassing aliens by petty prohibitions and irksome rules, en- courages those forms of local selfgovernment which suit the Korean Settlers in Siberia 237 genius and habits of differc t peoples, and trusts to time, edu- cation, aiid contact with other forms of civilization q amend \.hat is reprehensible in customs, religion, and costume. A few days later I went to Hun-chun on (he frontier of Chinese Manchuria, from its position a mportant military post, and v is most hospitably received le Commandant and his married aide-de-camp. There, verywliere in Pri- morsk, and from the civil as well as the nnlitary authorities, I not only r-ceived the utmost kindness, courtesy, and hospital- ity, but information was frankly given on the various topics I was interested in, and help towards the attainment of my ob- jects. Hun-chun is in the midst of mountainous country, de- nuded of wood in recent years, and abounding in rich, well- watered valleys inhabited only by Koreans. A wilder, drear- ier, and more wind-swept situation it would be hard to find. Instead of "4,000 troops" there were only 200 Coss;icks, housed in a good brick barrack, one-half of which is a much decorated chapel, besides which there are only open thatciied sheds for their hardy, active Baikal horses, a small, well- arranged hospital, a wooden house for the Colonel Command- ant, and some terracotta mud-houses for the officers and married troopers. The whole Russian military force from Hun-chun to the Amur consisted of 1,500 Cossacks, distributed among thirty frontier posts. The Commandant told me that their chief duty at that time was the "daily" arresting of Chinese brigands who crossed the frontier tu harry the Korean villages, and who, on being marched back and handed over to the mandarins, were at once liberated to repeat their forays. The Chinese had "massed" several thousand of their Manchu troops at Hun-chun, and they had created such a reign of terror that the peasant farmers had deserted their homes over a large area of country. The soldiers, robbed by their officers of their nominal pay, and only half fed, relied on unlimited pillage for making up the deficiency, and neither women nor property were safe from their brutality and violence. f\ ^•JV Sir IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ►*% it i^ <. 1.0 I.I Itt u in IK 13.6 12.0 125 i 1.4 ■ 1.8 1.6 6> ^ ^} ^ > ^4>^ V n /> o/^ 150mm /APPLIED J ll\/.1GE . Inc .aa 1653 East Main street j:a rm Rochester, NY 14609 USA _^^^ Phone: 716/482-0300 .=«•-== Fax: 716/288-5989 O IMS. Afi(XM Imcgt, Inc.. AN Rtghls RMttvwl r i 238 / Korea and Her Neighbors So desiKjratdy uiulisciplinci were they that only a few days before the Secretary and Interpreter of the Russian frontier Commissioner at Nowo Kiewsk, visiting Hun-chun on official business, narrowly escaped actual violence at their hands, and the Chinese Governor told them that he had no control at all over the troops. It was only the rigid discipline of the Cos- sacks which prevented scrimmages which might have produced a serious conflagration. KOREAN SETTLERS' HOUSE. ys er al id Jl s- d CHAPTER XX THE TRAMS-SIBERIAN RAILROAD AFTER returning to Wladivostok, accompanied by a young Danish gentleman who was kindly lent to me by Messrs. Kuntz and Albers, and who spoke English s '. Russian, I spent a week on the Ussuri Railway, the eastern section of the Trans-Siberian Railway, going as far as the hamlet of Ussuri on the Ussuri River at the great Ussuri Bridge, beyond which the line, though completed for 50 versts, was not open for traffic. Indeed, up to that point from Nikolskoye trains were run twice daily rather to " settle the line " than for profit, and their average speed was only twelve miles an hour. The weather was brilliant, varied by a heavy snowstorm. The present Tsar is understood to be enthusiastic about this railroad. During his viait to Wladivostok in 1891, when Tsarevitch, he inaugurated the undertaking by wheeling away the first barrowful of earth and placing the first stone in posi- tion, after which, work was begun simultaneously at both ends. The eastern terminus of this great railroad undertaking is close to the sea and the Government deep-water pier, at which the fine steamers from Odessa of the Jiussian "Volunteer Fleet " discharge their cargoes. The station is large and very handsome, and both it and the noble administrative offices are built of gray stone, with the architraves of the doors and windows in red brick. Buffets and all else were in efficient working order. In the winter ot 1895-96 only third and fourth class cars were running, the latter chiefly patronized by Koreans and Chinese. Each third class carriage is divided into three compartments with a corridor, and has a lavatory 339 240 Korea and Her Neighbors and steam-heating apparatus. The backs of the seats are hooked up to form upi)er berths for sleeping, and as the cars are eight feet high they admit of broad luggage shelves above these. The engines which ran the traffic were old American locomotives, but those which ire to be introduced, as well as all the rolling stock, are being manufactured in the Baltic provinces. So also are the rails, the iron and steel bridges, the water tanks, the iron work required for stations, and all else. Large railway workshops with rows of substantial houses for artisans have been erected at Nikolskoye, 102 versts liom Wladivostok, for the repairs of fulling stock on the Uss iri sec- tion, and were already in full activity. There is nothing about this Ussuri Railway of the newness and provisional aspect of the Western American lines, or even of parts of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The track was already ballasted as far as Ussuri (327 versts), steel bridges spanned the minor streams, and substantial stations either of stone or decorated wood, with buffets at fixed dis- tances, successfully compare both in stability and appearance with those of our English branch lines. The ' " houses are of hewn stone. Houses for the employes, sr ^ in neatly fenced gardens, are both decorative and substa-^tial, being built of cement and logs protected by five coats 01 paint, and contain four rooms each. The crossings are well laid and protected. Culverts and retaining walls are of solid masonry, and telegraph wires accompany the road, which is worked strictly on the block system. The aspect of solidity and per- manence is remarkable. Even the temporary bridge over the Ussuri, 1,050 feet in length, a trestle bridge of heavy timber to resist the impact of the ice, is so massive as to make the great steel bridge, the handsome abutments of which were al- ready built, appear as if it would be a work of supererogation. Up to that point there are no serious embankments or cut- tings, and the gradients are easy. The cost of construction The Trans-Siberian Railroad 241 of the Uss.iri section is 50,000 roubles per verst, a rouble at this time being worth about 2s. 2.I. Ibis inchules rolling stock, stations, and all bridges except that over tlie Amur, which was to cost 3,000,000 roubles, but may now be dis- pensed with owing to the diversion of the route through Man- churia. Convict labor was abandoned in 1894, and the line 111 Primorsk is being constructed by Cliinese '• navvies," who earn about 80 cents per day, and who were bearing the rigor of a Siberian winter in well-warmed, semi -subterranean huts, the line being pushed on as much as possible during the cold season. For the first loa versts, it passes along prettily wooded shores of inlets and banks of streams, and the country is fairly well peopled, judging from the number of sleighs and the bustle at the six stations ..r route. The line as far as Nikols- koye was opened in early November, 1893, and in a year had earned 280,000 roubles. The last section had only been open for eight weeks when I travelled upon it. Nikol- 'coye, where I spent two pleasant days at the hospit- able estaDhshment of Messrs. Ktintz and Ali,ers, is the only place between ^Vladivostok and Ussuri of any present impor- tancc. I: is a viUafrg of 8,000 inhabitants on a rich rolling prairie, watered by the Siphun. It has six streets of grotesque width, a verst and a half long each. There is no poverty. It .s a place of rapid growth and prosperity, the centre of a great trade in gram, and has a large flour mill owned by Mr. Lind- holm, P Government contractor. It has a spacious market- place and bazaar, and two churches. It reminds me of parts of Salt Lake City, and the houses are of wood, plastered and whitewaahed, with corrugated iron roofs mainly. A i^^N are thatched. All stand in plots of garden ground. Utilitarian- ism IS supreme. I drove for 20 miles in the region round the settlement, and everywhere saw prosperous farms and farming villages on the prairie, Russian and Korean, and found the settlers kindly and hospitable, and surrounded by material comfort. Nikolskoye is a great military station. There were i 242 Korea and Her Neighbors infantry and artillery to the number of 9,000, and there, as elsewhere, large new barracks were being pushetl to completion. An area of 50 acres was covered with brick barracks, maga- zines, stables, drill and parade grounds, and officers' quarters, and the military club is a really fnie building. Newness, prog- ress, and confidence in the future are as characteristic of Nikols- koye as of any rising town in the Far West of America. The farther journey, occupying the greater part of two days and a night, except when near the swamps of the Hanka Lake, is through a superb farming region. Large villages with wind- mills are met with along the line for the first 30 versts, as far as the buffet station of Spasskoje. The stonelcss soil, a rich loam 6 feet and more in depth, produces heavy crops of oats, wheat, barley, maize, rye. potatoes, and tobacco. Beyond Spasskoje and east of the Hanka Lake up to the Amur a mag- nificent region waits to be peopled. Well may Eastern Siberia receive the name of Russia's "Pacific Empire," including as it does the Amur and Mari- time provinces, with their area of 880,000 square miles,' rich in gold, copper, iron, lead, and coal, and with a soil which for a vast extent is of unbounded fertility. When China ceded to Russia in i860 the region which we call Russian Manchuria, she probably did so in ignorance of its vast agricultural capac- ities and mineral wealth. The noble Amur, with its forest-covered shores, is navigable for 1,000 miles, and already 50 merchant steamers ply npon it, and its great tributary the Ussuri can be navigated to within 1 20 miles of Wladivostok. The great basin of the Ussuri, it is estimated, could support five million people, and from Kha- baroffka to the Tumen, it is considered by experts that the land could sustain from 20 to 40 to the square mile, while at present the population of the Amur and Ussuri provinces is only |ths of a man to the square mile ! •The area of France is 204,000, and that of the British Isles 120,000 square miles. as The 'rrans-Sibfriaii Railroad 243 Grass, timber, water, coal, minerals, a soil as rich as tlie prairies of Illinois, and a climate not only favorable to agri- culture but to human health, all await the settler, ami tlie broad, unoccupied, and fertile lands which Russian Manchuria offers are clamoring for inhabitants. To set against these ad- vantages there are the fro/en waterways and the ice-bound harbor. It is utterly impossible that an increasing pcpulation will content itself without an outlet for its produce. A port on the Pacific open all the year is fast becoming as much a commercial as a political necessity, and doubtless the oj^ening of the Trans-Siberian Railroad four years hence will settle the question (if it has not been settled before) and doom the policy which has shut Russia up in regions of " thick ribbed ice" to utter extinction. In the Maritime Province, Russia is steadily and solidly lay- ing the foundations of a new empire which she purposes to make as nearly as possible a homogeneous one. " No for- eigner need apply" ! The emigrants, who are going out at the rate of from 700 to 1,000 families a year, are of a good class. Emigration is fostered in two ways. By the first, the Government grants assisted passages to heads of families who are possessed of 600 roubles (about ^60 at present), which are deposited with a Government official at Odessa, and are repaid to the emigrant on landing at Wladivostok. The in- dustry and thrift represented by this sum indicate a large pro- portion of the best class of settlers. Under the second arrange- ir-nt, families possessed of little capital or none receive free p- iges. On arriving, emigrants of both classes are lodged in excellent emigrant barracks, and can buy the necessary agricultural implements at cost price from a Government dep6t, advice as to the purchase being thrown in. Each family re- ceives a free allotment of from 200 to 300 acres of arable land, and a loan of 600 roubles, to be repaid without interest in thirty-two years, the young male colonists being exempted from military service for the same period. Already much of the I « 244 lil : Korea and Her Neighbors land along the line as far as the Ussuri has been allotted, and houses are rapidly springing up, and there is nothing to pre- vent this fnie country from being peopled up to tlie Amur the rivers Sungacha and Ussuri, which form the boundary of Russia from the Hanka Lake to Khabaroffka, giving a natural protec- tion from Chinese brigandage. In addition to direct emigra- tion, large numbers of time-expired men, chiefly Cossacks, are encouraged to settle on lands and do so. It would be shortsighted to minimize the importance of the present drift of population to Eastern Siberia, which is likely to assume immense proportions on the opening of the railway or the commercial value of that colossal undertaking, which is greatly enhanced by the treaty under which Russia ha. taken powers to run the Trans-Siberian line through Chinese Man- churia. The creation of a new route which will bring the Far East within 6,000 miles and 16 days of London, and cheaiKfi. the cost of the transit of passengers very considerably, cannot be overlooked either. The railroad is being built for futurity, and IS an enterprize worthy of the great nation which under- takes It.' ' I am very glad to l« able .0 fortify my opinion of the solid and care- fhl7- TT. "' """^ ^' "•"' •"■ ^■'''°"^' ^^"•"''' """•»'y «"ach6 .0 the British Embassy at St. Petersburg, who has recently crossed Siberia. and desires to give emphatic testimony to " the magnificent character of he great railway crossing Siberia." as well as by that of another recent traveller. Mr. J. Y. Simpson, who. in B/.cJtu.oo^s Afa,^u„, for Janua^ 897. in an arucle "The C;reat Sil,erian Iron Road." after a long descrS tion of the laborious carefulness with which the line is being built, writes thus^ « Lastly, one is impressed with the extremely JiHisheJmXyxro of the CHAPTER XXI THE king's oath— an AUDIENCE T EAVING Wladivoslok by the last Japanese steamer of the -L^ season. I spent two days at Won-san, little changed, ex- cept that Its background of mountains was snow-covered, that the Koreans were enriched by the extravagant sums paid for labor by the Japanese during the war, that business was active, and that Japanese sentries in wooden sentry-boxes guarded the peaceful streets. Twelve thousand Japanese troops had passed through VV5n.san on their way to Phyong-yang. At Fusan, my next point, there were 200 Japanese soldiers, new water- works, and a military cemetery on a height, in which the number of graves showed an enormous Japanese mortality Reaching Chemulpo on 5th January, ,895, vid Nagaski, I found a singular contrast to the crowd, bustle, and excitement of the previous June. In the outer harbor there were two for- eign warships only, in the inner three Js rese merchant steamers. The former predominant military element was represented by a few soldiers, ten large hospital sheds, and a crowded cemetery, in which the Japanese military dead lie in rows of 60, each grave marked by a wooden obelisk. The solid and crowded Chinese quarter, with its roaring trade, large shops, and noise of drums, gongs, and crackers, by day and night, was silent and deserted, and not a single Chinese was in the street as I went up to I-tai's inn. One shop had ventured to reopen. At night, instead of throngs, noise, lights, and jollification, there was a solitary glimmer from be- hind a closed shutter. The Japanese occupation had been as destructive of that quarter of Chemulpo as a medieval pes- tilence. *^ i 246 Korea and Her Neighbors In the Japanese (luarter and all along the shore the utmost activity prevailed. The l)each was stacked with incoming and outgoing cargo. 'I'he streets were only just passiible, not alone from the enormous traffic on bulls' and coolies' backs, but from the piles of l)eans and rice wiiich were being measured and packed on the roadway. Prices were high, wages had more tnan doubled, ••squeezing" was diminished, and the Koreans were working with a will. I went up to Seoul on horseback, snow falling the whole time. So safe was the country that no escort was needed, an.l I rode as far as Oricol without even a mapu. The halfway house of my first visit was a Japanese post, and going to it in Ignorance of the change, I was very kindly received by the Japanese soldiers, who gave me tea and a brazier of charcoal. The Seoul road, pegged out by Japanese surveyors for a rail- road, was thickly sprinkled for the whole distance with laden men and bulls. At Seoul I was the guest of Mr. Hillier," the British Consul- General, for five weeks. The weather was glorious, and the mercury sank on two occasions to 7° below zero, the lowest temperature on record. I received the warmest welcome from the kindly foreign community, and was steeped in Seoul life, the political and other interests growing upon n.e daily; and having a pony and a soldier at my disposal, I saw the city in all Its turnings and windings, and the charming country out- side the gates, and several of the Royal tombs with their fine trees, and avenues of stately stone figures. The stagnation of the pr-vious winter was at an end. Japan was in the ascendant. She had a large garrison in the capital, some of the leading men in the Cabinet were her nominees, her officers were drilling the Korean army, changes, if not im- provements, were everywhere, and the air was thick with rumors of more to come. The King, whose Royal authority was nominally restored to him, accepted the situation, the Queen was credited with intriguing against the Japanese, but Tlu' King's Oath — An Auilicnce 247 Count Iiioiiye was acting as J.ipanesc minister, and his Tirmness and tact kept everything snjuoth on the surface. On the 8th of January, 1895, I witnessed a singular cere- mony, which may have far reaching results in Korean history. The Japanese having presented Korea with the gift of Inde- pendence, demanded that the King should formally and pub- licly renounce the suzerainty of China, and having resolved to cleanse the Augean stable of official corruption, they com- pelled him to inaugurate the task by pro( ceding in semi-state to the Altar of the Spirits of the Land, and there pr(x;laiming Korean independence, and swearing before the spirits of his ancestors to the proposed reforms. His Majesty, by exagger- ating a trivial ailment, had for some time delayed a step which was very repulsive to him, and even the day before the cere- mony, a dream in which an Ancestral Spirit had appeared to him adjuring him not to depart from ancestral ways, terrified him from taking the proposed pledge. But the spirit of Count Inouye proved more masterful than the Ancestral Spirit, and the oath was taken in circumstances of great solemnity in a dark pine wood, under the shadow of Puk Han, at the most sacred altar in Korea, in presence of the Court and the dignitaries of the kingdom. Old and serious men had fasted and mourned for two previous days, and in the vast crowd ^'white-robed and black-hatted men which looked down upon hr; striking scene from a hill in the grounds of the Mulberry Palace, there was not a smile or a spoken word. The sky was dark and grim, and a bitter east wind was blow- ing — ominous signs in Korean estimation. The Royal procession, which had something of the aspect of the kur-tione^, was shorn of the barbaric splendor which made that ceremonial one of the most imposing in the Eastern world. It was, in fact, barbaric with the splendor left out ; and there were suggestions of a new era and a forthcoming swamping wave of Western civilization, in the presence within the Palace gates and in the procession or a few trim, dapper. 248 Korea and Her Ntighbors bluc-ulstered Ja,«.ne«j po,icen,cn. a. the special protector, of the Home Muns.er Palc-Yflng-Ho, one of the revoh.tion.rir, of .884. aga.nst whom there was a vow of vengeance, though the Kn.g had been com,,elled to pardon him, to reinstate his ancestors who had been degraded, to recall him from exile and to confer upon him high office. The long road oi.tside the Palace was lined with Korean cavalry, who turned their face, to the wall and their backs and their pomes' tails to the King. Great numbers of Korean soldiers carrying various makes of muskets, dressed in rusty black brown, and blue cotton uniforms, trousers sometimes a foot too short, at others a foot too long, white wadded socks, . ng shoes and black felt hats of Tyrdese style, with pink nLbon round the crowns, stood in awkward hu.ldles, mixed up with the newly-created Seoul police in blue European uniforms, and a number of handson.e overfed ponies of Court officials with saddles over a foot high, gorgeous barbaric trappings, red pompons on their heads, and a flow of red manes The populace stood without speech or movement. After a long delay and much speculation as to whether the King at the last moment would resist the foreign pressure, the procession emerged from th. Palace gate-huge flags on trident- headed poles purple bundles carried aloft, a stand of stones conveyed with much ceremony '-groups of scarlet- and blue- robed men ,n hats of the same colors, shaped like fools' caps, he King s personal servants in yellow robes and yellow bam- boo hats, and men carrying bannerets. Then came the red silk umbrella, followed not by the magnificent State chair with us forty bearers, but by a plain wooden chair with glass sides, n which sat the sovereign, pale and dejected, borne by only Ajur men. The Crown Prince followed in a similar chair Mandarins ministers, and military officers were then assisted to mount their caparisoned ponies, and each, with two attend- ' These are ancient musical instruments called by the Chinese cA'inir and were in use at courts in the days of Confucius. ^' • i KOREAN THRONE. The King's Oath— An Audience 249 ants holding his stirrups and two more leading his pony, fell in behind the Home Minister, riding a dark donkey, and ren- dered conspicuous by his foreign saddle and foreign guard. When the procession reached the sacred enclosure, the mili- tary escort and the greater part of the cavalcade remained out- side the wall, only the King, dignitaries, and principal at- tendants proceeding to the altar. The grouping of the scarlet- robed men under the dark pines was most effective from an artistic point of view, and from a political standpoint the takmg of the following oath by the Korean King was one of the most significant ac 1 the tedious drama of the late war. THE king's oath. On this I2th d.iy of the lath moon of the sojrd year of the founding or the Dynasty, we presume to announce clearly to the Spirits of all our Sacred Imperial Ancestors that we. their lowly descendant, received in early childhood, now thirty and one years ago. the ntighty heritage of our ancestors, and that in reverent awe towards Heaven, and following in the rule and pattern of our ancestors, we. though we have encountered many h-oubles. have not loosed hold of the thread. How dare we. your lowly descendant, aver that we are acceptable to the heart of Heaven ? It is only that our ancestors have graciously looked down upon us and be- nignly protected us. Splendidly did our ancestor lay the foundation of our Royal House, opening a way for us his descendants through fivehun- dred years and three. Now. in our generation, the times are mightily changed, and men and matters are expanding. A friendly Power, design, ing to prove faithful, and the deliberations of our Council aiding thereto, show that only as an independent ruler can we make our country strong How can we, your lowly descendant, not conform to the spirit of the time and thus guard the domain bequeathed by our ancestors ? How venture not to strenuously exert ourselves and stiffen and anneal us in order to add lustre to the virtues of our predecessors. For all time from now no other State w.II we lean upon, but will make broad the steps of our country to- wards prosperity, buildmg up the happiness of our people in order to strengthen the foundations of our independence. When we ponder on th:s course, let there be no sticking in the old ways, no practice of ease or of dalliance; but docilely let us carry out the great designs of our an- 25:0 Korea and Her Neighbors cestors, watching and observing sublunary con.litions, refoiming our in- ternal administration, remedying there accumulated abuses. We, your lowly descendant, do now take the fourteen clauses of the Great Charter and swear before the Spirits of our Ancestors in Heaven that we, reverently trusting in the merits bequeathed by our ancestors will bring these to a successful issue, nor will we dare to go back on our word. Do you, bright Spirits, descend and behold ! 1. All thoughts of dependence on China shall be cut away, and a firm foundation for independence secured. 2. A rule and ordinance for the Royal House shall be established, in order to make clear the line of succession and precedence among the Royal family. ^ 3. The King shall attend at the Great Hall for the inspection of affairs, where, after personally interrogating his Ministers, he shall decide upon matters of State. The Queen and the Royal family are not allowed to interfere. 4. Palace matters and the government of the country must be kept separate, and may not be mixed up together. 5. The duties and powers of the Cabinet and of the various Ministers shall be clearly defined. 6. The payment of taxes by the people shall be regulated by law. Wrongful additions may not be made to the list, and no excess collected. 7. The assessment and collection of the land tax, and the disbursement of expenditure, shall be under the charge and control of the Finance De- partment. 8. The expenses of the Royal household shall be the first to be reduced by way of setting an example to the various Ministries and local offi-' cials. 9. An estimate shall be drawn up in advance each year of the expen- diture of the Royal household and the various official establishments, putting on a firm foundation the management of the revenue. 10. The regulations of the local officers must be revised in order to discriminate the functions of the local officials. 11. Young men of intelligence in the country shall be sent abroad in order to study foreign science and industries. 12. The instruction of army officers, and the practice of the methods of enlistment, to secure the foundation of a military system. 13. Civil law and criminal law must he strictly and clearly laid down- none must be imprisoned or fined in excess, so that security of life and property may be ensured for all alike. The King's Oath— An Audience 251 14. Men shall l)c employed without rcganl to llicir origin, and in seek- ing for officials recourse shall be ha.l to capital and country alike in order to widen the avenues for ability. Official translation of the text of the oath taken by His Majesty the King of Korea, at the Altar of Heaven, Seoul, on January 8, 1895. Though at this date Korea is being reformed under otiier than Japanese auspices, it is noteworthy that nearly every step in advance is on the lines laid down by Japan. Count Inouye is reported by the Nichi Nichi Shimbun to have said regarding Korea, "In my eyes there were only the Royal Family and the nation." Such a conclusion was legit- imate in the early part of 1895, and in arriving at it as I did I am glad to be sheltered by such an unexceptionable au- thority. Hence it was with real pleasure that I received an invitation from the Queen to a private audience, to which I was accom- panied by Mrs. Underwood, an American medical missionary and the Queen's physician and valued friend. Mr. Hillier sent me to the Kyeng pok Palace in an eight-bearer official chair, escorted by the Korean Legation Guard. I have been altogether six times at this palace, and always with increased wonder at its intricacy, and admiration of its quaintness and beauty. Entering by a grand three-arched gateway with its stone- balustraded stone staircase, and stone lions on stone pedestals below, one is bewildered by the number of large flagged court- yards, huge audience-halls, pavilions, buildings of all descrip- tions more or less decorated, stone bridges, narrow passages, and gateways with double tiered carved roofs through and among which one passes. A Japanese policeman was at the grand gate. At each of the interior gates, and there are many, there were six Korean sentries lounging, who pulled themselves together as we approached and presented arms I What with 800 troops, 1,500 attendants and officials of all de- m 252 Korea and Her Neighbors scriptions. courtiers and ministers and their attendants secre- ^nes messengers, and hangers-on, the vast enclosure ote Palace seemed as crowded and populated as the city its If We had nearly half a mile of buildings to pass through'b fore we reached a very pretty artificial lake with a decorative ZZ not long before, and the simple Korean buildings then occu- P.ed by the King and Queen. Alighting at the gat^^^^^^^^ Lrb?ttc^'^'f. r " ^'-Q-"'sLse,;f:e7r : tirOuee^.'s.H ''■?'•''"' ' """'^" °f ^"""<=''«' two of head of tL i'f '"."T'^'"^' '"^ ""'' """^' ^'^° -«« at the a«ed wit de i'n! f"''' ^"^ »^^'^"^«^^ P^«on. middle- aged, with decidedly fine features. In a simple room hung with yellow silk we were entertained n courteous fashion with coffee and cake on arr i Hnd afterwards at dinner, the nurse, "supported" by the Co" t jn^rpreter taking the l.ad of the'vly prettily decoraTd table. 1 he dinner was admirably cooked in " foreign style " and included soup, fish, quails, wild d.ick, pheasant Zm and rolled beef, vegetables, creams, glace wa .n.ts. fr cl fet and coffee. Several of the Court ladies and othe s a It S w.th us. After this long delay we were ushered. accoCied only by the interpreter, into a small audience-rooruTn 1 e da^ at one end of which stood the King, the CroM, plce and the Queen in front of three crimson velvet chaTT w irh ated^s^rrr '-' '''''"'-' -' ^^^^^i asked us to be seated on two chairs which were provided Her Majesty, who was then past forty, was a very nice- look, ng slender woman, with glossy raven-black hair a da V y pale skin, the pallor enhanced by the use of pearl "ow The eyes were cold and keen, and the general expression one of brilliant intelligence. She wore a very handsom'ev ^ P ated wTt°"' ''•" °!;"^^"'"^ blue 'brocade, hkvy' pleated, w.th the waist und - the arms, and a full sleeved bodice of crimson and blue brocade, clalped at the thrt^by The King's Oath— An Audience 253 a coral rosette and girdled by six crimson and blue cords, each one clasped with a coral rosette, with a crimson silk tasse hanging from .t. Her headdress was a crownless black silk cap edged with fur, pointed over the brow, with a coral rose and full red tassel an front, and jewelled aigrettes on either «de. Her shoes were of the same brocade as her dress. As soon as she began to speak, and especially when she became The King is short and sallow, certainly a plain man, wear- ing a th.n moustache and a tuft on the chin. He is nervous and twitches his hands, but his pose and manner are not without d.gn.ty. His face is pleasing, and his kindliness of nature ,s well known. I„ conversation the Queen prompted h m a good deal. He an-' tiie Crown Prince were dressed n ,'« '.V. I '''''^" '^' '^' "'^^^^^ ^'"^ '''^'' ^d volumin- ous wadded white trouse... Over these they wore first, white silk tunics, next pale green ones, and over all sleeveless dresses of mazarine blue brocade. The whole costume, being exquis- tiveb^ fresh, was pleasing. On their heads they wore hats and ST , T ^r ''°"'''''"'' «^"^^' ^'''^ 1^'^^k silk hoods bordered with fur, for the mercury stood at 5° below zero. The Crown Prince is fat and flabby, and though unfortunately very near-sighted, etiquette forbids him to wear spectades and at that time he produced on every one as on mfthe im^ pression of being completely an invalid. He was the onlv son and the Idol of his mother, who lived in ceaseless anx" y shtMbed/l 'A"' " '"^' '''' ''^'^^ of a concub shouW be declared heir to the throne. To this cause must be conlin" ? Tf °' ''■' -«^-P"'°- acts, her invoking the continual aid of sorcerers, and her always increasing benefac- ZV: ; ^"'''"-^ r "'^- ^"""« '-^'^ -f ^he'audience mother and son sat with clasped hands. allM' **"" ^r\^^^ .^'d "^^"y kind things to me person- ally, showing herself quick-witted as well as courteous, she II > 254 Korea and Her Neiglilwrs said son.e.l,i„g ,o .he King. „|,o iramediaiely took u„ th, versa.,0,, and continued i, for another lul IC ^.he Z' p.o.„,„^£n,.,:i„,::iri:t^^ i should like you to be suitably attended" w/»i curtseyed ourselves m.f =f.»H •^ucnuea. We then an u;:iX;:i::;:;:::;;;f ^ -r^^--' tumed out to be officers, ha[f rregtr !';? '7 ' "?'^'"« ^' '^^^ '"""^^>' attendants ! I va Tin ''^'^'''\^'"' ^ """'^^^^ «f Palace ,~,.:;:;l::r;e^:3:i^^^^^^^^^ too, m m simplicity and soliditv ,« th« c '"'^""^- ^"nd, "Hall nf r« . 1 soiiaity, is the Summer Pa ace or beautiful. '"^noJ'ths. The situation and the views are During the next three weeks I Inri fi,r«» up the con- ^t the close ;e Pavilion, y days and he added, We then interesting > us, and a •f red and • out to be 'e military of Palace grandeur Audience iple flight ding, the » painted red with nting the Grand, 'a lace or ^reached 1 beauti- id by a I it on a 'uilding. >rted on t square lews are ices, on rwcod, strictly asion I C/) o < :j < Oi o y^ o u o ■-] < a: ai O o a, ai The King's Oath— An Audience 25J f was impressed with the grace and charming manner of the Queen, her thoughtful kindness, her singular intelligence and force, and her remarkable conversational power even through the medium of an interpreter. I was not surprised at her suigular political influence, or her sway over the King and many others. She was surrounded by enemies, chief among them being the Tai-Won-Kun, the King's father, all embittered against her because by her talent and force she had succeeded in placing members of her family in nearly all the chief offices of State. Her life was a battle. She fought with all her charm, shrewdness, and sagacity for power, for the dignity and safety of her husband and son, and for the downfall of the Tai-Won-Kun. She had cut short many lives, but in doing so she had not violated Korean tradition and custom, and some excuse for her lies in the fact that soon after the King's ac- cession his father sent to the house of Her Majesty's brother an infernal machine in the shape of a beautiful box, which on be- ing opened exploded, killing her mother, brother, and nephew as well as some others. Since then he plotted against her I own life, and the feud between them was usually at fever heat The dynasty is worn out, and the King, with all his amiability and kindness of heart, is weak in character and is at the mercy of designing men, as has appeared increasingly since the strong sway of the Queen was withdrawn. I believe him to be at heart, according to his lights, a patriotic sovereign. Far from standing in the way of reform, he has accepted most of the suggestions offered to him. But unfortunately for a man whose edicts become the law of the land, and more unfortu- nately for the land, he is persuadable by the last person who gets Im ear, he lacks backbone and tenacity of purpose, and many of the best projects of reform become abortive through his weakness of will. To substitute constitutional restraints for absolutism would greatly mend matters, but r,/a va sans dire this could only be successful under foreign initiative The King was forty-three, the Queen a little older. During 256 Korea and Her Neighbors his minority and while he was receiving the usual Chi.,ese ^educat,on. h.s father, the Tai-VVon-Kun. who is descrS by a Korean wnter as having •• bowels of iron and a hea of rin 1866 put 2,000 Korean Catholics slaughtered Able erred' Hr"'"'""'' ''- '-^''-^ '^- -^'-y^'- Diood stained. He even put to death one of his own sons the Queen Korean political history is mainly the story of the Won-Kun. I was presented to him at the Palace, and was ZtlZT \'': ^'^"'^^"' energy of his eipr^L:: The King's expression is gentle. He has a wonderful mem ory. and .s said to know Korean history so well Zt when Tv question as to fact or former custom arises he c gl L, par' t-culars. with a precise reference to the reign in which anv historic event occurred and to the date. Tife office oLTal Reader IS not a sinecure, and the Royal Library, which ifcon ^.ned ,„ one of the most beautiful buildings of'the Kye ^ pok Palace .s a very extensive one in Chinese literature. He ha. no ant,-fore.gn feeling. His friendliness to foreign" st heir aid. At the time of my second visit, when Japan was in the ascendant, the King and Queen showed special attention and kindness to Europeans, and even invited'th whde for e gn community to a skating party on the lake. The King's a itude towards Christian Missions is very friendly, and to er t Kin/ "ho'- '''' ^""'^"^ '"^^•-' ^"-^-ts of tth hev wer'e i" ^""' " "'" " ^^''^^ ^^^^^'S"-'' -^^ whom In/rT L ?"'''"* '^"''"*' ^"^ ^^™'y ^iiached to them affect ont'/'i;'^ n"' '"""^ -o"i Koreans is one 0/ actions being laid on the ministers. al Chinese scribed by a heart of years, and !d. Able, *ays been own sons, murder of 3ry of the the Tai- , and was ipression, •ugh he is ■ful mem- vhen any ; full par- lich any 3f Royal h is con- 'eng-pok He has gners is ed upon 1 was in ttention ole for- '■ King's d toler- of both I whom ) them, one of istaken .-u u < o a. 6 OS < a: » < > O The Kings Oath— An Au.h.nce 257 1 l,av= dwelt « l„„g on .l,e King's pe„^„.,i,, |„ „„^ ^. ,, */,,./» .he Korean Governmen,, and no. . Jn- „g„ e |,e!d " there „ no conwi.u.ion, «ri.,en or unwri.ien no renr. hshed Edic. He ., extremely i„du..riou, as a rnler .c quatntt h,mself wi.h all .he work of department,, received and ...end, ,0 an inSnity of report, and memorial., and co"ern. hm,«lf „,th .1 .,,„ i. aone in the name of cJ.erleT j .. often «„d ,h.. in dee attention to detail , ■■ „X,ak« more than any „n. man could perform. At ,he ,am , 1 h" ha, not the capacity for getting a general grip of . ffai^ He hM «> much goodne,. of hear, and «, much .y„. ,athy w"h progr^tve tdea.. tha. if he had more force of ch. acte'rid .n ellec., and were le» easily .wayed by unworthy men, he jn.gh. make a good sovereign, but hi. weaknc of cL r.c"; it The .ubject. of conveiMtlon introduced at three of n y audi- ence, rot only showed an intelligen. desire for ,uch iw on „ m,gh, be Krviceable, but reflected the reform "hTch •he Japanese were pressing on the King. I wa. very , w'v ques.,oned as ,0 what I had seen of China and SiS T.o «.e Stbetnan and Japanese railroads, cost of construct^ ^ A, a, to the popular feeling in Japan concerning ,h. war -tt t^til lirfT " '° "" ^"=""" 'oofficiaiT:; : lyl, r , K*^ l^^ ''°""°"' '» ""^ Government, the posit „ :«i:i"^"er''o:'tn7:^r:7T''^^"-".""^'^^'' the Eng ,sh Crown and the Cabinet, specially with reeardto ou ^, '• °" "'"'' "" ■''"«'» 1"«tions 'were siTume ou. and persistent a, very nearly to pose me. He wasTi cm^ly a„«„us to know if the "Finance Minister" (.170^1^ eUor of the Exchequer, I suppose) exercised any control ote .he personal expendi.ure of Her Majesty, and if the q" ee„" A 258 Koiea and Her Neighbors personal accounts were paid by herself or through the Treas- ury. The affairs under the control of each Secretary of State were the subject of another series of questions. Many queries were about the duties of the Home Minister, the position of the Premier, and his relations with the other Mmisters and the Crown. He was very anxious to know if the Queen could dismiss her Ministers if they failed to carry out her wishes, and it was impossible to explain to him through an interpreter, to whom the ideas were unfamiliar the constitutional checks on the English Crown, and that the sovereign only nominally possesses the right of choosing her Ministers. Just before I left Korea, I was summoned to a farewell audi- ence, and asked to take the Legation interpreter with me I went in an eight bearer chair, and was received with the usual honors, soldiers presenting arms, etc ! There was no crowd of attendants and no delay. As I was being escorted down a closed veranda by several eunuchs and military officers, a slid- ing window was opened by the King, who beckoned to me to enter, and then closed it. I found myself in the raised alcove in which the Royal Family usually sat, but the sliding panels between it and the audience-chamber were closed, and as it is not more than 6 feet wide, it was impossible to make the cus- tomary profound curtseys. Instead of the usual throng of at- tendants, eunuchs, ladies-in-waiting in silk gowns a yard too long for them, and heavy coils and pillows of artificial hair on their heads, and privileged persons standing behind the King and Queen and crowding the many doorways, there were present only the Queen's nurse and my interpreter, who stood at a chink between the panels where he could not see the Queen, bent into an attitude of abject reverence, never lifting his eyes from the ground or raising his voice above a whisper The precautions, however, failed to secure the privacy which the King and Queen desired. I was certain that through the chink I saw the shadow of a man in the audience-room, and The King's Oath— An Audience 259 the interpreter's subsequent remark. -It was very hard for me to -terpret for His Majesty to-day" was intelHgible wheH hard that the -'shadow " belonged to one of the Ministe of State specally distrusted by the King, and who later had to fly from Korea. It was understood that this person carried the sub^ance of what the King and Queen sa.^ to .^^t I cannot here allude to the matter on which the King spoke but the audience, which lasted for an hour, was an extreme!; nneres ,ng one. On one point the King expressed hm'ef very strongly, as he has done to many others He consTe s Courf to a Res.dent Minister accredited solely to the korean Lh -^ u '''^'■''f "^ ^''^' ''^^'^ ^"^ '''''^ for Mr. Hillier and sa.d that nothing would be more acceptable to him tlTan his appointment as the first Minister to Korea The Queen spoke of Queen Victoria, and said. "She ha. ■ HeTlr "T '•" r ^'^^-^-^-ss, wealth. Ind powe flu ^''"^'°"' ''' ^'"^' ^"d ^"^Perors, and he Ko^ ? She does so l^ch good in the world, heThfeTTa Ktg adTed ^;:L'r 7- ''' ^"'. ''^'''''^ " '' ^° ^^^ ^^e J^ing added, 'England^ ,s our best friend." It was reallv touching to heaTlhT^ccupants-f th^Tancient but shaky 1 throne speaking in this fashion. ^ ' On this occasion the Queen was dressed in a bodice of brocaded amber satin, a mazarine blue brocaded trahied skirt a crimson girdle with five clasps and tassels of cora and a coral clasp at the throat. Her head was uncovered, and he abundant black hair gathered into a knot at the ba k She thrhLTTTe^K^'^^^ r' ^"' ^°^^^ ^"-^^ - ^^''top o the head. The King and Queen rose when I took leave and he Queen shook hands. They both spoke most kind y! and oppressed the wish that I should return and see more of Korea When I did return nine months later, the Queen had been if ■■ 26o Korea and Her Neighbors ^- err 'r '«^-'- ""■«-^^-u:.oira' s the izr,hr z/"" "° r'"^'"'' "<"■'"■<»-=• 0" coune.,, S- pt;He7:hi:hTa: 'S f ^"'■'' "'"f »«• pression on me and n,rf„ ? '"J" =8r«able in.. «rea.fea.u.e:rX"t::':s.:t;e: " '""'' ""' "■= KOREAN GENTLEMAN IN COURT DRESS. CHAPTER XXII A TRANSITION STAGE t^ it? Dla« xf ' ™ '■''"«'"«' '"" «>= »« had not taken Its place. The Japanese, victorious by land and sea war tliey had asked China to cooperate. The King since tl« capture of .he Palace by the Japanese in July 8 'had become l,t, e „ore than a "salaried automaton'" a'n'd the once powerful n,embers of ,he Min clan had bein ex^lM XsibUiw.h''''^ J^'""^^ ""' "---O "" " responsibility of the supervision of all departments and t„ enforce honesty on a corrupt executive. V^" „v ° he Chinese at Phyong-yang on r„h September, .jrhad I them fee to carry out their purposes. Count Inouye on. of the foremost of the statesmen who created the ne/jinan arrived as "Residpnf^" r.,^ r^ 4. u "cw japan, administered ,r,r ^ ""^^ "' '^^4. and practically aaministered the Government in the King's name Theii rdrilK T°""°""V" ^" '"' "'P^'-nesHheX was drilled by Japanese drill instructors, a police force wii Sd. ofto^'""'' '" "»''' '"''"' /apai^se :„^ms:: Council of Koreans was appointed to draft a scheme of re- form and form the nucleus of a possible Korean PaThamenr and Count Inonye as Japanese adviser had the rigl of con! ?a ^neS ^ e e ; ^ ' a^palfl^t;'^'' ""'"' ''' reeulafinnQ oK r»- "^"^ , ^PP^'^^"* in new appointments, regulations, abolitions, and reforms. The Japanese claimed that their purpose was to reform the administration of Korea 261 262 Korea and Her Neighbors as we had done that of Egypt, and I believe they wo'uld have done U had they been allowed a free hand. It was apparent far harder one than he expected, and that the difficulties in his way were nearly insurmountable. He said hi Jsel th t here were -^ no tools to work with," and in the hope of Lnu factunng them a large number of youths of the uppe^cTass were sent for two years to Japan, one year to be 'pen in education a..d another in learning accunncy and " he firlt prmcples of honor " in certain Government'departmenTs. the K,W I'^rr "^T"^'' '''°"^'^ "^"^^^^^ '' the time by the K.ng had been allowed to drop, and it was not till De- th.?r fV'^' '''""^ I-»ye obtained a formal covenant that five of them should be at once carried out. (i) A full wlZ '!! 'I' r^P'"^°" '' ^««4; (.) That he Tai- attairs, (3) That no relatives of the Royal Family should be employed m any official capacity; (4) That the number of eunuchs and - Palace ladies " should at once be reduced to a "'Zr^n ?^ "^'1 "^'^ clistinctions-patrician and plebeian — siiould no longer be recognized. Tu ' ^f. j"^' ""^'^''■^ °f *'^^ ^"""^hs packed up their Palace adies ' ; but the King in his vast dwelling was so lonely wuhout them that the next morning he sent an order commanding their immediate return under serious penalties, and It was obeyed at once ! The attitude of the Korean official class, with the exception of a small number who were personally interested in the suc- cess of Japan, was altogether unfavorable to the new regime, and every change was regarded with indignation. Though destitute of true patriotism, the common people looked upon d 1^'"^"' ! Tf P'''^"' ""^ '^''y ^^'•^ ^""'0"^ at the in- dignities to which he had been subjected. The official class A Transition Stage 263 saw that reform meant the end of " squeezing" and ill-eotten ga.ns, and they, with the whole army of parasites and hang unerest to oppose it by active opposition or passive resistance, i hough corruption has its stronghold in Seoul, every provincial government repeats on a smaller scale the iniquities of the capital, and has its own army of dishonest and lazy officials fattening on the earnings of the industrious classes The cleansing of the Augean stable of the Korean official system which the Japanese had undertaken, was indeed an Herculean labor. Traditions of honor and honesty, if they ever existed, had been forgotten for centuries. Standards of official rectitude were unknown. In Korea when the Japanese undertook the work of reform there were but two cla se'sthe robbers and the robbed, and the robbers included the vast army which constituted officialdom. - Squeezing " and pecu- lation were the rule from the highest to the lowest, and every position was bought and sold. ^ I ,!;?; ''•""^"'°" '"'S^' d°-" to 12th February, X895, when I left Korea was a remarkable one. The Oj^dJcaz.f,, curiously reflected that singular period. Onelay a decree abolished the 3 feet long tobacco pipes which were the delighl of the Koreans of the capital ; another, there was an enlight- ened statute ordering the planting of pines to remedy the den- udation of the hills around Seoul, the same ^...Jdirect'g that duly appointed geomancers should find "an auspicious day on wlHch the King might worship at the ancZl T It ul tl ''°"' ""^ brutalizing punishments were wisely abohshed ; another, there appeared a string of vexatioi s and petty regulations calculated to harass the Chinese oul of the k.ngdom. and appointing as a punishment for the breach of them a fine of 100 dollars or 100 blows I Failure in tact was one great fault of the Japanese The seizure of the Palace and the King's person in July, .S,,, el„ If a dubious political necessity, did not excuse the indignities v^ of pines in thp adjarffnt deer park , w here kerosene oil wa s poured p ypr thp hndy^ w h i ch w as. surrounded by faggots and burne d, only a few^ malL-bones escaping destructioiix Thus perished, at the age of forty-four, by the hands of for- eign assassins, instigated to their bloody work by the Minister of a friendly power, the clever, ambitious, intriguing, fascinat- ing, and in many respects lovable Queen of Korea. In her lifetime Count Inouye, whose verdict for many reasons may be accepted, said, " Her Majesty has few equals among her countrymen for shrewdness and sagacity. In the art of con- ciliating her enemies and winning the confidence of her servants she has no equals." A short time after daylight the Tai-Won-Kun issued two proclamations, of which the following sentences are specimens : — 1st, " The hearts of the people dissolve through the presence in the Palace of a crowd of base fellows. So the National Grand Duke is re- turned to pow-jr to inaugurate changes, expel the base fellows, restore former laws, and vindicate the dignity of His Majesty." 2nd, " I have now entered the Palace to aid His Majesty, expel the low fellows, perfect that which will be a benefit, save the country, and in- troduce peace." The Palace gates were guarded by the mutinous Kunren-tai with fixed bayonets, who allowed a constant stream of Koreans to pass out, the remnants of the Old Palace Guard, who had thrown off their uniforms and hidden their arms, each man being seized and searched before his exit was permitted. Near the gate was a crimson pool marking the spot where Colonel Hong fell. Three of the Ministers were at once dismissed II The Assassination of the Queen 275 from their posts, some escaped, and many of the high officials sought safety in flight. Nearly every one who was trusted by the King was removed, and several of the chief offices of State were filled by the nominees of the officers of the Kun-ren-tai, who, later, when they did not find the Cabinet, which was chiefly of their own creation, sufficiently subservient, used to threaten it with drawn swords. Viscount Miura arrived at the Palace at daylight, with Mr. Sugimura, Secretary of the Japanese Legation (who had arranged the details of the plot), and a certain Japanese who had been seen by the King apparently leading the assassins, and actively participating in the bloody work, and had an audience of His Majesty, who was profoundly agitated. He signed three documents at their bidding, after which the Japanese troops were withdrawn from the Palace, and the armed forces, and even the King's personal attendants, were placed under the orders of those who had been concerned in attack. The Tai-Won-Kun was present at this audience. During the day all the Foreign Representatives had audi- ences of the King, who was much agitated, sobbed at intervals, and, believing the Queen to have escaped, was very solicitous about his own safety, as he was environed by assassins, the most unscrupulous of all being his own father. In violation of custom, he grasped the hands of the Representatives, and asked them to use their friendly offices to prevent further out- rage and violence. He was anxious that the Kun-ren-tai should be replaced by Japanese troops. On the same after- noon the Foreign Representatives met at the Japanese Lr>- gation to hear Viscount Miura's explanation of circumstances in which his countrymen were so seriously implicated. Three days after the events in the Palace, and while the King and the general public believed the Queen to be alive, a so-called Royal Edict, a more infamous outrage on the Queen even than her brutal assassination, was published in the Official Gazette. The King on being asked to sign it refused, and *5^ m til 276 Korea and Her Neighbors .1 A*' said he would have his hands cut off rather, but it appeared as his decree, and bore the signatures of the Minister of the Household, the Prime Minister, and six other members of the Cabinet. ROYAL EDICT. It is now thirty-two years since We ascended the throne, but Our ruling influence has not extended wide. The Queen Min introduced her rela- tives to the Court and placed them about Our person, whereby she made dull Our senses, exposed the people to extortion, put Our Government in disorder, jelling offices and titles. Hence tyranny prevailed all over the country and robbers arose in all quarters. Under these circumstances the foundation of Our dynasty was in imminent peril. We knew the extreme of her wickedness, but could not dismiss and punish her because of help- lessness and fear of her party. We desire to stop and suppress her influence. In the twelfth moon of last year we took an oath at Oar Ancestral Shrine that the Queen and her relatives and Ours should never again be allowed to interfere in State af- fairs. We hoped this would lead the Min faction to mend their ways. But the Queen did not give up her wickedness, but with her party aided a crowd of low fellows to rise up about Us and so managed as to pre- vent the Ministers of State from consulting Us. Moreover, they have forged Our signature to a decree to disband Our loyal soldiers, thereby instigating and raising a disturbance, and when it occurred she escaped as in the Im O year. We have endeavored to discover her whereabouts, but as she does not come forth and appear We are convinced that she is not only unfitted and unworthy of the Queen's rank, but also that her guilt is excessive and brimful. Therefore with her We may not succeed to the glory of the Royal Ancestry. So We hereby depose her from the rank of Queen and reduce her to the level of the lowest class. Signed by Yi Chai-myon, Minister of the Royal Household. Kim Hong-chip, Prime Minister. Kim Yun-sik, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Pak Chong-yang, Minister of Home Affairs. Shim Sang-hun, Minister of Finance. Cho Heui-yon, Minister of War, So KwANG-POM, Minister of Justice. So KWANG-POM, Minister of Education. Chong Pyong-ha, Vice-Minister of Agriculture and Commerce. The Assassination of the Queen 277 On the day following the issue of this fraudulent and infamous edict, another appeared in which Her Majesty out of pity for the Crown Prince and as a reward for his deep de- votion to his father, was " raised " by the King to the rank of " Concubine of the First Order " ! The diplomats were harassed and anxious, and met con- stantly to discuss the situation. Of course the state of ex- treme tension was not caused solely by " happenings" in Korea and their local consequences. For behind this well- executed plot, and the diabolical murder of a defenceless woman, lay a terrible suspicion, which gained in strength every hour during the first few days after the tragedy till it in- tensified into a certainty, of which people spoke as in cipher, by hints alone, that other brains than Korean planned the plot, that other than Korean hands took the lives that were taken, that the sentries who guarded the King's apartments while the aeed of blood was being perpetrated wore other than Korean uniforms, and that other than Korean bayonets gleamed in the shadow of the Palace wall. People spoke their suspicions cautiously, though the evidence of General Dye and of Mr. Sabatin pointed unmistakably in one direction. So early as the day after the afifair, the ques- tion which emerged was, "Is Viscount General Miura crim- inally implicated or not ? " It is needless to go into partic- ulars on this subject. Ten days after the tragedy at the Palace the Japanese Government, which was soon proved innocent of any complicity in the affair, recalled and arrested Viscount Miura, Sugimura, and Okamoto, Adviser to the Korean War De- partment, who, some months later, along with forty-five others were placed on their trial before the Japanese Court of First Instance at Hiroshima, and were acquitted on the technical ground that there was "no sufficient evidence to prove that any of the accused actually committed the crime originally meditated by them," this crime, according to the judgment, being that two of the accused, "at the instigation of 278 Korea and Her Neighbors MlURA, DECIDED TO MURDER THE QuEEN, and tOok StCpS by collecting accomplices . . . more than ten others were di- rected by these two persons to do away with the Queen." Viscount Miura was replaced by Mr. Komura, an able di- plomatist, and shortly afterwards Count Inouye arrived, bearing the condolences of the Emperor of Japan to the unfortunate Korean King. A heavier blow to Japanese prestige and po- sition as the leader of civilization in the East could not have been struck, and the Government continues to deserve our sympathy on the occasion. For when the disavowal is for- gotten, it will be always remembered that the murderous plot was arranged in the Japanese Legation, and that of the Japa- nese dressed as civilians and armed with swords and pistols, who were directly engaged in the outrages committed in the Palace, sorie were advisers to the Korean Government and in its pay, aid others were Japanese policemen connected with the Japanese Legation— sixty persons in all, including those known as Soshi, and exclusive of the Japanese troops. The Foreign Representatives with one exception informed the Cabinet that until steps were taken to bring the assassins to justice, till the Kun-ren-tai Guard was. removed from the Palace, and till the recently introduced members of the Cabinet who were responsible for the outrages had been ar- raigned or at least removed from office, they declined to recog- nize any act of the Government, or to accept as authentic any order issued by it in the King's name. The prudence of this course became apparent later. On 15th October, in an extra issue of the Official Gazette, it was announced "By Royal Command" that, as the po- sition of Queen must not remain vacant for a day, proceed- ings for the choice of a bride were to begin at once ! This was only one among the many insults which were heaped upon the Royal prisoner. During the remainder of October and November there was no improvement in affairs. The gloom was profound. In- ■^' i The Assassination of the Queen 279 stead of Royal receptions and entertainments, the King, shaken by terror a.id in hourly dread of poison or assassina- tio.., was a close prisoner in a poor part of his own palace, in the hands of a Cabinet chiefly composed of men who were the tools of the mutinous soldiers who were practically his jailers, compelled to put his seal to edicts which he loathed, the tool of men on whose hands the blood of his murdered Queen was hardly dry. Nothing could be more pitiable than the condition of the King and Crown Prince, each dreading that the other would be slain before his eyes, not daring to eat of any food prepared in the Palace, dreading to be separated, even for a few minutes, without an adherent whom they could trust, and with recent memories of infinite horror as food for contemplation. General Dye, the American military adviser, an old and feeble man, slept near the Palace Library, and the American missionaries in twos took it in turns to watch with him. This was the only protection which the unfortunate sovereign pos- sessed. He was also visited daily by the Foreign Representa- tives in turns, with the double object of ascertaining that he was alive and assuring him of their sympathy and interest. Food was supplied to him in a locked box from the Russian or U. S, Legations, but so closely was he watched, that it was difficult to pass the key into his hand, and a hasty and very occasional whisper was the only communication he could suc- ceed in making to these foreigners, who were his sole reliance. Undoubtedly from the first he hoped to escape either to the English or Russian Legation. At times he sobbed piteously and shook the hands of the foreigners, who made no attempt to conceal the sympathy they felt for the always courteous and kindly sovereign. Entertainments among the foreigners ceased. The dismay was too profound and the mourning too real to permit even of the mild gaieties of a Seoul winter. Every foreign lady, and specially Mrs. Underwood, Her Majesty's medical attendant, ,511 i! ■ 280 Korea and Her Neighbors and Mme. Waeber, who had been an intimate friend, felt her death as a personal loss. Her Oriental unscrupulousness in politics was forgotten in the horror excited by the story of her end Yet then and for some time afterwards people clung to the hope that she had escaped as on a former occasion, and was m hiding. Among Koreans opinion was greatly con- cealed for there were innumerable arrests, and no one knew when his turn might come, but it was believed that there was an earnest desire to liberate the King. A number of foreign warships lay at Chemu'po, and the British, Russian, and American Legations were guarded by marines Nearly a month after the assassination of the Queen, and when all hope of her escape had been abandoned, the condi- ion of things was so serious under the rule of the new Cabinet, hat an attempt was made by the Foreign Representatives to terminate it by urging on Count Inouye to disarm the Kun- jv«-/«/ and occupy the Palace with Japanese troops until the ^yal soldiers had been drilled into an efficiency on which the King might rely for his personal safety. It will be seen from this proposal how completely the Japanese Government was exonerated from blame by the diplomatic agents of the Great powers. This proposal was not received with cordial alacrity by Count Inouye, who felt that the step of an armed reoccu- pation of the Palace by the Japanese, though with the object of securing the King's safety, would be liable to serious mis- construction, and might bring about very grave complications, ^uch an Idea was only to be entertained if Japan received a distinct mandate from the Powers. The telegraph was set to work a due amount of consent to the arrangement was ob- tained, and when I left Seoul on a northern journey on No- vember 7th. it was in the full belief that on reaching Phyong- rf i.f °u'^ u"^ " *'''^'"^"" announcing that this serious rfu t "^ been successfully accomplished in the presence of he Foreign Representatives. Japan, however, did not un- dertake the task, though urged to do so both by Count Inouye / The Assassination of the Queen 281 and Mr. Ko.nura, the new Representative, and the Kun r.n tat remained in power anH \h^ v J^unren- ' puwer, ana the King a orisoner W-^a ti,- reco„„e„d..jo„ of .he Foreign Represi.aU vSlongwh 1* tlZr *'P''f "'""'" "^^ 'I- most emphatic inCi" Korea would have been avoided. It is only fair to the Russian Government to state that it gave a distfnc. mandate to he Jap,nese ,o disarm the J,u„...„.,ai and take charg o^ h^ Kmg, The Japanese Government declined, and therefore ,! DuMrrN ""V" f ""'"■' ^"^'^-"' intervention ' " .He position became ^^^^Xt^Z^ ZZ^t Fore,gn Representatives and of all clasfes of Ko™ siha te occurrences of the 8th of October must be inveZt d and ioned 2r;,°" rr' '^""" "='"« '" "■"'"^ shouldte ban Is! he H ?^'"" """''""Sly recognized that something must be done. So on 26,h November the Foreign Renreslnt? m-es„re invited by the King to the Pal^'Tod h Tr 1" a^fd ■„"/'■'!?"" <■' "'» '^i'^'y- -"o was profouX ag lated, produced a decree bearing the King's signature dis iL.t ^ • ''"'aring Hiat the so-called Edict deerad fhatth 'o urr^trsAoT;' '" "" '°™" -""-^ h^ n,» r. ^'" October were to be investieated .o^:e^l^nr:„:lrrr:^^^^^^^^^^^^^ nounced at the same time '' ^'^'''>^ ^^ ""- :fJs5s^^--*r:.^p^L:;ds::^- with the announcement." Mr Hillipr f^iL ^ " '"*"s'ac ffrat.ilnf.-nrv u- n/r • wiiiier followed by "con- .CIm'S th' S:,^;:*'^;^""'^ =«p^. =■-<' -oped fanining ot a time of peace and tranquillity. ■ li! 282 Korea and Her Neighbors and relieve His Majesty from much anxiety." These good wishes were cordially endorsed by his colleagues. The measures proposed by the King to reassert his lost authority and punish the conspirators promised very well, but were rendered abortive by a "loyal plot," which was formed by the Old Palace Guard and a number of Koreans, some of them by no means insignificant men. It had for its object the liberation of the sovereign and the substitution of loyal troops for the Kun-ren-tai. Though it ended in a fiasco two nights after this hopeful interview, its execution having been frustrated by premature disclosures, its results were disastrous, for it involved a number of prominent men, created grave sus- picions, raised up a feeling of antagonism to foreigners, some of whom (American missionaries) were believed to be cogni- zant of the plot, if not actually accessories, and brought about a general confusion, from which, when I left Korea five weeks later, there was no prospect of escape. The King was a closer prisoner than ever; those surrounding him grew familiar and insolent ; he lived in dread of assassination j and he had no more intercourse with foreigners, except with those who had an official right to enter the Palace, which they became increas- ingly unwilling to exercise. It was with much regret that I left Seoul for a journey in the interior at this most exciting time, when every day brought fresh events and rumors, and a coup d'etat of great im- portance was believed to be impending; but I had very little time at my disposal before proceeding to Western China on a long-planned journey. I«i il I CHAPTER XXIV BURIAL CUSTOMS AFTER the interpreter difficulty had appeared as before insurmountable, I was provided with one who acquitted himself to perfection, and through whose good offices I came much nearer to the people than if I had been accompanied by a foreigner. He spoke English remarkably well, was always bright, courteous, intelligent, and good-natured; he had a keen sense of the ludicrous, and I owe much of the pleasure, as well as the interest, of my journey to his companionship. Mr. Hillier equipped me with Im, a soldier of the Legation Guard, as my servant. He had attended me on photograph- ing expeditions on a former visit, and on the journey I found him capable, faithful, quick, and full of "go,"— so valuable and efficient, indeed, as to " take the shine" out of any sub- sequent attendant. With these, a passport, and a kwan-ja or letter from the Korean Foreign Office commending me to official help (never used), my journey was made under the best possible auspices. The day before I left was spent in making acquaintance with Mr. Yi Hak In, receiving farewell visits from many kind and helpful friends, looking over the backs and tackle of the ponies I had engaged for the journey, and in arranging a photo- graphic outfit. Im was taught to make curry, an accomplish- ment in which he soon excelled, and I had no other cooking done on the journey. For the benefit of future travellers I will mention that my equipment consisted of a camp-bed and bed- ding, candles, a large, strong, doubly oiled sheet, a folding chair, a kettle, two pots, a cup and two plates of enamelled iron, some tea which turned out musty, some flour, curry 283 fi 1 , 284 Korea and Her Neighbors powder, and a tin of Edward's "desslcated soup." which came bacic unopened 1 To the oft-repeated question^ Did you a^r:r. W ' "^'^ -^--'y-Pheasants/fowIs, po'a : (the best of all travelling hats), and Korean string shoes completed my outfit, and I never needed anything I had n" The start on 7th November was managed in good time Tz:zvi ""^'^'^^^' ^"^ ' -y-y at':';::; the ,„a/u, the bugbear and torment of travellers usually, never I d helnfuV 7 °"^/'^'' ^°"''"^y^' -«••« always willing a^d helpful, and a month later we parted excellent friends think that Korean ma/u are a maligned class. For each ponv and man the food of both being included, l,A$TZut Mr' ^Uadr'" '"""'"^' ^"' '''' ''^^ sum^hen'haUi.; t1 a r P°""'' ^ '^° ^'^^"g^ ^"''^als, on one of which Im rode, and a saddle pony. /... a pack pony equipped with my sidesaddle for the occasion. "^ ^ ^ luippea with in.?f '? It '^" ^"^"'^ ^'«'''*'°" ^"d »''^ Customs' build- ings, we left the c.ty by tl e West Gate, and passing the stone s^mpswh,ch up till lately supported the car'ved and co "d roof under which generations of Korean kings after theTr accession met the Chinese envoys, wh. came in great state to "rru 'T;'? f °^^^" ^°^^^^''^"^^' -d ^^^-/^ the na^^w capita'fnH t ' r ""I" ? ''' ''^''"^ ^^^^' ''' '''' ^he unique capital and Us lofty clambering wall out of sight. The day was splendid even for a Korean autumn, and the l^gh ful P k iri r "r1 't''''' ''' ''"''"^ corrugations of .^ed nto ZT:T °' ''' """^^ ""^ atmospherically ideal- zed into perfect beauty. For several miles the road was hronged with bulls loaded with faggots, rice, and pine bru" for the supply of the daily necessities of the city ; then excen when passing through the villages, it became so Itary loi^h Burial Customs 285 except for an occasional group of long-sworded Japanese trav- ellers, or baggage ponies in charge of Japanese soldiers rhe road as far as Pa Ju lies through pretty country, small valleys either terraced for rice, which was lying out to dry on the dykes, or growing barley, wheat, millet, and cotton, sur- rounded by low but shapely hills, denuded of everything but oak and pine scrub, but with folds in which the Finns sinensis grew in dark clumps, lighted up by the vanishing scarlet of the maple and the glowing crimson of the Ampehpsis Veitchii On the lower slopes, and usually in close proximity to the timber, are numerous villages, their groups of deep-eaved, brown-thatched roofs, on which scarlet capsicums were laid out to dry, looking pretty enough as adjuncts to landscapes wh.ch on the whole lack life and emphasis. The villaL through which the road passes were seen at their best, for tlie roadway serving for the village threshing floor, was daily swept for the threshing of rice and millet, the passage r. travellers being a . y consideration; everything was dry, and cleldiest^ °"''' °^ ^^"^ ^^°^'^ ""^'^ consequently at their At noon we reached Ko-yang, a poor place of 300 hovels, with ruinous official buildings of some size, once handsome. At this, and every other magistracy up to Phyong-yang, from 20 to 30 Japanese soldiers were quartered in ,\,tyamens. The people hated them with a hatred which is the legacy of three tTnTth 7;.^"' '°"J^, "°* '"'^^ '"y*^'"« ^g^'"^* "^'^^ admit- ting that they paid for all they got, molested no one, and were seldom seen outside the yamen gates. There the mapu halted for two hours to give their ponies and themselves a feed. This midday halt is one bone of contention between travellers and themselves. No amount of hunting and worrying them shortens the halt by more than ten minutes, and I preferred peace of spirit, only insisting that when the road admitted of it, as it frequently did, they should travel i. H, or about thre^ and three-quarter miles, an hour. At Ko-yang I began the custom 286 Korea and Her Neighbors hi I? j]\\ I of giving the landlord of the inn at which I halted loo cash for the room in which I rested, which gave great satisfaction. I had my mattress laid upon the hot floor, and as Im, by in- stinct, secured privacy for me by fastening up mats and cur- tains over the paper walls and doors, these midday halts were very pleasant. Almost every house in these roadside villages and small towns has a low table of such food as Koreans love laid out under the eaves. Beyond Ko-yang, standing out in endless solemnity above a pine wood on the side of a steep hill, are two of the strangely few antiquities of which Korea can boast. These are two mnoks, colossal busts, about 35 feet in height, carved out of the solid rock. They are supposed to be relics of the very early days of Korean Buddhism, when men were religious enough to toil at such stupendous works, and to represent the male and female elements in nature. They are side by side. One wears a round and the other a square hat. The Bud- dhistic calm, or rather I should say apathy, rests on their huge faces, which have looked stolidly on many a change in Korea, but on none greater than the last year had witnessed. During the day we saw three funerals, and I observed that a Japanese detachment which occupied the whole road filed to the right and left to let one of the processions pass, the men raising their caps to the corpse as they did so. These funerals gave an impression of gaiety rather than grief. Two men walked first, carrying silk bannerets which designated the woman about to be interred as the wife of so and so, a married woman having no name. Next came a man walking back- wards with many streamers of colored ribbon floating from his hat, ringing a large bell, and accompanying its clang with a dissonance supposed to be singing. The coffin, under a four- posted domed cover and concealed by gay curtains, was borne on a platform by twelve men, and was followed by a large party of male mourners, a man with a musical instrument, a table, and a box of food. None of the faces were composed Burial Customs 287 to a look of grief. On the dome were two mythical birds re- sembling the phoenix. The dome and curtains were brilliantly colored, and decorated with ribbon streamers. Two corpses each extended on a board and covered with white paper pasted over small hoops, lay in the roadway at different places. Tiiese were bodies of persons who had died far from home and were being conveyed to their friends for burial. Later we met an other funeral, the corpse carried as before on a platform by twelve bearers, who moved to a rhythmic chant of the most cheerful description, the whole party being as jolly as if they were going to a marriage. There was a cross in front of the gay hearse with an extended dragon on each arm, and four large gady painted birds resembling pheasants were on the dome Korean customs as to death and burial deserve a brief notice When a man or woman falls ill, the mu-tang or sorceress is called in to exorcise the spirit which has caused the illness. When this fails and death becomes imminent, in the case of a man no women are allowed to remain in the room but his nearest female relations, and in that of a woman all men must withdraw except her husband, father, and brother. After death the body, specially at the joints, is shampooed, and when it has been made flexible it is covered with a clean sheet and laid fo. three days on a board, on which seven stars are painted. This board is eventually burned at the grave. The "Star Board, as it ,s called, is a euphemism for death, and is spoken of as we speak of .' the grave." During these days the grave- clothes, which are of good materials in red, blue, and yellow f nT'^r T^^f- ^'''''' ^"^^^"^ ^"J°'"« that burial ha 1 be delayed in the case of a poor man three days only, in that of a middle-class man nine days, of a nobleman or high official three months, and in that of one of the Royal Family mne months, but this period may be abridged or extended at the pleasure of the King. Man is supposed to have three souls. After death one occu- pies the tablet, one the grave, and one the Unknown. During t| in ill HMMMMI 288 Korea and Her Neighbors the passing of the spirit there is complete silence. The under garments of the dead are taken out by a servant, who waves them in the air and calls him by name, the relations and friends meantime wailing loudly. After a time the clothes are thrown upon the roof. When the corpse has been temporarily dressed, it is bound so tightly round the chest as sometimes to break the shoulder blades, which is interpreted as a sign of gook luck. After these last offices a table is placed outside the door, on which are three bowls of rice and a squash. Beside it are three pair of straw sandals. The rice and sandals are for the three sajaSt or official servants, who come to conduct one of the souls to the "Ten Judges." The squash is broken, the shoes burned, and the rice thrown away within half an hour after death. Pictures of the Siptai-wong or "Ten Judges " are to be seen in Buddhist temples in Korea. On a man's death one of his souls is seized by their servants and carried to the Unknown, where these Judges, who through their spies are kept well informed as to human deeds, sentence it accord- ingly, either to "a good place" or to one of the manifold hells. The influence of Buddhism doubtless maintains the ob- servance of this singular custom, even where the idea of its significance is lost or discredited. The coffin is oblong. Where interment is delayed, it is hermetically sealed with several coats of lacquer. Until the funeral there is wailing daily in the dead man's house at the three hours of meals. Next the geomancer is consulted about the site for the grave, and receives a fee heavy in proportion to the means of the family. He -s believed from long study to have become acquainted with all the good and bad influences which are said to reside in the ground. A fortunate site brings rank, wealth, and many sons to the sons and grandsons of the deceased, and should be, if possible, on the southerly slope of a hill. He also chooses an auspicious day for the burial. In the case of a rich man, the grave with a stone altar in Burial Customs 289 It IS front of It IS prepared beforehand, in that of a poor man not 111 the procession arrives. The coffin is placed in a gaily deco- rated hearse, and with availing, music, singing, wine, food, and If in the evennig. with many colored lanterns, the cortige^ro- ceeds to the grave. A widow may accompany her husband's corpse ^x^ a closed chair, though this appears unusual, but the mourners are all men in immense hats, which conceal their faces, and sackcloth clothing. After the burial and the making of the circular mound over tlie coffin, a hbat.on of wine is poured out and the company dned fish are placed on the stone altar in front of the grave if It has been erected, or on small tables. The relatives, facing these and the grave, make five prostrations, and a formuk wishing peace to the spirit which is to dwell there is repeated Behmd the grave similar offerings and prostrations are made to he niountain sp.nt, who presides over it. and who is the host of the soul committed to his care. The wine is thrown away and the fish bestowed upon the servants. It will be ob- wTh/ 1' "°f f ^'^f ^ ^"y P^"-' in the ceremonies connected with death and burial, and that two souls have now been dis- posed of^ne to the judgment of the Unknown, and the other to the keeping of the mountain spirit taii'.^thV' 'nvariably carried in a funeral procession con. taining the memorial, or, as we say, the "ancestral tablet" of the deceased, a strip of white wood, bearing the family written at he house, and it is completed at the grave. It is carried back with exactly the same style and attelance h he dead man would have had had he been living, for the third soul IS supposed to return to the house with the mourners, and to take up Its abode in the tablet, which is placed in a vacant tTbThrr ''"''' °" u-^'"'^ ^''^^"^^ ^^^^^ ^'*h a black lacquer Ltl TJ ' °" ""^"'^ ''"'^''^ °^^^'"g^ ^'^ ™ade of bread, wine, cooked meat, and vermicelli soup, the spirit being sup! MWMMb ■Ar*"- 290 Korea and Her Neighbors t I posed to regale itself with their odors. The mourners again prostrate themselves five times, after which they eat the offer- ings in an adjoining room. It is customary for friends to strew the rout of the procession with paper money. In the period between the death and the interment silence is observed in the house of mourning, and only those visitors are received who come to condole with the family and speak of the virtues of the departed. It is believed that conversation on any ordinary topic will cause the corpse to shake in the coffin and show other symptoms of unrest. For the same reason the servants are very particular in watching the cats of the house- hold if there are any, but cats are not in favor in Korea. It is terribly unlucky for a cat to jump over a corpse. It may even cause it to stand upright. After the deceased has been carried out of the house, two or three mutangs or sorceresses enter it with musical instrrments and the other paraphernalia of their profession. After a time one becomes «« inspired " by the spirit of the dead man, and accurately im- personates him, even to his small tricks of manner, movement, and speech. She gives a narrative of his life in the first per- son singular, if he were a bad man confessing his misdeeds, which may have been unsuspected by his neighbors, and if he were a good man, narrating his virtues with becoming modesty. At the end she bows, takes a solemn farewell of those present, and retires. After the tablet has been removed to the ancestral temple, and the period of mourning is over, meals are offered in the shrine once every month, and also on the anniversary of each death, all the descendants assembling, and these observances extend backwards to the ancestors of five generations. Thus it is a very costly thing to have many near relations and a number of ancestors, the expense falling on the eldest son and his heirs. A Korean gentleman told me that his nephew, upon whom this duty falls, spends more upon it than upon his household expenses. Burial Customs 291 nir.H !, Tu Vf '^'"' ^''''' '"°"^"'"S f°^ ^ f^^h« has ex- pired that h.s tablet is removed to the ancestral temple which nch men have near their houses. During the period of mourn- ing .t is kept ,n a vacant room, usually in the women's apart- ments A poor man puts it in a box on one side of his room. a.)d when he worships his other ancestors, strips of paper with their names upon them are pasted on the mud wall I have slept in rooms in which the tablet lay smothered in dust on one of the crossbeams. Common people only worship for t ^TT . '^''' generations. The anniversary of a fa hers death is kept with much ceremony for three years. On the previous night sacrifice is offered before the tablet, and on the following day the friends pay visits of condolence to the family, and eat varieties of food. During the day they visit he grave and offer sacrifices to the soul and the mountain spin t* A widovv wears mourning all her life. If she has no son she acts the part of a son in performing the ancestral rites for her husband. It has not been correct for widows to remarry If; however, a widow inherits property she occasionally mar- rrdfndXt:!''"^^'""^^^^^' ^" -''-' -- ^'^ ^^ "-"^ The custom of tolerating the remarriage of widows has however, lately been changed into the ..^^ifof remarriage ' m ii |nn i | i ii«..mi CHAPTER XXV song-do: a royal city IT grew dark before we reached Pa Ju, and the mapu were in great terror of tigers and robbers. It is unpleasant to reach a Korean inn after nightfall, for there are no lights by which to unload the baggage, and noise and confusion prevail. When the traveller arrives a man rushes in with a brush, stirs up the dust and vermin, and sometimes puts down a coarse mat. Experience 7 is tanght me that an oiled sheet is a better protection against vsrmin tha.i a pony-load of insect powder. I made much use of the tripod of my camera. It served as a candle-stand, a barometer suspender, and an ar- rangement on which to hang my clothes at night out of harm's way. In two hours after arrival my food was ready, after which Mr. Yi came in to talk over the day, to plan the mor- row, to enlighten me on Korean customs, and to interpret my orders to the faithful Im, and by 8.30 I was asleep ! After leaving Pa Ju the country is extremely pretty, and one of the most picturesque views in Korea is from the height overlooking the romantically situated village of Im-jin, cluster- ing along both sides of a ravine, which terminates on the broad Im-jin Gang, a tributary of the Han, in two steep rocky bluffs, sprinkled with the Pinus sinensis, the two being con- nected by a fine, double-roofed granite Chinese gateway, in- scribed "Gate for the tranquillization of the West." The road passing down the village street reaches the water's edge through this relic, one of three or four similar barriers on this high-road to China. The Im-jin Gang, there 343 yards broad, has shallow water and a flat sandy shore on its north 292 Song-do: A Royal City 293 side, but a range of high bluffs, crowned with extensive old defensive works, lines the south side, the gateway being the only break for many miles. Below these the river is a deep green stream, navigable for craft of 14 tons for 40 miles from us mouth. There was a still, faintly blue atmosphere, and the sails of boats passing dreamily into the mountains over the sil- ver water had a most artistic effect. There .re two Chinese bridges on that road, curved slabs of stone, supported on four-sided blocks of granite, giving one a feeling of security, even though they have no parapets. Korean bridges are poles laid over a river, with matting or brushwood covered with earth upon them, and are usually full of holes. These precarious structures had just been replaced after the summer rams. A mapu usually goes ahead to test their solid- ity. The region is extremely fertile, producing fine crops of rice, wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, cotton, sesamum, cas- tor oil, beans, maize, tobacco, capsicums, ^g^ plant, peas, etc. But Russian and American kerosene is fast displacing the vegetable oils for burning, and is producing the same revolu- tion in village evening life which it has effected in the Western Islands of Scotland. I never saw a Korean hamlet south of Phyong-yang, however far from the main road, into which kerosene had not penetrated. I was obliged to halt for the night when only 10 //from Song-do, all the more regretfully, because the people were un- willing to receive a foreigner, and the family room which I occupied, only 8 feet 6 inches by 6 feet, v.as heated up to 8.° was poisoned with the smell of cakes of rotting beans, and was so ahve with vermin of every description that I was obliged to suspend a curtain over my bed to prevent them irom falling upon it. The next morning, in an atmosphere which idealized everv- hing. we reached Song-do, or Kai-song. now the second city in the kingdom, once the capital of Hon-j3, one of the three kingdoms which united to form Korea, and the capital of 294 Korea and Her Neighbors Korea five centuries ago. A city of 60,000 people, lying to the south of Sang-dan San, with a wall ten miles in circum- ference running irregularly over heights, and pierced by double-roofed gateways, with a peaked and splintered ridge extending from Sang-dan San to the northeast, its higher summits attaining altitudes of from 3,000 to 3,000 feet, it has a striking resemblance to tjoul. The great gate is approached by an avenue of trees, and the road is lined with seun-tjeung-pi, monuments to good govern- ors and magistrates, faithful widows, and pious sons. A wide street, its apparent width narrowed by two rows of thatched booths, divides the city. It was a icene of bustle, activity, and petty trade, something like a fair. The women wear white sheets gathered round their heads and nearly reaching their feet. The street was thronged with men in huge hats and very white clothing, with boy bridegrooms in pink gar- ments and the quaint yellow hats which custom enjoins for several months after marriage, and with mourners dressed in sackcloth from head to foot, the head and shoulders concealed by peaked and scalloped hats, the identity being further dis- guised by two-handled sackcloth screens, held up to their eyes. In thatched stalls on low stands and on mats on the ground were all Korean necessaries and luxuries, among which were large quantities of English piece goods, and hacked pieces of beef with the blood in it, Korean killed meat being enough to make any one a vegetarian. Goats -re killed by pulling them to and fro in a narrow stream, whicli method is said to destroy the rank taste of the flesh ; dogs by twirling them in a noose until they are unconscious, after which they are bled, I have already inflicted on my readers an account of the fate of a bullock at Korean hands. It was a busy, dirty, poor, mean scene under the hot sun. The Song-do inns are bad, and a friend of Mr. Yi kindly lent me a house, partly in ruins, but with two rooms which sheltered Im and myself, and in this I spent two pleasant days Song-do: A Royal City 295 in lovely weather, Mr. Yi, who was visiting friends, escorting me to the Song-do sights, which may be seen in one morning, and to pay visits in some of the better-class houses. My quar- ters, though by comparison very comfortable, would not at home be considered fit for the housing of a better-class cow ! But Korea has a heavenly climate for much of the year. The squalor, dust, and rubbish in my compound and everywhere were inconceivable, though the city is rather a " well-to-do " one. The water supply is atrocious, offal and refuse of all kinds lying up to the mouths of the wells. It says something for the security of Korea that a foreign lady could safely live in a dwelling up a lonely alley in the heart of a big city, with no attendant but a Korean soldier knowing not a word of Eng- lish, who, had he been so minded, might have cut my throat and decamped with my money, of which he knew the where- abouts, neither my door nor the compound having any fasten- ing ! Points of interest in a Korean city are few, and the ancient capital is no exception to the rule. There is a fine bronze bell with curiously involved dragons in one of the gate towers, cast five centuries ago, an archery ground with official pavilions on a height with a superb view, the Governor's yamen, once handsome, now ruinous, with Japanese sentries, a dismal tem- ple to Confucius, and a showy one to the God of War. Out- side the crowd and bustle of the city, reached by a narrow path among prosperous ginseng farms and persimmon-em- bowered hamlets, are the lonely remains of the palace of the Kings who reigned in Korea prior to the dynasty of which the present sovereign is the representative, and even in their for- lornness they give the impression that the Korean Kings were much statelier monarchs then than now. The remains consist of an approach to the main platform on which the palace stood, by two subsidiary platforms, the first reached by a nearly obliterated set of steps. Four staircases 15 feet wide, of thirty steps each, lead to a lofty artificial J ill il I !l l.,-0mmmmlmm 296 Korea and Her Neighbors m ! platform, faced with hewn stone in great blocks, 14 feet high, and by rough measurement 846 feet in length. On the east side there are massive abutments. On the west the platform broadens irregularly. At the entrance, 80 fee^ wide, at the top of the steps, there are the bases of columns suggestive of a very stately approach. The palace platform is intersected by massive stone foundations of halls and rooms, some of large area. It is backed by ;i pit e-clothed knoll, and is prettily situated in an amphitheatre of hills. Song-do as a royal city, and as one of the so-called for- tresses for the protection of the capital, still retains many an- cient privileges. It is a bustling business town, and a great centre of the grain trade. It has various mercantile guilds with their places of business, small shops built round com- pounds with entrance gates. It makes wooden shoes, coarse pottery and fine matting, and imports paper, which it manu- factures with sesamum oil into the oil paper for which Korea is famous, and which is made into cloaks, umbrellas, tobacco- pouches, and sheets for walls and floors. In answer to many inquiries, I learned that trade had improved considerably since the war, but the native traders now have to compete with fourteen Japanese shops, and to suffer the presence of forty Japanese residents. I have left until the last the commodity for which Song-do is famous, and which is the chief source of its prosperity — ginseng. Panax Ginseng or quinquefolia (?) is, as its name imports, a "panacea." No one can be in the Far East for many days without hearing of this root and its virtues. No drug in the British Pharmacopoeia rivals with us the estimation in which this is held by the Chinese. It is a tonic, a febri- fuge, a stomachic, the very elixir of life, taken spasmodically or regularly in Chinese wine by most Chinese who can afford it. It is one of the most valuable articles which Korea ex- ports, and one great source of its revenue. In the steamer in which I left Chemulpo there was a consignment of it worth Song-do: A Royal City 297 1140,000 But valuable as the cultivated root is, it is nothing to the value of the wild, which grows in Northern Korea, a single specimen of which has been sold for £^0 ! It is chiefly found in the Kang-ge Mountains ; but it is rare, and the search so often ends in failure, that the common people credit it with magical properties, and believe that only men of pure lives can find it. ^ The ginseng season was at its height. People talked, thought, and dreamed ginseng, for the risks of its six or seven years growth were over, and the root was actually in the fac- tory. I went to several ginseng farms, and also saw the differ- ent stages of the manufacturing process, and received the same impression as in Siberia, that if industry were lucrative, and the Korean were sure of his earnings, he would be an in- dustrious and even a thrifty person. All round Song-do are carefully fenced farms on which gin- seng ,s grown with great care and exquisite neatness on beds 18 inches wide. 2 feet high, and neatly bordered with slates. . It IS sown in April, transplanted in the following spring, and again ,n three years into specially prepared ground, not re- cently cultivated, and which has not been used for ginseng cu ture for seven years. Up to tiie second year the plant has only wo leaves. In the fourth year it is six inches high with four leaves, standing out at rip ht angles from the stalk. It reaches maturity in the sixth or seventh year. During its growth It IS sheltered from both wind and sun by well-made reed roofs with blinds, which are raised or lowered as may be required When the root is taken up it is known as " white gmseng. and is bought by merchants, who get it "manufac- tured, about 3 14: cames of the fresh root making one rattie of red or commercial ginseng. The grower pays a tax of 20 cents per cam,, and the merchant 16 dollars a .^//,> for the root as received from the manufacturer. The annual time of manufacture depends on orders given by the Government. The growers and merchants make the I ;,;! 298 Korea and Her Neighbors most profit when the date is early. Only two manufacturers are licensed, and one hundred and fifty growers. The quan- tity to be manufactured is also limited. In 1895 it was 15,000 catties of red ginseng and 3,000 of "beards." The terms "beards" and "tails" are used to denote different parts of the root, which eventually has a grotesque resemblance to a headless man I It is possible that this likeness is the source of some of the almost miraculous virtues which are attributed to it. Everything about the factories is scrii, ulously clean, and would do credit to European management. The row of houses used by what we should call the excisemen are well built and comfortable. There are two officials sent from Seoul by the Agricultural Department for the " season," with four policemen and two attendants, whose expenses are paid by the manufacturers, and each step of the manufacture and th? egress of the workmen are carefully watched. Mr. Yi was sent by the Customs to make special inquiries in confiection with the revenue derived. Ginseng is steamed for twenty-four hours in large earthen jars over iron pots built into furnaces, and is then partially dried in a room kept at a high temperature by charcoal. The final drying is effected by exposing the roots in elevated flat baskets to the rays of the bright winter sun. The human resemblance survives these processes, but afterwards the " beards " and "tails," used chiefly in Korea, are cut off, and the trunk, from 3 to 4 inches long, looks like a piece of clouded amber. These trunks are carefully picked over, and being classified according to size, are neatly packed in small oblong baskets containing about five catties each, twelve or fourteen of these being packed in a basket, which is waterproofed and matted, and stamped and sealed by the Agricultural Department as ready for exportation. A basket, according to quality, is worth from ;|li4,ooo to $20,000 ! In a good season the grower makes about fifteen times his outlay. Ginseng was a Royal monopoly, but times have changed. This medicine, which Song-do: A Royal City 299 has such a high and apparently partially deserved reputation hroughout the Far East, does not suit Europeans, and is of little account with European doctors. A Post Office had been established in Song-do under Korean management, and I not only received but sent a letter, which reached its d-.i.ation safely I Buddhism still prevails to some exten< in fhi. My, and large sums are expended upon the services of sorcerers, In Song-do I saw. what very rarely may be seen in -;c( I &m\ < Jsewhere, a " Red Door." These are a very high ho. < r -,,.rved for rare instances of faithfulness in Widows, loyalty m subjects, and piety in sons. When a widow (almost invariably of the upper class) weeps ceaselessly for her husband, maintains the deepest seclusion, attends loyally to her father- and mother-in-law, and spends her time in pious deeds, .the people of the neighborhood, proud of her virtues, repre- sent them to the Governor of the province, who conveys their reconrmendation to the King, with whom it rests to confer the Red Door." The distinction is also given to the family of an etnmently loyal subject, who has given his life for the King's life. The case of a son whose father has reached a great ace is somewhat different, and the honor is more emphatic still. His filial virtue is shown by such methods as these. He eoes every morning to his father's apartments, asks him how his health IS. how he has slept, what he has eaten for breakfast, and how he enjoyed the meal_if he has any fancies for din- ner, and ,f he shall go to the market and buy him some fai (the best fish in Korea), and if he shall come back and assist h.n» to take a walk? The reader .vill observe how extremely material the pious son's inquiries are. Such assiduity con- nnued during a course of years, on being represented to the King, may receive the coveted red portal. In former days, these matters used to be referred to the Suzerain, the Emperor of China. In Song-do. as in the villages, a straw fringe is frequently to be seen stretched across a door, either plain or 'iji mmmm ' I I I 300 Korea and Her Neighbors with bits of charcoal knotted into it. The former denotes the birth of a girl, the latter that of a boy. A girl is not specially welcome, nor is the occasion one of festivity, but neither is it, as in some countries, regarded as a calamity, although, if it be a firstborn, the friends of the father are apt to write letters of condolence to him, with the consoling suggestion that "the next will be a boy." ^A n- CHIL-SUNG MON, SEVEN STAR GATE. W n CHAPTER :: XVI THE PHY5NG-YANG BATTLEFIELD /^LORIOUS weather favored my departure from the an- VJ cen. Korean capital. The day's journey lay through pretty country, small valleys, and picturesquely shaped huf on which the vegetation, whatever it was, had turned'to a pur P e as rich as the English heather blossom, while the blue feafa^e Th' ""T '""^^''''^'^ ^^e flaming reds of the dying ^fnfl IT ^"' ^'"^ ^"^ ^"^^"' ^"d cultivation was altog^her confined to the valleys. Pheasants were so abun- dant that the mapu pelted them out of the cover by the road- side and wild ducks abounded on every stream. The one really fine view of the day is from the crest of a hill just be- yond 0-hung-suk Ju, where there is a second defensive gate, w th a rumous wall carried along a ridge for some distance on either side. The masonry and the gate-house are fine, and the view down the wild valley beyond with its rich autumn color! ing was almost grand. It was evident that officials were ex- pected, for the road was being repaired everywhere-that is, roalt f "•[""' '^'"^ ^^'^^^ ^-™ tl^^ banks and roadsides and were being thrown into the ruts and holes to deepen the quagmire which the next rain would produce. From four to seven men were working at each spade! A fn^L^-7 f *'l^'"^^^ population had turned out; for when an official of rank is to travel, every family in the district must order. The repairs of the roads and bridges devolve entirely on the country people. ^ The following day brought a change of weather. My room 301 — .i.iiMwiwm 302 Korea and Her Neighbors had no hot fluur and the mercury at daybreak was only 20° ! When we started, a strong northwester was blowing, which in- creased to a gale by noon, the same fierce gale in which at Chemulpo H.M.S, Edgar lost her boat with forty-seven men. My pony and I would have been blown over a wretched bridge had not four men linked themselves together to support us ; and later, on the top of a precipice above a river, a gust came with such force that the animals refused to face it, and one of them was as nearly lost as possible. By noon it was impossible to sit on our horses, and we fought the storm on foot. When Im lifted me from my pony I fell down, and it took several men shouting with laughter to set me on my feet again. When Mr. Yi and I spoke to each o':her, our voices had a bobbery clatter, and sentences broke off halfway in an insane giggle. I felt as if there were hardly another "shot in the locker," but if a traveller "says die," the men lose all heart, so I sum- moned up all my pluck, took a photograph after the noon halt, and walked on at a good pace. But the wind, with the mercury at 26°, was awful, gripping the heart and benumbing the brain. I have not felt anything like it since I encountered the "devil wind" on the Zagros heights in Persia. At some distance from our destination Mr. Yi, Im, and the mapu begged me to halt, as they could no longer face it, though the accommodation for man anr' ■ least at Tol Maru, where we put up, was the worst imaginable, and the large village the filthiest, most squalid, and most absolutely poverty-stricken place I saw in that land of squalor. The horses wi crowded together, and their baffled attempts at fighting were only less hideous than the shouts and yells of the itiapu, who were constantly being roused out of a sound sleep to separate them. My room was 8 feet by 6, and much occupied by the chat- tels of the people, besides being alive with cockroaches and other forms of horrid life. The dirt and discomfort in which the peasant Koreans live are incredible. The Phyong.yang Battlefield 303 An uninteresting tract of country succeeded, and some tim. was d in threading long treeless valleys 0'^^" beds of streams, margined by sandy flats, inundated in sum mer, and then covered chiefly with withered reeds asters and artem.s.a, a belated aster every now and the^^t ' ^^^ untimely mauve blossom. All these and the dry grasses and weeds of the hillsides were being cut and stacked for f .1 brushwood having disappeared' This toT t^'d^^t ^^n boys, who carry their loads on wooden saddles suited to tS p.gs no. arger than English .erriers, were ,o beten One of .he mm dismal and squalid " .owns " on ll.is route ^ Shur-hung, a long rambling village of nearly s.ooosoul and a noagistracy, buil, along the refuse-covered Ck of a bngh . shallow stream. As if the Crown official were he upas :^:r jTsZT 'T'T " *™^'^ --forlorn, an i^^ »ho bows before the .ablet of .he "most hiy eaS "IS offers an anmial in sacrifice leacner and I ' n sI'Tf " r'''^""- M-«°«ct,lsofa ysfalZ chari !rd"'J°7'T" '"" =°^'"^' '™""8 -bordinates n* Charge, and as their tenure of office is very brief thev re„»rH «ree. one of thetn touched me on .he should^^astg :!; tn ! ; f 1 ..^mmmimmmm 304 Korea and Her Neighbors i T nationality, whence I came, and whither I was going, not quite politely, I thought. When I reached my room a dozen of them came and gradually closed round my door, which I could not shut, standing almost within it. A trim sergeant raised his cap to me, and passing on to Mr. Yi's room, asked him where I came from and whither I was going, and on hear- ing, replied, " All right," raised his cap to me, and departed, withdrawing his men with him. This was one of several domiciliary visits, and though they were usually very politely made, they suggested the query as to the right to make them, and to whom the mastership in the land belonged. There, as elsewhere, though the people hated the Japanese with an intense hatred, they were obliged to admit that they were very quiet and paid for everything they got. If the soldiers had not been in European clothes, it would not have occurred to me to think them rude for crowding round my door. A day's ride through monotonous country brought us to Pong-san, where we halted in the dirtiest hole I had till then been in. As soon as my den was comfortably warm, myriads of house flies, blackening the rafters, renewed a semi-torpid existence, dying in heap s in the soup and <;urry, filling the well of the candlestick with their singed bodies, and crawling in hundreds over my face. Next came the cockroaches in legions, large and small, torpid and active, followed by a great army of fleas and bugs, making life insupg^ortable. To judge from the significant sounds from the public room, no one slept all night, and when I asked Mr. Yi after his welfare the next morning, he uttered the one word "mi serable ." Discomforts of this nature, less or more, are inseparable from the Korean inn. The following day, at a large village, we came upon the weekly market. It is usual to inquire regardi.-'g the trade of a district, and as the result of my inquiries, I assert that "trade" in the ordinary sense has no existence in a great part of Central and Northern Korea, i.e. there is no exchange nnti m The Phyong-yang Battlefield 305 of commrdities between one place and another, no exports no imports by resident merchants, and no indu tries LCvine tent n Southern Korea, and specially in the province of ChuMa. Apart from Phyong-yang. «« trade" does not xis in the region through which I travelled Reasons for such a state of things may be found in the de based coinage, so bulky that a pony can only carry ixo worth We:t;r: Chtr 'Tu'--' '-^''''^ facilities' afeX VVesten China render business transactions easy; the general nfs i. ' ''^'^P:^J"d'^^«i the general insecurity of earn- ings. Ignorance absolutely inconceivable, and the exLence of numerous guilds which possess practical monopolies Under Japanese influence, however, the superb silver yen has made Us way slowly into the interior, and Ltead of ha" i"g to carry a load of casA, as on my former journey, or to be . placed .n great difficulties by the want of it this large silver com was readily taken at all the inns, although I did not e a single specimen of the new Korean coinage. " Trade •• as I became acquainted with it. is represented bv Japanese buyers, who visit tne small towns and .Ullages buv^ ng up nee, grain, and beans, which they forward tofhe pom for shipment to Japan, and by an organized corporltLn of guUds which have been among the curious features of Korea There are no shops in villages, and (e^, where there are anvt'hre" ?'" T'- '' ''' ^" ^-'' ^^Possibl rbuy any hing except on the market-day. as no one keeps any stock d lnesso;?K ''^""''^ '"^''^^ ''^ -ual melancto dulness of a Korean village is exchanged for bustle, color and leTdi rtoTe ol^°r" '-''' '''' ^" '- -rni^gtepat leading to the officially appointed centre are thronged with fowls m coops, pigs, straw shoes, straw hats, and wooden ^ 306 Korea and Her Neighbors N* spoons, while the main road has its complemtn': of merchants, i.e. pedlars, mostly fine, strong, well-dr -ssed nici\, cither car- rying their heavy p.icks themsi^lves or enjploying porters or bulls for the purpoKt. These nuMi travel on regular circuits to the village centres, and are indi-3trio': ? and respectable, A few put up stalls, spe;i.illy those who sell :ilks, gauzes, cords for girdles,, dress shoes, amber, buttons, silks in skeins, s.nall 'vurrors, tobacco-pouches, dress combss cf tortoii:«; shell for ."sen's irjpkuots, t?pe girdles for trousers, boxes with mirror top'-, a!;i rhe like. But most of the articles, from which one leanii 2 good deal about the necessaries and luxuries required by Cii Korean, are exposed for sale on low tables or on mats on the ground, the merchant giving the occupant of the house before which he camps a few cash ioi the accommoda- tion. On such tables are sticks of pulled candy as thick as an arm, some of it stuffed with sesamum seeds, a sweetmeat sold in enormous quantities, and piece goods, shirtings of Japanese and English make, Victoria lawns, hempen cloth, Turkey-red cottons, Korean flimsy silks, dyes, chiefly aniline, which are sold in great quantities, together with saff"ron, indigo, and Chinese Prussian blue. On these also are exposed long pipes, contraband in the capital, and Japanese cigarettes, coming into great favor with young men and boys, with leather courier bags and lucifer matches nom the same country, wooden combs, hairpins with tinsel heads, and, such is the march of ideas, purses for silver ! Paper, the best of the Korean man- ufactures, in its finer qualities produced in Chul-la Do, is hon- ored by stalls. Every kind is purchasable in these markets, from the beautiful, translucent, buff, oiled paper, nearly equal to vellum in appearance and tenacity, used for the floors of middle- and upper-class houses, and the sto\ : ^er for cover- ing walls, to the thin, strong film for writit^^ on, and a beau- tiful fabi-. 1 sort of frothy gau^ie, lor -fping up delicate fabrics, a. 11 as the coarse fibrous m;;t. ,ial, used for covering life The Phyong-yang Battlefield 307 heavy packages, and intermediate grades innlipH t. . coars . narrow cotton cloth of Korean manufacture, '2 mu, piles of phea'sa,,^, S^h. do^ 57^^""" "' '"* "'" selling ae six for a «,„7 i . T ^ °"^' Sorgeous birds, gla.e rude,, appHed. s J ^rs Tnd'' ^^''e .fij^r grain and pulse. aL ^Xfar.' fH .'."'' ''""""='" f"' hold a „,a,, .„; 0, »C e a'b s Sd'Ttrr" '° these jars, were in great request fnrT. ' '"'"" cupied, the „,e„ i„ H-^ ' '" ""^ f*^^"' "fW was oc- l>ea? of%a::an;bC,'e^"t ::»- ; "--^"f' « S-t aside in these iars in hr.no V ' ^^'^'' ^^^^S laid iiicse jars in brine, form one ereat artirl*. r.f « ir peasant's winter diet ^'^ ^ Korean Korean existence, wer; tlZu.'u"''.'^.''^'' "^"««"'« of i im but bus iiness was very dull, and 3o8 Korea and Her Neighbors the crowds of people were nearly as quiet as the gentle bulls which stood hour after hour among them. Late in the after- noon, the pedlars packed up their wares and departed en route for the next centre, and a good deal of hard drinking closed the day. I have been thus minute in my description because the peripatetic merchant really represents the fashion of Korean trade, and the wares which are brought to market are both the necessaries and luxuries of Korean existence. The reader will agree with me that, except for a certain amount of insight into Korean customs which can only be gained by mixing freely with Koreans, the journey from Seoul to Phyong-yang tends to monotony, though at the time Mr. Yi's brightness, intelligence, sense of fun, and unvarying good- nature made it very pleasant. Among the few features of in- terest on the road are the " Hill Towns," of which three are striking objects, specially one on the hill opposite to the magistracy of Pyeng-san, the hilltop being surrounded by a battlemented wall two miles in circuit, enclosing a tangled thicket containing a few hovels and the remains of some granaries. Unwalled towns are supposed to possess such strongholds, with stores of rice and soy, as refuge- in times of invasion or rebellion, but as they have not been required for three centuries, they are now ruinous. The one on a high hill above Sai-nam, where the last Chinese gate occurs, is im- posing from its fine gateway and the extent of ground it en- closes. Two days before reaching Phyong-yang we crossed the high- est pass on the road, and by a glen wooded with such decid- uous trees, shrubs, and trailers as ash, elaeagnus, euonymus, horn-beam, oak, lime, Acanthopanax ricinifolia, actinidia with scarlet berries, clematis, Ampelopsis Veitchii, etc., descended to the valley of the Nam-chhon, a broad but shallow stream which joins the Tai-dong. On the right bank, where the stream, crossed by a dilapidated bridge, is 128 yards wide, the town of Whang Ju is picturesquely situated, 36 // from the sea, The Phyong-yang Battlefield 309 aZ,?.u ""^y^- '"<:'«»« the town, and being carried a ong rte verge of the cliff and over .he do™ and nps of he .' «ivt^ieV%r: k"^ °t"^'- " ""' > »'«*■ ractive v.ew. The Korean sky was ae its Uuest, and (he wind- e Cjt>,r, ^"". '" «""■"- "- and .here Zgh parkleonfrj 1/ " '" "'"'"' '' '''"=• ""^ .he brok™ r^tnXr/^r^^^^^^^^^^^^ and grouped ui the handsome Water Gate, were ^number nf' Of reedswi.h a c^askLhe'dt^Z ."^^Tn^C^Ltt the rumons s.a.e of .he walls and .owers ionid norbe see ' wllh?/ Jr' °'!T"'"' "• ™ '^ "='"6 the firs, place l". .w which had suffered from .he ravages of recent war. There Z d cea • ?^"'"'^'"" ""PPe"''! has been enongV,l're duce a flonnshmg .own wi.h an estimated popnla.ion of ,o „" desoC "tZ' '"' T' ""'' '"'° ^ "'P'^-We scene of desolation. There were heaps of ruins, some blackened bv fie, others where the houses had apparently collapse ".r „f a heap," w.th posts and rafters s.icki„g ou. of i. Thereat arge areas of nothing bu. .his and streets of de^^irrel h" se »adde ye., w„h doors and windows gone for .he b vou cfiS were tinrr',:"' '""" "'"' '"""^^ "■"" -lis alon were standinj. In some parts there were houses with windows gone and torn paper waving from .heir walls, and hen tr ^a,« an tnhabtted h°"se stood solitary among the desertefor d«troyed, emphasizing the desol^ion! Som'e of ,he d«,™ t.o„ was wrought by .he Chinese, some by ,he Japan^^nd i i' ji ■ji ' t' ■f'P t 3»o Koiea and Her Neighbors much resulted from the terrified flight of more than 20,000 of the inhabitants. ' North of Whang Ju are rich nl^V- .f productive, stoneless red a,luv,um extending t ....us tne J-do.g for' nearl "o m.les. On these there were villages partly burned and partly depopulated and ruinous, and tracts of the superb soil had passed out of cultivation owing to the flight of the cultivators, and there was a total absence of beasts, the splendid bulls of the region having perished under their loads .« rouf, for Man- churia. It was a dreary journey that day through partially destroyed villages, relapsing plains, and slopes denuded of every stick which could be burned. There were no wayfarers on the roads, no movement of any dnd, and as it grew dusl- the J/J were afraid of tigers and robbers, and we halted iur the night at the wretched hamlet of Ko-moun Tari. where I ob- tamed . room with delay and difficulty, partly ow.ng to the unw,ll,ngner.s of the people to receive a foreigner. They had sufl-ered enough from foreigners, truly ! ^ The cone Uuling day's march was through a pleasant country, though denuded of trees, and the appro .h to a great city wa denoted by the number of villa, .s, d^mon shrines' and refrelh ment booths . the road, the creased t ,ffic. and eventually, by a long avenue of stone tablets, some of them under highly ^of/sc eirst' "'"''"' ''' "'^'"^ °' Pl^y5ng-yang officials The first view of Phyong-yang delighted me. The city has a magnificent situation, taken advr.tape of with much "kill, and at a distance merits fhe epuMet " imi>osing." It was a g orious afternoon. All „ lov. .nges which g lie the rich plain through which the T do. .inds were blue and vi. 'et, melting into a blue haze, cue crystal waters of the ver wer^ bluer st.ll, brown-sailed boats drifted lazily with the stream, and above n the gray mass of the city rose into a dome of un! clouded blue. The Phyong-yang Battlefield 31! It Is built on lofty ground rising abruptly from the river, above which a fine wall climbs picturesquely over irregular, but always ascending altitudes, till it is lost amcmg the pines of a h.Il which overhangs the Tai-dong. The great double- roofed Ta.-dong Alon (river gate), decorated pavilions on the walls, the massive curled roofs of the Governor's >...,«.«, a large Buddhjst monastery and temple on a height, and a fine temple to the God of ar, prominent objects from a distance, prepare one for something quite apart from the ordinary meanness of a Korean city. Crossing the clear flashing waters of the Tai-dong with our pomes ,n a crowded ferry-boat, we found ourselves in the slush of the dark Water Gate, at all hours of the day crowded with water-earners. There are no wells in the city, the reason as- signed for the deficiency being that the walls enclose a boat- shaped area, and that the digging of wells would cause the boat to sink ! The w. er is carried almost entirely in Ameri- can kerosene tins. I lodged at the houseof a b.oker, and had nice clean rooms for myself and Im, quite quiet, and with a separate access from the street. It was truly a luxury to have roof walls, and floor p.pered with thick oiled paper much re- sembling varnished oak, but there was no hot floor, and I had to rely or warmth solely on the " fire bowl." Taking a ost diverting boy as my -ude, I went outside the city wall, through some farming country to a Korean house »n a very tumhle-to-pieces compound, whic]. ',.. insisted was the dwelling ot the American nussionaries; but I only found a Korean family, and there were no traces of foreign occu- pation ,n glass panes let into the paper of the windows and doors. Nothing daunted, the boy pulled me through a smaller compound, opened a door, n,v1 pushed me into ^ hat was mani- fes ly posing as a foreign roo.n. gave me a chair, took one him- sen, and ottered me a cigarette ! I had^eac d the right place. It was a very rough Korean room, about the length and width of a N.W. Railway saloon 3^2 Korea and Her Neighbors Irti L f r '^' '"^ ^"""^ '"^^«"'''»' ^s 'veil as a few articles of male apparel hanging on the mud walls. I wai ed aTwei as v". m"' ""^ ^''^"^^ '' ^^P-^-« being for Ju tTon which m' '■"''''^' '^ "'^ "^'^'^•"' imagining fhe d vo^ tion which could sustain educated men year after year in n surroundings, and then thi.v ,.o«,- • i •, ^ *"*^" a most pleasant events 717 '" '"°"''^' '"' "" ''"^ i^ am evening, i shall say more of tlieni hf«>r Tt the b^ai of ih^f ■ '™ ?' '"""""^ ">™'K'' "•' "ight I beard .ninH? I" '^'"" ''" «""'*'' "'" '""y Korean „i„,er dav h p«r«,„s b„. Mr. vi:j;:;pr;zu';rar: a«r„ wi.1? •■"" '"•'"' '"" ""--i "i'" '=pic.nresq„e confusion-'and ouii worse, roofs and wa s stanr?-" r k„» j j . . oil ~ "rtna siana ', Dut doors and windnwo put out. Everywhere there were the same scenes miles of •hem, and very much of .he desol..ion was cLr^iand The Phyong.yang Battlefield 313 blackened, shapeless, hideous, hopeless und«r ti, sunlight. ""peiess, under the mocking wreck and ruin was brmiohti °'"^'''' ""'^ ^" this those who pro ss^to Jfill'. "°' ^^ '"^"^'^^' ^^' ^V and reform t h.H , ?i ^"^ '° «'"" '^" independence " -.>:;U) dfd Sn Lrs !° ht '"^^" ^f ^^ ^'^' turned. Some of H.^c« . t '^'''^^"S' hence many had re- •heir „ay aTo^^.^rea Xl^ JS r/"= "''''"» -igh. lead .hem .0 the sL s „te '° 1 h '"'''"='"">"' "'l>'<^'' once exisied : and her, ,„T !. """="" "'^X kne" of home WHS and roof sTan ^ ; r^d :r"d™- 'j '"""" '^^'' woodwork and often ,S' Z r"", ""' °"' "'^ P"''" »"<1 ■ fires on hiuse 1)00^ lealf ,V°^t "''" '°' '"'^' "' ''«'>'«' took fire and p She'd T,! ^™ ^'■"'"«' "''™ 'h^ ho"«= fugitive, during rteweel^aLn,''"?"''"'' '"' "' ">' Mr. Moffe,.. house , ^o :ol" ^'"f : '^''"'8 "" ""n, "ritlen nroiest th^ w,L- 1 ' ^""°"Sl> his servant made a or officeru^de^ t'^I ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ presence most prosperous city in Korea ^d" ''^77 '' T results of war in the "green tree " ZZ\ [ ^'^ ^^'^ "dry"? green tree, what must they be in the During the subsequent ocmmunn .1 t Laved wen, and all Ire ob Zed ,n t '^'"'"l '"^'^ '^- hood were ,cr„„,,lously mfd fo^ , 1T"""'u""«'''*'- haled ihem, they adraitteH M 1, . . *■ "' ""^ P«°Pl» preserved, and .hey t 1 2,"". ""' "^^ "'"" "'"' >«'" drawa, .hey „„,„I sZ22Z^2TJ''' °" ''^'' "'"- men. of Koreans drilled and armeTbv.hef '"'"'"'• ' ''«'' Lad already .eg„„ .o roh and C.^'.^^ X':rd^r,;t 3H Korea and Her Neighbors civil authorities. Tlie main street on my second visit had as- sumed a bustling appearance. There was much building up and pulling down, for Japanese traders had obtained all the eligible business sites, and were transforming the small, dark, low, Korean shops into large, light, airy, dainty Japanese erec- tions, well stocked with Japanese goods, and specially with kerosene lamps of every pattern and price, the Defries and Hinckes patents being unblushingly infringed. Phyong-yang has a truly beautiful situation on the right or north bank of the clear, bright Tai-dong, 400 yards wide at the ferry. It occupies an undulating plateau, and its wall, parallel for two miles and a half, rises from the river level at the stately Water Gate, and following its windings, mounts es- carped hills to a height of over 400 feet, turning westwards at the crest of the cliff at a sharp angle marked by a pavilion, one of several, and follows the western ridge of the plateau, where it falls steeply down to a fertile rolling plain where the one real battle of the late war was fought. This wall, which is in excellent repair, is a loopholed and battlemented structure, 20 feet high, pierced by several gates with gate towers. The city, large as it was, was once much larger, for the old wall on the west side encloses a far larger area than the modern one. The walk over the grassy undu- lations within the wall and up to the northern pine-clothed summit is entrancing, and the views, even in winter, are ex- quisite—eastwards over a rich plain to the mountains through which the Tai-dong cuts its way, or northwest to one of its affluents and the great battlefield over which in 1593 the joint forces of Ciiinese and Koreans poured to recover Phyong-yang from the Japanese, or seawards where the clear bright waters wind through fertile and populous cou-nry, or the hilly area within the walls where pine-clothed knolls conceal the devas- tations, and the Governor's yame7i, temples, and monasteries make a goodly show. Between the city and the Chinese frontier is the largest and The Phyong.yang Battlefield 315 richest plain in Korea; to the east where the violet shadows lay are the valleys of the two branches of the Tai-dong. rich in silk, iron, and cotton, while within 10 miles there are at least five coal-mines/ and for all produce there is easy com- munication with the sea. 36 miles distant, for vessels of light draught by means of the river which flows below the city wall. Timber is rafted down the Tai-dong in summer. The Peking road, which I had followed thus far. and which for centuries has linked Phyong-yang with the outer world and the capital, is another element in the former prosperity of the city. It was to photograph for the widow and family of Gen- er^ Tso of Mukden, the commander of the best-disciplined and best-equipped cavalry brigade in the Chinese army the scenes connected with his last days and death that I visited the hill within the wall. The river wall of Phyong-yang. after 2 miles of an undulat- ing ascent turns sharply at a pavilion, outside of which the , ground falls precipitously, to rise again in a knife-like ridge the three highest points of which are crowned with Chinese forts. From this pavilion the wall, following the lie of the hill, slopes rapidly down to a very picturesque and narrow gate the Chtl-sung Man or Seven Star Gate, after which it trends in a northwesterly direction to the Potong Mdn. •There are five coal-mines at distances varying from 10(030/1 from P^iyongyang, those of Yang-tang. ,5 /, away, producing the be t qluh" With nch iron ore close to the river bank at Kai Chhon, about 1 /.off he elements .0 prosperity are ready to hand. The « coalowners •• Iv^' no proper apphances for working the coal, relying chiefly on Ko ean axes, and the " output " is very small. Much money has been spen ," trj-u.-g to get the coal, and in two mines they cannot'proceed anytrth wuh the,r present tools. The difficulties of transport L great, and the e no demand for any quantity in Phyong-yang itself, bul the mine a is here .„ abundance and of good quality, and only aw'aits capitaT.^ 1 ! terpnse. A tax of 5 per cent, is levied on all coal sent away from the Zi;^::t.r' '^ "^^ ^'' only 63. tons, value/at rd^L: ■ .!! .\ I 1:1 i. - 3i6 Korea and Her Neighbors |!|' :i In the pine wood, at the highest part of the angle formed by the wall, General Tso had built three mud forts or camps with walls ID feet high. The ground under the trees is dotted with the stone-lined cooking holes of his men, blackened with the smoke of their last fires. On the afternoon of the isth of September, 1894, General Tso and his force, which mustered 5, 000 men when it left Mukden, but must have I, en greatly diminished by desertion and death, made his. fatal sally, pass- ing through the Chil-sung Man and down the steep zigzag de- scent below it to the plain, meeting his death probably within 300 yards of the gate. Tlie Koreans say that some of his men took up the body, but were shot by the Japanese while remov- ing it, and that it was lost in the slaughter which ensued. A neat obelisk, railed round, was erected by the Japanese at the supposed spot, bearing on one face the inscription :— Tso Pao-kuei, commander-in-chief of the Feng-tien division. Place of death. And on the other Killed while fighting with the Japanese troops at Phyong-yang. A graceful tribute to their ablest foe. General Tso's troops, demoralized by his death, sought refuge everywhere from the deadly fire of the Japanese, a part flying back to their forts within the wall, while many, prob- ably blinded and desperate, rode along the pine woods which densely cover the broken ground outside, by a path along a wide dry moat, which, three weeks later, when Mr. Moffett returned, was piled with the dead bodies of their horses. In the bright moonlight night which followed that day, the Japanese stormed and took by assault the three Chinese forts on the three summits of the ridge, which were the key of the position, enabling them to throw their shell into the Chinese forts and camps within the wall. The beautiful pavilion at the angle of the wall is much shattered, and big fragments of shell are embedded in its pillars and richly carved woodwork. The Phyong-yang Battlefield 317 So desperately hurried was the flight of the vanquished from the last fort which held out. that they were mown down in numbers as they ran down the steep hill, falling face foremost with their outstretched hands clutching the earth All was then lost, and why that doomed army, numbering then perhaps 12,000 men, did not surrender unconditionally I cannot imagine. During the night, abandoning gunsand all war material, the remains of Tso's brigade and all the infantry and unwounded men passed through the deserted and silent cty, surged out of the Poiong Man, crossed a shallow stream and emerged upon a plain girdled by low hills, and intersected by the Peking road, the eastern extremity being occupied by some Chinese forts and breastworks. Tso's cavalry attempted to cross the plain and gain the shelter of some low hills, while great numbers of the infantry took to the Peking road ThI battTp^/ •'"' "'■'''"'" never be accurately known, llie battle of Phyong-yang was lost and won when the forts sacre. Before the morning, this force, the floiver of the Chi- escaped never reappearn,g as an organised body. It i, esti- mated Aat from .,000 to 4,000 men were skin, with hou- sands .f horses and bulls, *e cavalry being li.e ally mow„ dow. hundreds, and lying, „,„ ,„d hoL, heap'ed .. to scribed ,h ^°''"'' ""'° "^^ *"= «"« ''^k' later, de sc bed the scene even then as one of " indescribable horror " St,l there were " mounds " of men and horses stiffened in the from the ^Ue above them. There were blackened corpses in hund^ds ly,ng along the Peking ro>.d, ditches filled up wi h bod.es of men and animals, fields sprinkled with the,!, and nfl s, muskets, paper umbrellas, fans, coats, hat,, word, could be cast away „ a desperate High, strewing the ground. <: ~il 3'8 Korea and Her Neighbors Numbers of the wounded crept into the deserted houses and died there, some of the bodies showing indications of suicide from agony, and throughout this mass of human relics which lay blackening and festering in the hot sun, dogs, left behind by their owners, were holding high carnival. Even in my walks over the battlefield, though the grain of another year had ripened upon it, I saw human skulls, spines with ribs, spines with the pelvis attached, arms and hands, h; ;, belts, and scabbards. On a lofty knoll within the wall, the Japanese have erected a fine monolith to the memory of the i68 men they lost. They turned the temple of the God of War into a hospital, and there, cela va sans dire, their wounded were admirably treated, and in another building the Chinese wounded were carefully attended to, though naturally not till many of them had died of their wounds on the battlefield. A ghastly ret- ribution followed the neglect to bury the Chinese dead, for typhus fever broke out, and its ravages among the Japanese troops may be partially estimated by the long lines of graves in the military cemetery at Chemulpo. Outside the wall, in beautifully broken ground, roughly wooded with the Pinus sinensis, there are still bullets in the branches, many of which were splintered by the iron hail, and the temple at the tomb of Kit-ze, the founder of Korean civ- ilization, must have been the centre of a deadly fight, for its woodwork is riddled with bullets and damaged by shell, and on its floor are great dark stains, where, when the fight was over, the Japanese wounded lay in pools of blood. At some points, specially at the mud forts by the ferry, the Chinese made a very determined stand for ten hours, so that the Japanese troops wavered, and were only recovered by a gallant dash made by General Oshima. Probably the battle of Phyong-yang decided the fate of the campaign. Mr. Yi found an old book in eighteen vols, for sale, which gives a history of this city. Most Korean matters are lost in 1 • (a . i houses and ns of suicide relics wliich , left behind Even in my mother year !s with ribs, , ha s, belts, have erected n they lost, o a hospital, e admirably ounded were any of them . ghastly ret- se dead, for he Japanese les of graves nd, roughly lullets in the on hail, and Korean civ- fight, for its >y shell, and he fight was le ferry, the 3urs, so that overed by a ly the battle sale, which s are lost in w N O a o ft! < < i m4 I' «fi The Phyong-yang Battlefield 319 obscurity after one or two centuries, but the story of Phyong- yang takes a bold baclcward leap and deals fearlessly with the events of centur.es .. c. Kit-ze, whose fine reputed tomb lul mples an the wood are still regarded with so Lch reverence that a stone tablet on the road below warns equestrians to dis- mount in passing so sacred a place, and who is said to have emigrated from China in „.3 B.c.,and to have founded a dynasty which lasted for seven centuries, made Phyong-yang hiscapral T^ie temple at his reputed grave, though Kf la t he" '" ''""'f ' "P"'^' ^"'^ ''' ^'^^ ^--^'ons have lately been renovated, a phenomenon in Korea. Near the citv •1. .' .Tu"\^. °^ ^'"'^ "measurement which he introduced •Uus rated by ditches and paths cut, it is said, by himse'r ' Ihe tenyle to the God of War at the foot of the hill is per- haps the finest in Korea. Frescoes, as in the temple to the me god outside the South Gate of Seoul, but on a far grande vard.' ZV ■'''''' '' *'^ ^°"'"^°^^ '' -« or the court- yards, and he gigantic figures round the altar, with the sacri- ficial utensils, hangings, and dresses, are costly and mag'fi. molted;: ' '"" '''' '' ' '^'^^ ^"^ -'^^^y «"<^^^t CHAPTER XXVn NORTHWARD HO I FOR the northern journey simple preparations only were needed, consisting of the purchase of candles and two blankets for Im, in having two pheasants cooked, in dispens- ing with one pony, leaving us the moderate allowance of two baggage animals, and in depositing most of my money with Mr. Moffett. For there were rumors of robbers on the road, and Mr. Yi left his fine clothes and elegant travelling gear also behind. On a brilliant morning (and when are Korean mornings not brilliant?), passing through the gate out of which General Tso made his last sally, and down the steep declivity on which it opens, we travelled for a time along the An Ju road, skirting the base of the hill on which the C) inese cavalry made their desperate attack on an intrenched position, and near the ruins of two intrenched camps, where they fell in hundreds before the merciless fire of the enemy, and where human bones were still lying about. But where Death reaped that ghastly harvest magnificent grain crops had recently been secured, and the mellow sunlight shone on miles of stubble. Shortly we turned off on a road untouched by the havoc of war, and saw no more of the gaunt ruins or charred remains of cottages. In that pleasant region ranges of hills with pines on their lower slopes girdle valleys of rich stoneless alluvium, producing abundantly cotton, tobacco, caster oil, wheat, barley, peas, beans, and most especially, the red and white millet. Wherever a lateral valley descends upon the one through which the road passes, there is a village of thatched 330 • i| Northward Ho 321 houses, pretty enough at a distarice and embowered in fruit trees, while dumps of pines, oaks. elms, and zelka as denote the bur,al places of its dead, who are (he guardians of theonly fine timber which is suffered ■ st. The hamlets along the re .re cheerfully busy. Millet was stacked in the village roa. , .ys. leaving only room for one laden animal to pass at a time, and as all the threshing? of rice and grain ,s done with double flails also in the village street one actually rides over the threshed product. The red or arge millet is nearly as useful to the Korean as is the bamboo o the Chinese. Its stalks furnish fuel, material for mats and hick woven fences, and even for houses, for in Phyong-an Do the wahs are formed of bundles of millet stalks 8 feet high for ZVZ^a' '"°u ""^''^ ^i"gJe stalks are laid, the interstices oeing filled up with mud. After two days of somewhat monotonous prettiness. beyond Shou-yang-yi the country became really beautiful. Some of the larger valleys were specially attractive, with abundance of fru. and other deciduous trees below the dark /'/.m sinensis on the hill slopes, and there were plenty of large villages with a general look of prosperity, everything, clothing included, being much cleaner than usual. There were fine views of My dog-tooth peaks, and of serrated ranges running east and ZL ^y.'^'lV"7 ''"'^ ^'' ''' ^^'Sht. rapid stream, on which the hills descend on one side in abrupt and much caverned imestone cliffs, the other side being level and fertile. The people there, and doubtless everywhere, were taken up entirely with their own concerns, the new system of taxation under which a fixed tax in money is levied on the assessed value of the land meeting with their approval. Events in Seoul had no interest for them. The recent murder of the (^ueen and the imprisonment of the King did not concern them, as there were no effects of either on their circumstances. After crossing the pass of Miriok Yang, 816 feet in altitude, in a romantic region, we entered poorer country with stony soil, 11 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / :/ ,* A^' it v^ 1.0 v^ 1.1 u IK la |3j2 140 2^ 2.2 11.25 iu 1^ 1.8 1.6 ISOmm 6' >4PPLIED^ IN/MGE . Inc jsst t653 East Main Street JS= r^ Roctiaster. NY 14609 USA JSSTjS Phone: 716/482-0300 _ Fax: 716/288-5989 e 1093. ApfXMK) liruga, Inc . All Rignii RM*rv«d •^A^ ,\ ^. i>^ <> .Ah mountains which Une the Tai-dong till within a mile of Tok Chhon, forcing the o c I < H 0!! U a, a. Northward Ho! 325 ponies to climb worn rock-Iari,i»ro ^- » among sharp-pointed rk, hi'/ ° f"^ ' ^'"°"' ^^^ double . r„r „,*robbe« ""r?."'' '""•^"' '"'■""l b/ 'Le ponies, ye,m;l : Xve a:jf °:'™"' ""'""' ">" "" Tolt ri,i •• r '^ ' ^"° ^y 'he time we reached tl,«. i;; Mt\':ZbVrrr r ""■■• '"" ''-'—' white, and b„lU in rS ''^' '"" " '"'■^"' "«" i" >«.>..i'M niX't^,e""f r :: :: -"r -t r* • s^biirriT'^"'-""-'"^^^^^^^^^^^^ of .he toZ .,e Th.r'T'""'''''^'''''-'' "here tbeinna crowd a coTecJ and in -,' '"°?""«"' ^ «'"' "=-"""« «i.h .he load smi or?K ' ■""''"' °^ '' ""« "■" ""A'- rushing hi ?a„d bUhe I i '"'"'!' "«'"« "' '"««' ""d to refuse/ ac.:„r,t ' J "e:: Xr b°d "b!' "^^ ■*'" chh'an b^h;"S;ct;b::.t;i;::;:';re''atd?°' "an. .0 be •• implicated with a foLner "iTZ u ""' i^irie " ' ""=' -''-'-"'^ •°^- oLt^fire^;;;! 1 1 3^6 Korea and Her Neighbors chink for a moment, our men rushed for it, but it was at once barred, and we were all again left standing in the street, the centre of a crowd which increased every moment Our men eventually forced open the door of one inn and got the.r pomes m. Then the paper was torn off two doors, and Im was visible against the light from within tearing about I.ke a black d^mon. We had then stood like statues for two hours with our feet in freezing slush, the great crowd preserv- ing a ring round us, staring stolidly, but not showing any hos- t.I.ty. At last Im appeared at an open door, waving my chair, and we got into a high, dark lumber-room ; but the crowd was too quick for us, and ( ame tumbling in behind us till the place was full. Then the landlord closed the doors, but they were smashed m, and he had no better luck when he weakly be- sought the people to look at him and not at the stranger, for his entreaty only produced an ebullition of Korean wit, by no means complimentary. An official from the yanun arrived and inquired if I had any complaint to make, but I had none, and he sat down and took a prolonged stare on his own ac' count, not making any attempt to disperse the crowd So I sat facing the door, Mr. Yi not far off smoking endless cigarettes while Im battled for a room, after one he had se- cured had Its doors broken down by the crowd. I sat for two hours longer in that cold, ruinous, miserable place, two front and three back doorways filled up with men, the whole male population of Tok Chhon, and, never moved a muscle or howed any sign of dissatisfaction I Some sat on the doorsill, 1. tie men were on the shoulders of big ones, all, inside and outside, clamoring at once. The situation might have been serious had a European man been with me. and the experiences of Mr. Campbell of the Consular Service, at Kapsan might have been repeated. No Englishman could have kept his temper in such circumstances from 8 r. M. till midnight. He would certainly have knocked somebody down, and then there would have been a fight. The North ward Ho! 327 ccedcd all bound, that night. Fortunately for me. a Korea'. genUemnn ,s taught from hi, earliest boyhood that he must never lose h.» temper, and that it is a degradation to him to touch an inferior, therefore he must never strike a «.rvant or one of the lower orders. fnA*i '"''^"?'''' ^'"'"'^'y ""'"^ °^ °"'" P^'^'^X' «"d anxious for sleep the mn people consented to give me a room in the back-yard .f I d.d not object to one "prepared for sacrifice " «.,d contaming the ancestral tablet,. The crowd then f.lkd he back-yard, and attempted to pour into my room, when l^i hTv' r^ ^"'T' ^''' ^^y '■°^ °"'y »he second time, and he knocked people down right and left. This, and the help.«d to matter the crowd, but it was there again at daylight attempting to enter every time Im opened the door I b,r 'VrT T''"''^ ^°' ''"'■^'"" '■" ^''P^^* was a small barn, fearfully d.rty and littered with rubbish, and bundles of Ind rX; '"i '^"^l T' '"''^''' ''''y "-"""e the beams 1 h. f 7. ^ """"^y '"* •' '''^^''>^ '■" ''^'f- I" the in- ner half th.re was a dusty table, and behind it or bhck s and a dusty black shrine, at the back of which was a Cr leaved screen covered with long strips of paper, on which were poems .n pra.se of the deceased. In fron^^v^ding th rZ two widths of very dirty foreign calico. Among the poor in- stead of setting food before the ancestral shrine fwice ^hr ce daily during the three yea,^ of mourning for a parem i I t°abfet' Th n^th^ h^- " ' "'""'^- '" ^^ -" ^^^^^^^ the third soul of the deceased, as I have mentioned before I spent two days at Tok ChhcJn. Properly speaking 'the Taidong ,s never navigable to that point, owing tTmany and dangerous rapids, and any idea of the po^ibilit/of t^is highly P-cturesqe stream becoming ... great commercial highway'' I f m 328 Korea and Her Neighbors may be utterly dismissed. Small boats can ascend it at all J.«on. to Mou-chin Tai. about .40 // lower down a"', ,, i g two summer months, when the water is high, a few with much d fficulty get up to Tok ChhOn. and even a few // fartherrand •t the same season rafts descend from the forests of the Yun«. rap.ds. shallow, and sandbanks which shift contfnually. the r ver .s not really navigable higher than Phyong-yang. and .11 commercial theories built upon it are totally chimerical ban below, the perpendicular walls of limestone rock rising X oTwhi';°" '' ""', '°''^ "'°""^^'"» ^»"- 'hem. the peaks of which, even so early as the end of November were crested w.th new-fallen snow. I had been assured in Phy6nT yang that ^ats could be hired at Tok ChhSn. and I had planned to descend the river; but there are no liats. except a few ferry scows, higher than Mou-chin Tai. Tok ChhSn and its district are lamentably poor The people sa,d that the war had made the necL^ of Hfe «>.rth h!i T uT' ''^'''^ '""^^ **^'"» '^"'i<^^ «"t farther south had not reached that region, and "squeezing" was st.l carr.^ on by the officials. Rice, the ordinary staff of Kc re " •fe. .s brought from An Ju. but is used only bv the rich !> ato<: and whea?' "^^ ""k^" '"^^ ^^' '-" -"^^ P- wan-sin A t^;!; f"'' '^' ^"' ^^^'^'^^' '» ^-'-th W5n-san. A few s.lk lenos and gauzes of very poor quality are made, the mdustry having been introduced b^rCh . e Th^e 71 "': '"'^ ' '"^ ''''' ^^^^" '^'^ «t Phyong ; „g luTeTv Tn ^ !. T^ '' '^'y *^^°"«'^^- The country is abso- the region owes .ts few groves of dwarfed and distorted pin« f North war.I Ho J 3-^9 to the honw^shoe grave, on the hillsi,l«, a on y ha;,gs together from force (,f S , C T'"'" ^''"^'' ncr, lined the river-bank by the^rrv m ' 7' """"■ ^^\ in black ga..e coats over the 'iviwt""' "'?' '''''' •ng-ng girls met his chair and ran with I,."'"' ""' ' '^" fe*v men hooked on apatheiical v A '''''^'""^"' «"d a could not be imagined ^' """'^ '^1"^''^' «"""« - that time 44 ^listri.l., , .r^thT""' ''^^'^^ ^"* 400 men each, whose sole HnfJ ! "'"'^"^e staff of -"ecting, th^ir Cd a on ' ThTJ'T ?' '^""'^^ ^"^ '-- month, costing ^39^00 a 'ea,. Th "'^ '7 'T'" ^^ "ot receiving a "living wL " ''.,111 if '''^°° '"^"' coimt the peasant who .„ v . '''"*^^<^^ on its own ac- 'eg«. except th t 'o/ bei ^ thr, •" '""'" "■^'''' "^ P-'" t-ion ofL n^ethods ;„; t?r"^% ^-" '"- vHape in a southern province tIi^ . ^"' "'" '^^^^ °^ ^ and the Provincial T "0, J eTt^ P"'" ^^ -quired, on every house. The .1 mn » /^T-'S't'on of ,00 r«./i his runners to 250, which las f 'I T """"'' '"' ^° -°' ^"^ runners getting o I^ thl 1 ? ^ '"^' '^^ "'^ P^"P'^' »''* 'oo. a FTtion of Sh L ' "'' "°' '"^ ''^'^ ^^^^""^ which it was levied An 7r^7 rT ."T^'^ °" *''*^ ^^i'^^ ^or -^"clng the sabrles o maS;! :ef:r'''^"^"^«"-'-d b-ildings. and the fiUh ;.' I^' ."'"/"u' ''^^>' °^ ^'^-'^J <=0"ld go no farther ^"''"' "'^ '^' P''^''^' d^vellings, 'My autI.ority for this statement is Mr W K r„ 1 r M. 8 Vice-consul in Korea. ^'^'*^''' formeriy II.B. CHAPTER XXVIII OVER THE AN KIL VUNO PASS pINDING the Tai-clang totally in.practicable. .nd being wans a T/''""«T:' ''^ '"' ' ^'^^^'^'^""^ turned J.h! wards, and journeyed Seoul-wards by another ro.ite of mt.rJ, njter.e.^which touches here and the^re the r^grL^oTrhe ZtllcLr y"^'"^-^ «'««'"g. -rounded by an n'tv tV 'fe^K^ o^n-mouthed crowd steeped •n poverty, I felt Korea to l,e hopeless, helpless Diliahl,. p.teons. a mere shuttlecock of certain great llZ' a d t» ai here „ no hope for her ^pulation of tlelveT o 'rte „ mU I ons, unless .t is taken in hand by Ru^ia, under whorri g.v.ng secunty for the ,ains of industry a well asTghUaxa t.on I had seen Koreans in hundreds iransformed into „e gehc thr.v,ng. peasant farmers in Eastern Sil>eria. The road, which was said, and truly, to be a very bad one cro«,es a small plain, and passing under a roofed gateway SI' running east and west, enters upon really fine scenery which g^2Tb2"'wh " ''"-^'"'^ ^° "' " '^' « ^-'^ '"--'^" girniecl basin, whose rim is spotted with large villaues and ZaTtt r ' "7' '"°""^"'"' °^^'"P'-"*^ forms.'^wing- ^apm a imes, and revealing loftier peaks and ranges then glittering with new-fallen snow. ^ In crossing the plain at a point where the road was good I 330 ' ■■HMte. >nd being ing of the led south* of much nk of the and end- d by an 1 steeped pitiable, And that teen mil- ose rule, ;ht taxa- ito ener- Jad one, • way be- ficationi , which 5untain- 5es, and prpnla- , swing- [es then g:ood, I i i II in iii III Over the An-kil Yung Pass 331 was remarking to Mr. Yi what a pleasant and prosperous journey we had had, and hoping our good fortune might con- tinue, when there was a sudden clash and flurry, I was nearly kicked off my pony, and in a moment we were in the midst of disaster. One baggage pony was on his back on his load, pawing the air in the middle of a ploughed field, his mafu helpless for the time, lamed by a kick above the knee, sobbing, blood and tears running down his face; the other baggage animal, having divested himself of Im, was kicking off the rest of his load ; and Im, who had been thrown from the top of the pack, was sitting or Mie roadside, evidently in intense pain— all the work of a m. ..ent. Mr. Yi called to me that the soldier had broken his ankle, and it was a great relief when he rose and walked towards me. Everything breakable was broken except my photographic camera, which I did not look at for two days for fear of what I might find I Leaving the men to get the loads and ponies together, we walked on to a hamlet so destitute as not to be able to provide either wood or wadding for a splint ! I picked up a thick faggot, however, which had been dropped from a load, and it was thinned into being usable with a hatchet, the only tool the village possessed, and after pad.iing it with a pair of stock- ings and making a six-yard bandage out of a cotton garment, I put up Im's right arm, which was broken just above the wrist, in splints, and made a sling out of one of the two towels which the rats had left to me. I should have been gUd to know Korean enough to rate the gossiping mapu, three men to two horses, who allowed the accident to happen. The animals always fi£,ht if they are left to themselves, and loads and riders are nowhere. One day Mr. Yi had a bit of a finger taken off in a fight, and if a strange brute had not kicked my stirrup iron (which was bent by the blow) instead of myself, I should have had a broken ankle. When we hailed at midday the villagers tried hard to induce Im to have his arm "needled" to "let out the bad blood," a most risky \ . •> liil ill 332 Korea and Her Neighbors surgical proceeding, which often destroys the usefulness of a limb for life, and he was anxious for it, but yielded to persua- sion. Being delayed by this accident, it was late when we started to cross the pass of An-kil Yung, regarded as " the most dan- gerous in Korea,;' owing to its liability to sudden fogs and violent storms, 3,346 feet in altitude, and said to be no li long. The infamous path traverses a wild rocky glen with an impetuous torrent at its bottom, and only a few wretched hamlets, in which the hovels are indistinguishable from the millet and brushwood stacks, along its length of several miles. Poverty, limiting the people to the barest necessaries of life, is the lot of the peasant in that region, but I believe that his dirty and squalid habits give an impression of want which does not actually exist. I doubt much whether any Koreans are un- able to provide themselves with two daily meals of millet, with clothes sufficient for decency in summer and for warmth in winter, and with fuel (grass, leaves, twigs, and weeds) enough to keep their miserable rooms at a temperature of 70° and more by means of the hot floor. To the west the valley is absolutely closed in by a wall of peaks. The bridle-path, a well-engineered road, when it ascends the very steep ridge of the watershed in many zigzags, rests for 100 feet, and descends the western side by seventy- five turns. Except in Tibet, I never saw so apparently insur- mountable an obstacle, but it does not present any real diffi- culty. The ascent took seventy minutes. Rain fell very heavily, btit the superb view to the northeast was scarcely ob- scured At the top, which is only 100 feet wide, there is a celebrated shrine to the daemon of the past. To him all travellers put up petitions for deliverance from the many malignant spirits who are waiting to injure them, and for a safe descent. The shrine contains many strips of paper in- scribed with the names of those who have made special pay- Over the An-kil Yung Pass 333 raents for special prayers, and a few wreaths and posies of faded paper flowers. The woman who lives in the one hovel on the pass makes a good living by receiving money from travellers, who offer rice cakes and desire prayers The worship is nearly all dune by proxy, and the rice cakes do duty any number of times. Besides the shrine and a one-rooomed hovel, there are some open sheds made of millet stalks to give shelter during storms he An-kil Yung pass is blocked by snow for three months of the year, but at other times is much used in spite of its great height. Excellent potatoes are grown on the mountain slopes at an altitude exceeding 3,000 feet, and round Tok ChhSn they are largely cultivated and enter into the diet of the peo- pie, never having had the disease. Darkness came on prematurely with the heavy rain, and we asked the shnne-keeper to give us shelter for the night, but she said that to take in six men and a foreign woman was irapos- 81b e, as she had only one room. But it was equally impos- _ sible for us to descend the pass in the darkness with tirTd pomes and after half an hour's altercation the matter was ar- ranged, Im who retained his wits, securing for me a degree of privacy by hanging some heavy mats from a beam, giving me. I am sure, the lion's share of the apartment. Really the accommodation was not much worse than usual, but though the mercury fell to the freezing point, the hot floor kept the ins.de temperature up to 83°, and the dread of tigers on the part of my hostess forbade my having even a chink of the door open ! The rain cleared off in time for the last sunset gleam on the distant mountains, which, when darkness fell on the pass burned fiery red against a strip of pale green sky, taking on afterwards one by one the ashy look of death as the light died off from their snows. All about An-kil Yung the mountains are wooded to their summits with deciduous trees, the ubiqui- tous Ptnus sinensis being rare; but to the northward in the III: ■Ul 334 Korea and Her Neighbors direciion of Paik-tu San the character of the scenery changes, and peaks and precipices of naked rock, and lofty mouptain monoliths, with snow-crowned ranges beyond, form by far the grandest view that I saw in this land of hill and valley. Then Im had to be attended to, and though I was very anxious about him, I could not be blind to the picturesqueness of the scene in the hovel, Mr. Yi sitting in my chair holding the candle, the soldier, with his face puckered with pain, squatting on the floor with his swollen arm lying on a writing board on ray lap, and no room to move. I failed there as elsewhere to get a better piece of wood for the splint, which was too short, and I could only get wadding for padding it by taking some out of Im's sleeve, and all the time and after- wards I was very anxious for fear that I had put the bandage on too tightly or too loosely, and that my want of experience would give the poor fellow a useless right arm. He was in severe pain all that night, but he was very plucky about it, made no fuss, and never allowed me to suffer in the slightest degree from his accident. Indeed, he was even more attentive than before. He said to Mr. Yi, " The foreign woman looked so sorry, and touched my arm as if I had been one of her own people, I shall do my best "—and so he did. I had indulged in a long perspective of pheasant curries, and I must confess that when the prospect faded I felt a little dismal. To a traveller who carries no " foreign food," it makes a great dif- ference to get a nice, hot, stimulating dish (even though it is served in the pot it is cooked in) after a ten hours' cold ride. To my surprise, I was never without curry for dinner, and though before the accident I had only cold rice for tiffin, after it I was never without something hot. The descent of An-kil Yung is very grand. The road leads into a wide valley with a fine stream, one side of which looks as if the mountains had dumped down all their available stones upon it, while the other is rich alluvial soil. Gold washing is carried on to a great extent along this stream. Over the An-kil Yunn Pass 335 wluch « a tributary of the Tai-dGng. and some of the work- ings show more care and method than usual, being pits .^ea "v Uned wuh stone In their upper parts. Eighly cen^^r day is the average earning of a gold-seeker there. This valley te mmatesin pretty broken country, with fine mouL X and p.c uresque cliffs along the river, on which the dark b^; g oom of p,nes was lighted by the fading scarlet of the ma^ a^Ki cnmson streaks of the ^,.;../.^./, r^mu brightened he ru«^t mto which the countless trailers which dra^ e rocks had passed. The increased fertility of the soil Ta noted by the number of villages and hamle's on the rLd a^ foot passengers in twos and threes gave something of Uf; and vera^^l'Uen^^h^ - remarkable that so soon aLr t;l\\"r vest, and when the roads were in their best condition there were no goods in transit except such local productions as'ppr and tobacco-no strings of porter, .r ponies carrying goods no the -tenor from Phyong-yang, no evidence of tr!debu that given by the pedlars going the round of the market places ■ J J T 7' '"' ^•""'^^^^ "^- the villages here are the be hef that they will guard the inhabitants from cholera and o her pestilences. On that day's journey, at a cTos road a small ,og with several holes like those of a mouLra^^^^^^^^ o^ them plugged doubly with bungs of wood, wa y n^; I path, and the mapu were careful to step over it and lead h r ponies over it though it might easily have been a oided I to the bunged hole the '«/-/a«^ or sorceress by her arts had 1 the log. At nightfall it^izr Ti^tXnrsS::: through extremely attractive country-small v.iw k r rich stoneless soil, with brown hamll^ n^ ^ d'Z: 22r"'f''''''^ '°''^ °' '^'"^' -^""-'^ though not high a e shapely, and were etherealized into purple beautv Z hT T a^g sun, Which turned the lake-like '..t'lfZtt^Ci If IHiil ti) 33^ Korea and Her Neighbors Mou-chin Tai, the beautifully situated halting-place for the night, into a sheet of gold. With a splendid climate, an abundant, but not superabun- dant, i-ainfall, a fertile soil, a measure of freedom from civil war and robber bands, the Koreans ought to be a happy and fairly prosperous people. If " squeezing," ^«;,;.« runners and their exactions, and certain malign practices of officials can be put down with a strong hand, and the land tax is fairly levied and collected, and hw becomes an agent for protection rather tlian an instrument of injustice, I see no reason why the Korean peasant should not be as happy and industrious as the Japanese peasant. But these are great " ifs " ! Secun/y for the gains of industry, from whatever quarter it comes, will 1 believe, transform the limp, apathetic native. Such ameliora- tions as have been made are owed to Japan, but she had not a free hand, and she was too inexperienced in the r6le which :Uidertook fand I believe honestly) to play, to produce a hairaonious working scheme of reform. Besides, the men through whom any such scheme must be carried out are nearly universally corrupt both by tradition and habit. Reform was jerky and piecemeal, and Japan irritated the people by med- dlesomeness in smai; matters and suggested interferences with national habits, giving the impression, which 1 found prevail- ing everywhere, that her object is to denationalize the Koreans for purposes of her own. Travellers are much impressed with the laziness of the Ko- reans but after seeing their energy and industry in Russian Manchur.a, their thrift, and the abundant and comfortable furnishings of their houses, I greatly doubt whether it is to be regarded as a matter of temperament. Every man in Korea knows that poverty is his best security, and that anything he possesses beyond that which provides himself and his family with food and clothing is certain to be taken from him by vo- racious and corrupt officials. It is only when the exactions of officials become absolutely intolerable and encroach upon his Over the An-kil Yung Pass 337 ineans of providing the necessaries of life that he resorts to the only method of redress in his po^er. which has a so of counterpart in China. This consists in driving out, and ^a o . as ,n a case wh.ch lately gained much notoriety, roast i J h.s favor.te secretary on a wood pile. The popular outburst though under unusual provocation it may culminate in de :ix^;ttesr ""' ' -^-"'^ ^^--^^^ - '^«^^' -^ ^- ortrrbZ'I'h '"°'^'' °^ ?"'"'"« ^'' ^^"-"^ '^b°^' doubling or treblng the amount of a legitimate tax, exacting bribes in cases of ht.gat.on. forced loans, etc. If a man is reported o have saved a l.ttle money, an official asks for the loan of i^ merest .f ,t ,s refused, he is arrested, thrown into prison on some cha^ge .nvented for his destruction, and beaten unti^ either he or his relations for him produce the sum demanded Wa w^ 'T "'^ ''''' '^"^^"^^ --^d' thaUn Nor itn Korea, where the winters are fairly severe, the peasants when he harvest has left them with a few thousand S^p t rhem ma hole m the ground, and pour water into it, he frozen III ' 11 i CHAPTER XXIX SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN MOU-CHIN TAI is a beautifully situated village, and has something of a look of comfort. Up to that point small boats can come up at all seasons, but there is almost no trade. The Tai-dong expands into a broad sheet of water, on which the hills descend abruptly. There is a ferry, and we drove our ponies into the ferryboat and yelled for the ferry- man. After a time he appeared on the top of the bank, but absolutely declined to take us over "for any money." He would have "nothing so do with a foreigner," he said, and he would not be " implicated with a Japanese " ! So we put ourselves across, and the mapu were so angry that they threw his poles into the river. Passing through very pretty country, and twice crossing the Tai-dong, we halted at the town of Sun-chhon, a magistracy with a deplorably ruinous ^'aw^w. All these official buildings have seen better days. Their courts are spacious, and the double-roofed gateways, with their drum towers, as well as the central hall of the yamen, still retain a certain look of stateli- ness, though paint, lacquer, and gilding have long ago disap- peared from the elaborately arranged beams and carved wood of the roofs, and the fretwork screening the interiors is always shabby and broken. About the Sun-chhon yamen, and all others, there are crowds of " runners," writers, soldiers in coarse ragged uniforms, young men of X\-\q yangban class in spotless white garments, lounging, or walking with the swinging gait befitting their position, while the decayed and forlorn rooms in the courtyard are filled with 338 Social Position of Women 339 petty officials, smoking long pipes and playing cards. To judge from the crowds of aiten.lants, the walking hither and thither the hurry.ng ,n varions directions with manuscripts, and the dm of drums and fifes when the great gate is opened and closed, one would think that nothing less than the business of an em- pire was transacted within the ruinous portals. Soldiers, s^xhtxs, yamen runners, and men "of ihfi yan^-dan and literary classes combined with the loafers of the town to compose a crowd which by its buzzing and shouting, and tear- .ng off the paper from my latticed door, gave me a fatiguing and hideous two hours, a Korean crowd being only ««bearable when ,t ,s led by men of the literary class, who. as in China, ■ndulge in every sort of vulgar impertinence. Eventually I was smuggled into the women's apartments, where I was vic- timized in other ways by insatiable curiosity The women of the lower classes in Korea are ill-bred and unmannerly, far removed from the gracefulness of the same Class in Japan or the reticence and kindliness of the Chinese peasant women. Their clothing is extremely dirty, as if the men had a monopoly of their ceaseless laundry work, which everywhere goes on far into the night. Every brookside has ts aundresses squatting on flat stones, dipping the soiled clothes in the water, ay.ng them on flat stones in tightly rolled bundles and beating them with flat paddles, a previous process consist- ing of steeping them in a ley made of wood ashes. Bleached under the brilliant sun and very slightly glazed with rice starch, after being beaten for a length of time with short quick taps on whrtV r r'';.,^'"^-^'-P-l "'-"dry sticks.- common whiteness which always reminds me of St. Mark's words con- cerning the raiment at the Transfiguration, - so as no fuller on earth can white them." This wearing of white clothes, and especially of white wadded clothes in winter, entails very severe and incessant labor on the women. The coats have to be un- picked and put together again each time that they are washed I ^ 340 Korea and Her Neighbors aiul though some of the long seams are often joined with paste there is till much sewing to be done. ^ ' Besides this the Korean jjeasant woman makes all the cloth- ike w hi. n h "'"""' ;'"' '" '^'' '^"^'^'"«' '^'"'''^ ^"d clean, nee with a heavy pestle and mortar, carries heavy loads to mar et on her head, draws water, in remote district! wots „ the fields, rises early and takes rest late, spins and weaves, and olthree ' '"'"' ^^''^'^''"' ^'^^ "' '''' '^^^"^^ ''" »»>^ ««« The peasant woman may be said to have no pleasures. She •s nothing but a drudge, till she can transfer some of the drudgery to her daughter-in-law. At thirty slie looks fifty I'lfrn' '"7; ^'■^^"^"^'y '°«thless. Even the love of personal adornment fades out of her life at a very early age. Heyond the daily routine of life it is probable that her thoughts ner s ray except to the demons, who are supposed to people earth and air, and whom it is her special duty to propitiate It IS reallydifficult to form a general estimate of the position of women in Korea. Absolute seclusion is the inflexible rule among the upper classes. The ladies have their own court- yards and apartments, towards which no windows from the men s apartments must look. No allusion must be made by a visitor to the females of the household. Inquiries after their health would be a gross breach of etiquette, and politeness^r quires that they should not be supposed to exist. Women do not receive any intellectual training, and in every class are re- garded as beings of a very inferior order. Nature having in tl e est.^ation o the Korean man. who holds a sort of dual plbsoph^ marked woman as his inferior, the Vo.^^s ^rmer H,stoncal Summaries, and the LittU Learning im- press this view upon him in the schools, and as he be^ n To m.x with men this estimate of women receives daily corrobora- The seclusion of women was introduced five centuries ago by the present dynasty, in a time of great social corruption, Social Position of Women 341 for the protection of the family, and has probably been con- tinued, not, as a Korean frankly told Mr. llcbcr Jones l*- cause men disuust their wives, but because they distrust each other, and with good reason, for the immorality of the cities and of the upper classes almost exceeds belief. Thus all yoimg women, and all older women except those of the lowest class are secluded within the inner courts of the houses by a custom which has more than the force of law. To go out suitably concealed at night, or on occasions when it is necessary to travel or to make a visit, in a rigidly closed chair, are the only outings -of a Korean woman of the middle and upper classes, and the low-class woman only goes out for purposes of The murdered Queen told me, in allusion to my own Korean journeys, that she knew nothing of Korea, or even of the cap- ital, except on the route of the Kur-dong, Daughters have been put to death by their fathers, wives by their husbands, and women have even committed suicide, ac- cordmg to Dallet, when strange men, whether by accident or de- sign, have even touched their hands, and quite lately a servinR- woman gave as her reason for remissness in attempting to save her mistress, who perished in a fire, that in the confusion a man had touched the lady, making her not worth saving 1 The law may not enter the women's apartments. A noble hiding himself in his wife's rooms cannot be seized for any crime except that of rebellion. A man wishing to repair his roof must notify his neighbors, lest by any chance he should see any of their women. After the age of seven, boys and girls part company, and the girls are rigidly secluded, seeing none of the male sex except their fathers and brothers until the date of marriage, after which they can only see their own and their husband's near male relations. Girl children, even among the very poor, are so successfully hidden away, that in somewhat extensive Korean journeys I never saw one girl who looked above the age of six, except hanging listlessly about in \ •HI 342 Korea and Her Neighbors .^Y .hough. Of o„r c,„;„„;;: ih^™; :: '^^z •ha. you, husband, do,,', care for you ve^ much '• I spring in ti.ese cases are under a serin,., J ,"'•. ^^'^ °^- jnm ,a.e, have .ee„ «c,„derf,:,Z:: Sir^^'.lo'r «a^,d. I. appears .ha. a philosophy largely ,•„,„„„ J frl ; . " "0 <'">"IJ' "«t .he Korean woman in ad ' - • ^ ~ " '"r^"""' ""^'^ ^ cer.ain d c1„,„e„c; She': .'t.'ct'rirh.T' °" '""°"' '"^" "•- '-• im un, .i,;^ r * °' --""arnage, and .ha. of remain- ■»g ....x. ..el ,., she ,s „x.een, and she can refuse permission Social Position of Women 343 to her husband for his concubines to occupy the same house with herself. She is powerless to divorce her husband, con- jugal fidelity, typified by the goose, the symbolic figure at a wedding, being a feminine virtue solely. Her husband may cast her off for seven reasons— incurable disease, theft, child- lessness, infidelity, jealo"isy, incompatibility with her parents- in-law, and a quarrelsome disposition. She may be sent back to her father's house for any one of these causes. It is be- lieved, however, that desertion is far more frequer t than divorce. By custom rather than law she has certain recog- nized rights, as to the control of children, redress in ( ise of damage, etc. Domestic happiness is a thing she does no look for. The Korean has a house, but no home. The husi and has his life apart; common ties of friendship and externa in- terest are not known. His pleasure is taken in company w th male acquaintances and gesang ; and the marriage relationship is briefiy summarized in the remark of a Korean gentleman in conversation with me on the subject, " We marry our wives, but we love our concubines." CHAPTER XXX EXORCISTS AND DANCING WOMEN nn,» ft,. ' *"^ ^'^Se Of curiosity was blunted and there was no mobbing The ni.nni^ ^. ^ a- .""^^^' coun, of .heir suffeHng. lo J^e^SLtf^^^:, 'roXd ? 1 Lh *' r™'"- ■^"^ Koreans deserwd, .hZh fright, the adjacent ferry village of Ou-Chin-Bans where f. Piously crowed the Tai-dang, and it was held'by ;, ChT The Japanese detachments were being withdrawn fmm t^ as if on parade and tlipJr ^ff;«„ ' marcned smartness"^ Wh „ 1' ,°d " h"' """""*" f"' '"='' thins readv ^^r. ^ , '''"""' "'=)■ f™" cold, •>«co.parati;:uifttbr"? leLrpr "^ *'• where I remained for six days Phyong-yang, nnc!!'ta,- , ta^r tTt' • ""' V™^" '^"^^" ^'-'"" "^ Phyong.yang a d ChemffrT' "'"'* "°"""^")' ''«"'«" point aVo„.*6: -lo^Tdln the T^'h""' ™ '"" ''°-=^"' => too shallow and full of c^,^ f' '"'"'«• "''"'^'> ^''o™ ''' « . ""O '"" of sandbanks for vessek of an,, j l necessitating the transhipment of -11 Zh.,'^ ""S""' innks of small tonnage."^ Tl°wT " '■°"«'" "^ ''^ between Po-san and PI ■• ' °"'''"' "" telegraph steamer ar, v^ e ceorwTf '""'*' "" "'" ''""' ""'" ''^ only rematne a e? 1 r:r'"' "!"■"" ™"' """ ^'- was agitated by the fir of ' 1„ l ^^ ™" ""''''■""e>""'« -..a„d,j„ey\srtUr:eper-s:::^^^^^^ If] f 34^ Korea and Her Neighbors Korean post, and the Japanese military post and telegraph of- fice absolutely refused to carry messages or letters for civilians Wild rumors, of which there were a goodly crop every hour were the substitute for news. ' A subject of special interest and inquiry at Phyong-yang was mission work as carried on by American missionaries. At Seoul u ,s far more difficult to get into touch with it, as, being older, It has naturally more of religious conventionality. But I will take this opportunity of saying that longer and more in- timate acquaintance only confirmed the high opinion I early formed of the large body of missionaries in Seoul, of their earnestness and devotion to their work, of the energetic, hope- ful, and patient spirit in which it is carried on, of the harmony prevailing among the different denominations, and the cordial and sympathetic feeling towards the Koreans. The interest of many of the missionaries in Korean history, folklore, and cus- toms, as evidenced by the pages of the valuable monthly, the ^or^an Repository, is also very admirable, and a traveller in Korea must apply to them for information vainly sought else, where. Christian missions were unsuccessful in Phyong-yang. It was a very rich and very immoral city. More than once it turned out some of the missionaries, and rejected Christianity with much hostility. Strong antagonism prevp.iled, the city was thronged with gesang, courtesans, and sorcerers, and was notorious for its wealth and infamy. The Methodist Mission was broken up for a time, and in six years the Presbyterians only numbered 28 converts. Then came the war, the destruc- tion of Phyong-yang, its desertion by its inhabitants, the ruin of Its trade, the reduction of its population from 60,000 or 70,000 to 15,000, and the flight of the few Christians. Since the war there had been a very great change. There had been 28 baptisms, and some of the most notorious evil livers among the middle classes, men shunned by other men for their exceeding wickedness, were leading pure and right- Exorcists and Dancing Women 347 eous lives. There were 140 catechumens under instruction, and subject to a long period of probation before receiving bap- tism, and the temporary church, though enlarged during my absence, was so overcrowded that many of tiie worshippers were compelled to remain outside. The offertories were lib- eral.i In the dilapidated extra-mural premises occupied by the missionaries, thirty men were living for twenty-one days, two from each of fifteen villages, all convinced of the truth of Christianity, and earnestly receiving instruction in Christian fact and doctrine. They were studying for six hours daily with teachers, and for a far longer time amongst themselves, and had meetings for prayer, singing, and informal talk each evening. I attended three of these, and as Mr. Moffett inter- preted for me, I was placed in touch with much of what was unusual and interesting, and learned more of missions in their earlier stage than anywhere else. Besides the thirty men from the villages, the Christians and catechumens from the city crowded the room and doorways. Iwo missionaries sat on the floor at one end of the room with a kerosene lamp mounted securely on two wooden pillows in front of them— then there were a few candles on the floor, centres of closely-packed groups. Hymns were howled in many keys to familiar tunes, several Koreans prayed, bowing their foreheads to the earth in reverence, after which some gave accounts of how the Gospel reached their villages, chiefly through visits from the few Phyong-yang Christians, who were "scattered abroad," and then two men, who seemed 'The Seoul C/irisfian JVe.os, a paper recently started, gave its readers an account of the Indian famine, with the resuh that the Christians in the magistracy of Chang-yang raised among themselves ^84 for the sufferers in a land they had hardly heard of, some of the women sending their solid silver rings to be turned into cas/,. In Seoul the native Presbyterian churches gave ji!6o to the same fund, of which ;S20 were collected by a new congregation organized entirely by Koreans. I am under the im- pression that the liberality of the Korean Christians in proportion to their means far exceeds our own. ni ) ', I it] nil 348 Korea and Her Neighbors spirit" were^diur"d' „\:"'„' l''7:!' ^"f ""' "■^ "fo"' that the men Irembled ,J, J ?. ^"" '° ""^ <>«. =nd never .„ ^uranf. Ctt^ltclt at '""= I^" ''""■ many who saw them. Christians, along with .0 tf foraS ret '"■" '?'""' "'"^«« °- ='"-°™ another got upTd^^ :tr:?„U^:orpr^^^^^ °"' f " come to his village and l,»^ . u ? Phfong.yang had "icked and f Jisf to 1 , J ™ """ "'^'' ^'^ '""h wrongdoer, ard", .he^^-.tT^^rH" "" '"'^ ""' wrongdoing, but that H,7. , "^"™' "'"' Hs« ".ey'did tttrwt' o^h:;"r z f""- ^^v'" Z'ZXr" were meeting daii;;: ^l "p fT^: ^^ ^f how to worship the .1 God """' °°' '" «° """ ''^''' ">- A young man told how his father „„ i • . had met Mr. Moffett bvTh^ r! h"^' " "«'"'' ''^"^ "M- "some good ZT-LT u ' '"'' '"'"'"« '""" *'•'" "goodnC- "g^itnewsCdhT "''"« "= "^'^ "-«' .ha. he had becolTl CMstia, 'd r;*'"'""''^'"^"'' bad called his neighbor 3 'r.fu''' ^^"^ "'''■ ""<' would not rest till hisVo t had ^" *' ""^•" ^"1 made a good living LM ''"''' """'- "I"" had the instruTel o L Lr"''; "T ""' ^''" '"■ Moffett his life, but now he k Tw rta?;;;' '" "''"' '="'" O""' "» he was serving the tn,e gL " ' """ """«' 'P'""' -^ came" .0*;™:^™"" '""h "'""'' ^" ^'■-'- '-"■"« - -,.r:"s„r:ertt:rmr;ris Exorcists and Dancing Women 349 within and without by men, reverent and earnest in manner some o whom had been shunned for their wickele L e' "^ a cty the smoke of which " in her palmy days was a d " o go up hke the smoke of Sodom," but who, transformed bv a power outs.de themselves, were then leading exemp'y liv's inere were groups in the dark, groups round the candles o„ except that of poor, bewildered Im. One old man, with his forehead m the dust, prayed like a child that, a tl7e letter beanng to New York an earnest request for mor teac er 1 on US way.;, the wind and sea might waft it favorabt ' ' aTd that when U was read the eyes of the foreigners' mUt be opened "to see the sore need of people in a land Hrlll d^Therk!"?' '-' ^^^^^ ^" ^^"- ^" ^-'^' -^ - As I looked upon those lighted faces, wearing an expression rongly contrasting with the dull, dazed look ofapathy wh ch •s charactenstic of the Korean, it was impossible not to recof n.ze that u was the teaching of the Apostolic doctri es of s^^ judgmen to come, and divine love which had brought abou; such results, all the more remarkable because, according to the m.ss>onanes, a large majority gf those wh; had ren'o need d^mon worsh.p, and were living in the fear of the true God had been attracted to Christianity in the first instance by the same effect, confirm me in the opinion that when people talk of "nations craving for the Gospel," " stretching'out pleat "g hands for u " or "athirst for God," or "lonfing fo t he mng waters," they are using words which in that connect on have no meaning. That there are ''seekers after righeous ness" here and there I do not doubt, but 1 believe ^hlt the one " craving " of the far East is for money-tha ' nr st ' is only in the east a synonym for poverty, and that the spiritual instincts have yet to be created. spiritual •The American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. :;.« I hi i Ifff 350 Korea and Her Neighbors On the Sunday I went with Dr. Scranton of Seoul to the first regular service ever held for women in Ph>^ g-ya / There were a number present, all d^mon-worshippe f some of them attracted by the sight of a '- foreign woman.'' i .mposs.ble to have a formal service with people who had not tie most elementary .Ueas of God, of prayer' of'moTaC' a. d of good It was not possible to secure their attention Thev acted as a sort of spokeswoman said, " They thought perhans It l:'LT'^r; T "^ ""''''' 'VthemloXLTi: earliesutage ""'" "" " "'""" "°^^ " "^ "^ On returning from a service in the afternoon where there were crowds of bright intelligent-looking worshippers we c me upon one of the most important ceremonies conn;ctrd w tl the popular belief in d^mons-the exorcism of T. 1 Nr tlT 7'-'-' '' '' '- causeTaTve^: I l' JNever by n.ght or day on my two visits to Phyong-yane had I been out of hearing of the roll of the sorcerer'! dr'n, wth pt^imelt sT '^t '' ''""'''' '' ^" '"'--•"-» --^ pamment. Such sounds attracted us to the place of exorcism In a hovel w.th an open d^or a man lay very ill. The sTace were Korean tables loaded with rice cakes, boiled rice stewed ch.cken. sprouted beans and other delicacies. In d i one' space squatted three old women, two of whom be ? la «" cymbals. Faong them was the «.«./««^ or sorceress dressfd |n rose-p„,k silk, with a buff gauze robef with ts s ee;^^^^^^^^^^^ ."e s";;:l°";'T""'' °^^^ ''- ^'-- °^ P^per r^em g g ze w th^:fd ::t' '" '^•^' ^^^ ^ ^"^"-« -p °^ ^^^ costume q. ^ . ' "P°" "' "^'"P^^*^^ '^' ""^ inelegant n one of ,he d «. "' '"' '' "" °"'^ "^^^ — -' "y ni one of the dances. She carried over her left shoulder a stick pauued wuh bands of bright colors, from which hung a gong Exorcists and Dancing Women 351 which she beat with a similar stick, executing at the same time a slow rhythmic movement accompanied by a chant. From t.me to tmie one of the ancient drummers gathered on one plate pieces from all the others and scattered them to the four winds for the spirits to eat. invoking them, saying. - Do not oldJ^gs. ••' ' "^ ""'"' '"^ ^' ""^ ^«^'" ^pp^^^^ y°" ^y The mu-fang is, of course, according to the belief of those who seek her services, possessed by a powerful d^mon, and by means of her incantations might induce this dcsmon to evict the one which was causing the sickness by aiding her exorcisms, but where the latter is particularly obstinate, she may require larger fees and more offerings in order that she may use incantations for bringing to her aid a yet more power- ful d«mon than her own. The exorcism lasted fourteen hours, until four the next morning, when the patient began to recover! A crowd, chiefly composed of women and children, stood round the fence, the children imbibing devilry from their infancy I was not at a regular inn in Phyong-yang but at a broker's house, with a yard to myself nominally, but which was by no means private. Im generally, and not roughly, requested the people to '.move on," but he made two exceptions.'one being m favor of a madwoman of superior appearance and apparel who haunted me on my second visit, hanging about the open f ont of my room, and following me to the mission-house and elsewhere. She said that I was her grandmother and that she must go with me everywhere, and, like many mad people, she had an important and mysterious communication to make which for obvious reasons never reached me. She was the concubine of a late governor of the city, and not having escaped before its capture, went mad from horror at seeing the Chinese spitted on the bayonets of the Japanese. She carried a long bodkin, and went through distressing pantomimes of running people through with it ! The other exception was in favor of gesaug, upon whose :i: in ill if] 352 Korea and Her Neighbors C ' presence Im looked quite approvingly, and evidently thought I did. Phyong-yang has always been famous for the beauty and accomplishments of its gfsang, singing and dancing girls, resembling in many respects the j^eis/tas of Japan, but cor- rectly speaking they mostly belong to the Government, and are supported by the Korean Treasury. At the time of my two first sojourns in Seoul, about seventy of them were at- tached to the Royal Palace. They were under the control of the same Government department as that with which the official musicians are connected. As a poor man gifted with many sons, for whom he cannot provide, sometimes presents one to the government as a eunuch, so he may give a girl to be a gesang. The gesang are trained from a very early age in such accomplishments as other Korean women lack, and which will ensure their attractiveness, such as playing on various musical instruments, singing, dancing, reading, reciting, writing, and fancy work. As their destiny is to make time pass agreeably for men of the upper classes, this amount of education is essential, though a Korean does not care how blank and undeveloped the mind of his wife is. The gesang are always elegantly dressed, as they were when they came to see me, even through the mud of the Phyong-yang streets, and as they have not known seclusion, their manners with both sexes have a graceful ease. Their dancing, like that of most Oriental countries, consists chiefly of posturing, and is said by those foreigners who have seen it, to be perfectly free from impropriety. Dr. Allen, Secretary to the U.S. Legation at Seoul, in a paper in the Korean Repository for 1886, describes among the dances which specially interest foreigners at the entertain- ments at the Royal Palace one known as the " Lotus Dance." In this, he writes, " A tub is brought in containing a large lotus flower just ready to burst open. Two imitation storks then come in, each one being a man very cleverly disguised. Exorcists and Dancing Women 353 These birds flap their wings, snap their beaks, and dance round in admiration of the beautiful bud whicli tiiey evidently int nd to pluck as soon as they have enjoyed it sufficiently in antic- ipation. Their movements all this time are very graceful, and they come closer and closer to the flower keeping tinje to the soft music. At last the proper time arrives, the flower is plucked, when, as the pink petals fall back, out steps a little gesang to the evident amazement of the birds, and to the in- tense delight of the younger spectators." The Sword and Dragon dances are also extremely popular, and on great occasions the performance is never complete with- out " Throwing the Ball," which consists in a series of grace- ful arm movements before a painted arch, after which the gesang march in precession before the King, and the success- ful dancers receive presents. Though the most beautiful and attractive .^--fj^w.^' come from Phyong-yang, they are found throughout the country. From the King down to the lowest official who can afford the luxury, the presence of gesang is regarded at every entertainment as indispensable to the enjoyment of the guests. They appear at official dinners at the Foreign Office, and at the palace are the chief entertainers, and sing and dance at the many parties which are given by Koreans at the picnic resorts near Seoul, and though attached to the prefectures, and various other depart- ments, may be hired by gentlemen to give fascination to their feasts. Their training and non-secluded position place them, how- ever, outside of the reputable classes, and though in Japan geishas often become the wives of nobles and even of statesmen, no Korean man would dream of raising a gesang to such a position. Dr. Allen, who has had special opportunities of becoming acquainted with the inner social life of Korea, says that they are the source of much heartburning to the legal but neglected wife, who in no case is the wife of her husband's choice, and ^! 354 Korea and Her Neighbors ■that Korean folklore abounds with stories of discord arising in families from attachments to gesang, and of ardent and pro- longed devotion on the part of young noblemen to these girls who they are prevented from marrying by rigid custom. There IS a Korean tale called The Swallow King's Rewards in which a man is visited with the "ten plagues of Korea," for mal- treating a wounded swallow, and in it .f.../«. are represented along with mu-tang as " among the ten curses of the land " Dr. Allen, to whom I owe this fact writes, "Doubtless tlsev are so considered by many a lonely wife, as well as by .he fathers who mourn to see their sons wasting their substance in riotous hving. as they doubtless did themselves when they were young." ' '^ The house in which I had quarters was much resorted to by merchants for whom my host transacted brokerage business, and entertainments were the order of the .^ay. Mr Yi was invited to dinner daily, and on the last evenii.g entertained all who had .nvued him. . Such meals coot per head as much as a dinner at the St. James's restaurant ! Noise seems essential to these gatherings. The men shout at the top of their voices. Ihere is an enormous amount of visiting and entertaining among men in the cities. Some public men keep open house giving their servants as much as ^60 a day for the entertain^ ment of guests. Men who are in easy circumstances go con- tinually from one house to another to kill time. They never talk politics, it is too dangerous, but retail the latest gossip of and tell hear, and invent news. The front rooms of houses in which the men live are open freely to all comers. In some circles, though it is said to a far less extent than formerly, men meet and talk over what we should call " questions of literary criticism, compare poetic compositions, the ability to com- pose a page of poetry being the grand result of Korean educa- lon, and discuss the meaning of celebrated works-all litera- ture being in Chinese. Exorcists and Dancing Women 35J The common |K..„,,le meel i„ ,l,e slreels, the ho„,e fronis and ,„e „„.. Th.y ask „ach other e.uU s. ,|„eZr a . ...re that „e should .hi„k „,ost in„«r,i„a,., regardTg each ersb,,s,,,ess,work,a,,d,,,o„ey,ra,,sac,io,,,,;„dfor,,,f,acs he can VhT,'' T' ',"""" '" '"''' "' "'''' "" "- "«> lions K- ■"" ''= ""'"•"'■»l"^» l-y li« a.Hl cxaggera- t.o.is. Korea „ the country of wiJd run.ors. What a Korean k..o.vs, or rather hears, he te.ls. According ,„ IVre UaUe, he does no. know the meaning of reserve, though hi ^ mtol v houses. Domestic hfe ,s unknown. The women in the inner rooms rece... female visitors, and the girl children are prZ The boys at a very early age are removed .0 .he rael^rra ' ments, where they learn from the conversation ,h"y hea Z every man who respects himself must regard wome/wUh co„ We left Physng.yang for Po-san in a very small boat in at; r^p^r onhe'rf ""=""=°"*"'^^^^^^- .i.h fever!.^bu.°wrLra:r.s::rgr^^^^^^^ ^^shed .„ m.les in six hours, and were well pleased rofind .he" a,r,,v lymg a. anchor, as we had not been able „ get ml for up i.s broad »a.e;^ti,ir^r;^^;if:rir; t iiTS off for kk!"' ^""^ '^' S°'^ °f K^"«>-san only ao miles on, lor the aboundinj? rnal of *i,^ ; j- ^ "»nes uunaing coal of the immediate neighborhood ; II m m 35^> Korea and Her Neighbors for tlie hides, which are now carried on n.en's backs to Che J" f,? ..''""'" "'" ''''' ^"'"*^''""8 '■« «^*^" «f the original bunt L u'"T'."'';; '" '" "^'"^'^ "'^"" «" -"d --«-y, bmlt, u .s sa.d. by Ku-ze 3.000 years ago, follows the righ o the north, to terminate at the foot of the hill on which is the reputed grave o, .ts builder. This extends in that direct on possibly three miles beyond the present wall The plain through which the river runs is fertile and well cultivated, though the shining mud flats at low tul are any- thing but prepossessing. Various rivers, enabling boats of light draught to penetrate the country, most of them ri' ng in the 1 ^resque n^ounta.n ranges which descend on the plafn. specially on Its western side, join the Tai-dong. ^ ^ be^U rthtlfT" t' "' u ' ^"""'^- ' "^' »°'^ ' " should be all right if I could get the Ifariof,g," that " the Harion.'s a most comfortable little boat-she has ten staterooms.'' aid ^ we approached her in the mist, very wet, and stiff fr^m the e gth of time spent m a cramped position, I conjured up vis- ions of comfort and even luxury which were not to be realized crowdeH '"""""^^^ ^y J^P^»«»<^ J"nks. Japanese soldiers crowded her gangways, and Japanese officers were directing he loading. VVe hooked on to the junks and lay in the rain for an hour nobody taking the slightest notice of us. Mr Yi hen scrambled on board and there was another half-hour's'de- ay. which took us into the early darkness. He reappeared saying there was no cabin and we must go on shore. But S cHmbe7'r° f'^r '^''' '"^ '' ^^^ ^he last steamer, so I t and Zo "'. '" '"""' " '''' ^Wge. It was rain- ing and blowing, and we were huddled on the wet deck like steerage passengers, Japanese soldiers and commissariat offi- yTwI^T ««^.^'«7here .n Korea, masters of the situation. Mr. Y. was frantic that he, a Government official, and one from Exorcists and Dancing Women 357 whom " the Japanese had to ask a hundred favors a month " should be treated with such indignity ! The vessel was hired by the Japanese commissariat department to go to Nagasaki calling at Chemulpo, and we were really, though unintention- ally, interlopers I There was truly no room for me, and the arrangement whereby I received shelter was essentially Japanese. I lived in a minute saloon with the commissariat officers, and fed pre- cariously, Im dealing out to me, at long intervals, the remains of a curry which he had had the forethought to bring. There was a Korean purser, but the poor dazed fellow was " no- where," being totally superseded by a brisk young manikin Who, in the intervals of business, came to me, notebook in hand, that I might help him to enlarge his English vocabulary The only sign of vitality that the limp, displaced purser showed was to exclaim with energy more than once, "I hate these Japanese, they've taken our own ships." Fortunately the sea was quite still, and the weather was dry and fine ; even Yonyung Pa-da, a disagreeable stretch of ocean off the Whang Hai coast, was quiet, the halt of nearly a day off the new treaty port of Chin-nam-po where the mud flats extend far out from the shore, was not disagreeable, and we reached the familiar harbor of Chemulpo by a glorious sun- set on the frosty evening of the third day from Po-san, the voyage in a small Asiatic transport having turned out better than could have been expected. Vi c ,, ITINERARY Seoul to — J^oyang PaJu ^ O-mok Ohur-chuk Kio . , . *. * \ \ * Song-do .'.'.* 10 O-hung-sukJu ! ! 30 Kun-ko Kai .... L. 30 35^ Korea and Her Neighbors Seoul to — Tol Maru An-shung-pa Pal Shur-hung . Hung-shou Wan Pong-san Whang Ju , Kur-moun Tari Chi-dol-pa Pal Phyiing-yang Mori-ko Kai . Liang-yaiig Chang Cha-san Shou-yang Yi Ha-kai Oil Ka Chang Hu-ok Kuri Tok Chhon Shur-chong An-kil Yung Shil-yi , Mou-chin Tai Sun ChhOn Cha-san Siang-yang ChhSn An-rhin Miriok Phy6ng-yang U. 35 as 30 30 40 40 30 40 30 30 30 30 40 35 35 40 30 30 20 40 25 35 30 40 30 20 Total land journey 1060 CHAPTER XXXI THE HAIR-CROPPING EDICT T^HE year 1896 opened for Korea in a gloom as profound A as that m which the previous year had closed. There were small insurrections in all quarters, various officials were killed, and some of the rebels threatened to march on the capital Japanese influence declined, Japanese troops were gradually withdrawn from the posts they had occupied, the engagements of many of the Japanese advisers and controllers in departments expired and were not renewed, some of the re- forms instituted by Japan during the period of her ascendency died a natural death, there was a distinctly retrograde move- ment, and government was disintegrating all over the land The general agitation in the country and several of the more serious of the outbreaks had a cause which, while to our think- ing It is ludicrous, shows as much as anything else the intense conservatism oi pung-kok or custom which prevails among the Koreans. The cause was an attack on the " Top Knot " by a Royal Edict on 3ot!i December, 1895 ! This set the country aflame ! The Koreans, who had borne on the whole quietly the ascendency of a hated power, the murder of their Queen and the practical imprisonment of their King, found the at- tack on their hair more than they could stand. The topknot IS more to a Korean than the queue is to a Chinese. The queue to the latter may be a sign of subjugation or of loyalty to the Government and that is all, and the small Chinese boy wears it as soon as his hair is long enough to plait. To the Korean the Top Knot means nationality, antiquity (some say of five centuries, others of 2,000 years), sanctity 359 3^0 Korea and Her Neighbors derived from antiquity, entrance on manhood socially and egally even though he may be a child in years, the assump- t.on of two names by which in addition to his family name he IS afterwards known, and by which he is designated on the an- cestral tablets marriage is intimately bound up with it, as is ancestral worship, and as has been mentioned in the chapter on marnage a Korean without a Top Knot, even if in middle •fe, can only be treated as a nameless and irresponsible boy. In a few cases a Korean, to escape from this stage of disre- spect, scrapes together enough to pay for the Top Knot cere- sl2 ri T:'-'""' ^''' ""^ ^°"« ^°^*' -hich are their sequence, though he ,s too poor to support a family, but the lop Knot in nmety-nine cases out of a hundred is only as- sumed on marnage, without which the wearer has the title of "a half man " bestowed on him I The ceremonies at the 'Investiture of the Top Knot" de- serve a brief notice as among the most important of the singu- larities of the nation. When the fatlier and family have de- cided that a boy shall be "invested," which in nearly all cases is on the verge of his marriage, men's clothes, the hat, mang-kuft, etc., are provided to the limits of the family purse and the astrologers are consulted, who choose a propitious day and hour for the ceremony, as well as the point of the compass which the chief actor is to face during its progress. The fees of the regular astrologer are very high, and in the case of the poor, the blind sorcerer is usually called in to decide on these important points. When the auspicious day and hour arrive the family assem- bles, but as It is a family matter only, friends are not invited Luck and j^rosperity and a number of sons are essential for the Master of the Ceremonies. If the father has been so blessed he acts as such, if not, an old friend who has been more lucky acts for h.m. The candidate for the distinction and privileges of manhood ir placed in the middle of the room, seated on the floor, great care being taken that he faces the point of the I: The Hair-cropping Edict 361 / compass which has been designated, otherwise he would have bad luck from that day forward. With much ceremony and due deliberation the Master of the Ceremonies proceeds to un- wind the boy's massive plait, shaves a circular spot three inches in diameter on the crown of his head, brings the whole hair up to this point, and arranges it with strings into a firm twist from two and a half to four inches in length, which stands up from the head slightly forwards like a horn. The mang-kun, fillet, or crownless skullcap of horsehair gauze, coming well down over the brow, is then tied on, and so tightly as to pro- duce a permanent groove in the skin, and headaches for some time. The hat, secured by its strings, is then put on, and the long wide coat, and the boy rises up a man.' The new man bows to each of his relations in regular order, beginning with his grandfather, kneeling and placing his hands, palms down- ward, on the floor, and resting his forehead for a moment upon them. He then offers sacrifices to his deceased ancestors before the ancestral tablets, lighted candles in high brass candlesticks be- ing placed on each side of the bowls of sacrificial food or fruit, and bowing profoundly, acquaints them with the important fact that he has assumed the Top Knot. Afterwards he calls on the adult male friends of his family, who for the first time receive him as an equal, and at night there is a feast in his honor in his father's house, to which all the family friends who have attained to the dignity of Top Knots are invited. The hat is made of fine " crinoline " so that the Top Knot may be seen very plainly through it, and weighs only an ounce and a half. It is a source of ceaseless anxiety to the Korean. If it gets wet it is ruined, so that he seldom ventures to stir abroad without a waterproof cover for it in his capacious sleeve, and it is so easily broken and crushed, that when not in use it must be kept or carried in a wooden box, usually > In chapter ix. p. 114, there is a short notice of what is involved in the transformation. .1. 3^2 Korea and Her Neighbors ccjjiijg on the hat is a mark of resoect Cnurt ^ffi • i appear n the cnvpr^.Vr.'. . ^'^^'- '-ourt officials HP .»r in ne sovereign s presence with their hats on anH f»,« Korean on v takes it nff in ^i,^ ' ^"" ^"^ friends Th/ ^ company of Lis most intimate totedi th^L :; rad?""r ^'^ ^^^ ^"°^ ^^ °^-' or the youn, s:e^rr ^.s^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ornaments. There is nn nfiT^r • °'^.^ ^"^" <=0'"bs as its iiicre IS no other single artirl#> nf «,oi« the Korean Top Knot ' ^ '° '° tenaciously, as On an "institution" so veneraterl nn^ ♦■ l and so bound ud Avith v ^^"^"^^^^^ and time-honored, though remarkabiv d Vf r'? "'''""'''^^ ^'^^ ^'^^ Korean, practicallyabolist- g the Too K ot'rnl'''''"'"' ^ The measure h.H h *"^^^°P ^"°^' ^s» I'ke a thunderbolt. Who rar;::„''-„^ Ar.: :rrr;„^r,fa''\""^^"' »Ppor,, and had teen disc, sed byLcZStZ^T'^'' "as regarded with such diseust bv Z „ , ' "'"'"'"'"'"g' Gover„„,e„, was afraid to eXce't O, " t' '"?' '"'' "" .he decree™ issued, .hr re 0^°'^'';/.^';™ '"'■•'« entered the Council rh.rr^u \. T *^^ J^"n-ren-tai pelled to endor ; aifd )f ' TT'"^ " P'"'^^"^^' ^^« ^^o"'" p lu cnaorse it, and he, the Crown Prince the Tr.; w --.a/dXo?a^'h?s:-:^„rsXro: The Hair-cropping Edict 3^>3 people alike, to follow his example and identify themselves with the spirit of progress which had induced His Majesty to take this step, and thus place his country on a footing of equality with the other nations of the world ! The Home Office notifications were as follows : Translation The present cropping of the hair being a measure both advantageous to the preservation of health and convenient for the transaction of business our sacred Lord the King, having in view both administrative reform and national aggrandizement, has, by taking the lead in his own person, set us an example. All the subjects of Great Korea should respectfully conform to His Majesty's purpose, and the fashion of their clothing should be as set forth below : — 1. During national mourning the hat and clothing should, until the ex- piration of the term of mourning, be white in color as before. 2. The fillet {mangkun) should be abandoned. 3. There is no objection to the adoption of foreign clothing. (Signed) Yu-kil Chun, I ith moon. 15th day. ^'''"^ ^'"'^ ^^''''''"'' No. 2 In the Proclamation which His Majesty graciously issued to-day (nth moon, 15th day) are words, " We, in cutting Our hair, are setting an ex- ample to Our subjects. Do you, the multitude, identify yourselves with Our design, and cause to be accomplished the great work of establishing equality with the nations of the earth." At a time of reform such as this, when we humbly peruse so spirited a proclamation, among all of us subjects of Great Korea who does not weep for gratitude, and strive his utmost ? Earnestly united in heart and mind, we earnestly expect a humble conformity with His Majesty's pur- poses of reformation. (Signed) Yu-KiL Chun, Acting Home Minister. 504th year since the founding of the Dynasty, nth moon, 15th day. Among the reasons which rendered the Top Knot decree detestable to the people were, that priests and monks, who, in- stead of being held in esteem, are regarded generally as a 'a 3^4 Korea and Her Neighbors •juisance to be tolerated, wear their hair closely cropped and the Ed.ct was believed to be an attempt instigated by Cn o compel Koreans to look like Japanese, and adopt jlpanee customs. So strong was the popular belief that it w sioTapan ^a Korea owed the denationalizing order, that in the maC ot act^rf "i"'" '"'P """^ Riots it was evidenced by murder ' '° ''' -^^P^""^' '^^^"^"^»>^ --''-g »' The rural districts were convulsed. Officials even of the h.ghest ra.,k found themselves on the horns of a dilemma If they cut their hair, they were driven from their lucraTi^e posts lt:\i;n':h ^'"'"'"r-^ ^" '---' instanceTlostth by the Cabmet. In one province, on the arrival from Seoul of a new,y.appo.nted mandarin with cropped hair, he wt met by a great concourse of people ready/or the w^rst who informed him that they had hitherto been ruled bra Korean man, and would not endure a "Monk Magistrate,'' o„wS he prudently retired to the capital. «" wnicn diffi^I f'l''^"^^''' '"""^ ""''" ^"' '^°P K"°t complexities and o her t ^T'''"'''' ""''""^^' ^'^^'^^'-^ -'^^hists, and others, who had come to Seoul on business, and had been Wood an? "1 "'' T'' '"^ '^ ^^'"^"-^ *° ^^^-r 'o- Wood and country produce did not come in, and the price of the necessanes of life rose seriously. Many men who prLed he honor of enter.ng the Palace gates at the New Year feigned . Iness, but were sent for and denuded of their hair The Palace ..:d at the oftic.al residences ; even servants were not able tc T: ""':'' ^°^^'^" Representatives were unable to present themselves at the Palace on New Year's Day because their chairmen were unwilling to meet the shears. A father po.soned himself from grief and humiliation because h s two sons had submitted to the decree. The foundations ot social order were threatened when the Top Knot fell I The Hair-cropping Edict 3^>J People wb- had had their hair cropped did not dare to ven- ture far from Seoul lest they should be exposed to the violence of the rural population. At Chun Chhoii, 50 miles from the capital, when the Governor tried to enforce the ordinance, the people rose en masse and murdered him and his wiiole estab- lishment, afterwards taking possession of the town and sur- rounding country. As policemen with their shears were at the Seoul gates to enforce the decree on incomers, and peasants who had been cropped on arriving did not dare to return to t.eir homes, prices rose so seriously by the middle of January, 1896, that "trouble" in the capital was expected, and an- other order was issued that " country folk were to be let alone at that time." Things went from bad to worse, till on the nth of Febru- ary, 1896, the whole Far East was electrified by a sensational telegram—" The King of Korea has escaped from his Palace, and is at the Russian Legation." On that morning the King and Crown Prince in the dim daybreak left the Kyeng-pok Palace in closed box chairs, such as are used by the Palace waiting-women, passed through the gates without being suspected by the sentries, and reached the Russian Legation, the King pale and trembling as he entered the spacious suite of apartments which for more than a year afterwards offered him a secure asylum. The Palace ladies who arranged the escape had kept their counsel well, and had caused a number of chairs to go in and out of the gates early and late during the previous week, so that the flight failed to attract any attention. As the King does much of his work at night and retires to rest in the early morning, the ever yigdant Cabinet, his jailers, supposed him to be asleep, and It was not until several hours later that his whereabouts became known, when the organization of a new Cabinet was pro- gressing, and Korean dignitaries began to be summoned into the Royal presence, The King, on gaining security, at once reassuraed his long- 3^6 Korea and Her Neighbors lost prerogatives, which have never since been curbed in th. ^^htest degree. The irredeemable Orientalisrof th" two following proclamations which were posted over the city withT,^ a few hours of his escape warrants their insertion in "ufir.!!. Royal Proclamation Translation bone and flesh oTXas'y of ^h " ^^ T'' '^ "^°^^ °^ ^^ °- poverished. These facts make T r! . i v. , ^ ''^^" gradually im- troubles have ^LToZ^J^TZ "t""''"' '''' '^'''^'- «"' '^ese giving rise to rasca^y and'blute leaZ ^".'^"'^"'^ ^"' ''''-'''' Our own fault from the first to thellt '"' " """• ^"''^^'^ '^^" effI;T;:L';:eThrwS r '""^'^l ^-^^^^'^ ^singupinnghteous enced may inv ^or t tls aV a" fha't T "'' ''' '"^"'^''°"^ "P^'" This accords with th prh^S afteralongpressureXrrtteXs'rrr;^^^^ ^^'' T''^ verses. We shall endeavor to be me ciLl No n! 7 .""' "''" ''- As to the cutting of the Top Knots-what can We sav ? T •. ,, urgent matter ? The traitor* :.„ nc- r ^ ' ^^ '' ^^'^^ ^n the affair. That this 11?' ^ "^'"V°""" ""'' '^°^^<='°"' ^^""g^t about well known^ a, ' No Tt Z T T""'' ^"^ ^'" '^^ "" ^-^*. througheut the c^untr; movV, . • T "'"^ ''^^ conservative subjects as they have cir X 7^ rr '■'^''*'°"' indignation, should rise „p, other/until tCe^tl^^^^^^ -' -^-^ ^o one an'-' ^-ce. Thet^itorsi:i^;:^:-::--^-;^es he vo in The Hair-cropping Edict 367 By order of His Majesty, (Signed) Pak-chung Yang, Aain^ Home and Prime Minister. "th day, and moon, 1st year of Kon-yang. Proclamation to the Soldiers conspiracy Wa have 7 r " ™"""' '"'"""'"e "' ■" ""'k" RcpLnLi:rirr.rCa;L^^^^^^^ ^-- - doned, and shall not be held answerable n !' ""■' "" J'^'"- at once and^rTng li'el; ''°' '^"' ''""-^^"S ^'^'»' ^"» "^ their heads You (soldiers) attend us at the Russian Legation, nth day, 2nd moon, ist year of Kon-yang. Royal Sign. peoTll- °" ?''' "l "' ""^ ^^'- '"-J "••"^ ">»^"* of ,h2 fT -^''?'"«^ "" "^^ of "'^ hair-cropping order Dlace ir Jl ^'^^ s'f^e'-the Prime Minister, who had kept his commerce. The mob, infuriated, and regarding the Premier ' 4 .•* 3^8 Korea and Her Neiglibors as the author of the tlow„fall of the Top Knot, gave itself „p to unmitigated savagery, insulting and mutilating the dead bodies in a manner absolutely fiendish. Another of the Cabinet was rescued by Japanese sol.liers, and the other traitorous members ran away. A Cabinet, chiefly new, was installed, prison doors were opened, and the inmates, guilty and innocent alike were released, strict orders were given by the King that the Japanese were to be protected, one having already fallen a victim to the fury of the populace, and before night fell on Seoul much of the work of the previous six months had been undone, and the Top Knot had triumphed.* How the Korean King, freed from the strong influence of the Queen and the brutal control of his mutinous officers, used h.s freedom need not be told here. It was supposed just after his escape that he would become "a mere tool in the hands of the Russian Minister," but so far was this from being the case, that before a year had passed it was greatly desired by many that Mr. Waeber would influence him against the bad in statecraft and in favor of the good, and the cause of h.s determination not to bias the King in any way remains a mystery to this day. The roads which led to the Russian Legation were guarded by Korean soldiers, but eighty Russian marines were quartered in the compound and held the gates, while a small piece of artillery was very much en tvidence on the terrace below the King s windows I He had an abundant entourage. For some months the Cabinet occupied the ballroom, and on the terrace and round the King's apartments there were always numbers of Court officials and servants of all grades, eunuchs, Palace women, etc., while the favorites, the ladies Om and Pak, who assisted in his escape, were constantly to be seen in his vicmity. Revelling in the cheerfulness and security of his surround- ^m^^ ] ^''' '''' '^' '^'"^ "^'^ ""'•^"''^ adornment seemed to have re- samed its former proportions. The Hair-croppliig Edict 3^^9 ings, the King sliortly built a Palace (to which he removed in the spring of 1897), surrounding the tablet-house of the Queen and actually in Chong-dong, the European quarter, its grounds adjoining those of the English and U. S. Legations. To the security of this tablet-house the remains of the Queen, supposetl to consist only of the bones of one finger, were removed on a lucky day chosen by the astrologers with much pomp. On this occasion a guard of eighty Russian soldiers occupied a position close to the Royal tent, not far from one in which the Foreign Representatives, with the noteworthy exception of the Japanese Envoy, were assembled. RoUed-up scroll por- traits of the five immediate ancestors of the King, each en- closed in a large oblong palanquin of gilded fretwork, and pre- ceded by a crowd of officials in old Court costume, filed past the Royal tent, where the King did obeisance, and the Rus- -!an Guard presented arms. This was only the first part of the ceremony. Later a colossal catafalque, containing the fragmentary re- mams of the murdered Queen, was dragged through the streets from the Kyeng-pok Palace by 700 men in sackcloth, preceded and followed by a crowd of Court functionaries, also in mourn- >ng, and escorted by Korean drilled troops. The King and Crown Prince received the procession at the gate of the new Kyeng-wun Palace, and the hearse, after being hauled up to the end of a long platform outside the Spirit Shrine, was tracked by ropes (for no hand might touch it) to the interior, where it rested under a canopy of white silk, and for more than a year received the customary rites and sacrifices from the bereaved husband and son. The large crowd in the streets was orderly and silent. The ceremony was remarkable both for the re- vival of picturesque detail and of practices which it was sup- posed had become obsolete, such as the supporting of officials on their ponies by retainers, or when on foot by having their arms propped up. In July, 1896, Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown. LL.D., Chief Com- 370 Korea ami Her Neighbors control o all payn.ents o..t of the Treasury, and having gained considerable n.s.ght into the con.piexities of financial corrup t.on. addressed h.mself in earnest to the reform of abuses, and with most beneficial results. In September a Council of State of fourteen members was substitued for the Cabinet of Ministers organized unde Jap Many of the attempts made by the Japanese during their as- cendency to reform abuses were allowed to lapse. The co ntry haks. The Minister of the Household and other Royal favor- ma most unblushing manner after the slight checks , hich had been imposed on this most deleterious custom, and the sover- ally safe, and free from Japanese or other control, he reverted leZ7JT 1° *'' '"'•'"" ""' ''^ ^>^"-^>'' -^^ 'n spite of InTt '. ; "P^ '"' '"^'^°^''>'' ^^'"g"^'^ -« -' absolute monarch his edicts law. his will absolute. Meanwhile Japan was gradually effacing herself or being effa' began to enjoy direct Japanese di-.t^a„i"onrJV:'af^Uttcer^K '" ^ wZl;;."'"""" >"" •" "-' °J'"^«J'' 4'h n.oon, .st day, »e«":nr„c:d'rd'rK?o ^""^^ '" "■= °«''=' ^^^-'^ been adhered to' li^^ ly^'^T '"'" ■"" 'o™'" "»» which ha,e VLTi t /«'' ," """'' °f "" "^"""'g^' of th. a.J'ZX^il 'Ltmt r ■"^"^ .he importance sided itf China and Korea tT T'" """^ ''=™ ''■ upon it is, that for «3 cemurirr ,'""""« ^ '°"« Royal Edicts has gireH em thT f r,""""""" '" " "' rency of Acs of PaEem "^ °' '^^ "'" "■' "'• scheme for the reorganization of the Korean ut er }- y e '» e ) r r The Reorganized Korean Government 375 Government, which was prepared for the most part by the Japanese advisers, honorary and salaried, who have been en- gaged on the task since 1894, and which has been accepted by the King. The first change raised the status of the King and the Royal Family to that of the Imperial Family of China. After this, it was enacted, following on the King's Oath of January, 1895, lat the Queen and Royal Family were no longer to interfere in the affairs of State, and that His Majesty would govern by the advice of a Cabinet, and sign all ordinances to which his assent is given. The Cabinet, which was, at least r oiainally, located in the Palace, had two aspects— a Council •' State, and a State Department, presided over by the Premier. I — As THE Council of State The members of the Cabinet or Ministers of State were the Premier, the Home Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Finance Minister, the War Minister, the Minister of Edu- cation, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister of Agricul- ture, Trade and Industry. A Foreign Adviser is supposed to be attached to each of the seven Departments. Ministers in Council were empowered to consider the framing of laws and ordinances ; estimates and balance-sheets of yearly revenue and expenditure; public debt, domestic and foreign; international treaties and important conventions; disputes as to the respective jurisdictions of Ministers ; such personal memorials as His Majesty might send down to them ; supplies not included in the estimates; appointments and pro- motions of high oJScials, other than legal or military ; the re- tention, abolition, or alteration of old customs; abolition or institution of offices, and, without reference to their special relations to any one Ministry, their reconstruction or amendment; the imposition of new taxes or their alteration ; and the control and management of public lands, forests, 37^> Korea and Her Neighbors k buildings, and vessels. All ordinances after being signed and sealed by the King required the countersign of the Premier. The second function of the Cabinet as a Department of State it is needless to go into. A Privy Council was established at the close of 1894 to take the place of the Deliberative Assembly which had col- lapsed, and is now empowered, when consulted by the Cabinet, to inquire into and pass resolut* jns concerning : I. The framing of laws and ordinances. II. Questions which may from time to time be referred to it by the Cabinet. The Council consists of a President, Vice-President, not more than fifty Councillors, two Secretaries, and four Clerks. The Councillors are appointed by the Crown on the recom- mendation of the Premier, and must either be men of rank, or those who have done good service to the State, or are ex- perts in politics, law, or economics. The Privy Council is prohibited from having any correspondence on public matters with private individuals, or with any officials but Ministers and Vice-Ministers. The President presides. Two-thirds of the members must be present to form a quorum. Votes are given openly, resolutions are carried by a majority, and any Council- lor dissenting from a resolution so carried has a right to have his reasons recorded in the minutes. In the autumn of 1896 some important changes were made. A Decree of the 24th of September condemned in strong lan- guage the action of "disorderly rebels, who some three years ago revolutionized the Constitution," and changed the name of the King's advising body. The decree ordained that the Old name, translated Council of State, "should be restored, and declared that new regulations would be issued, which,' while adhering to ancient principles, would confirm such of the enactments of the previous three years as in the King's judgment were for the public good." The Council of State was organized by the first ordinance of a new series, and the The Reorganized Korean Government 377 preamble, as well as one at least of the sections, marks a dis- tinctly retrograde movement and a reversion to the absolutism renounced in the King's Oath of January, 1895.' It is dis- tinctly stated that " any motion debated at the Council may re- ceive His Majesty's assent, without regard to the number of votes in its favor, by virtue of the Royal prerogative; or should the debates on any motion not accord with His Ma- jesty's views, the Council may be commanded to reconsider the matter." Resolutions which the King approves, on pub- lication in the Gazette^ become law. Thus perished the checks which the Japanese sought to impose on the absolutism of the Crown, and at the present time the Royal will (or whim) can and does override all else. This Eui-chyeng Pu or Council, like the Nai Kak, its pred- ecessor, is both a Council of State, and a State Department presided over by the Chancellor. The members of the Council of State are the Chancellor, the Home Minister, who is, ex officio, Vice- Chancellor, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, War, Justice, and Agriculture, five Councillors, and the Chief Secretary. As a State Department under the Chan- cellor, the staff consists of the "Director of the General Bureau," the Chancellor's Private Secretary, the Secretary, and eight clerks. The Council of State, as now constituted, is empowered, to pass resolutions concerning the enactment, abrogation, altera- tion, or interpretation of laws or regulations ; peace and war and the making of treaties; restoration of domestic order; telegraphs, railways, mines, and other undertakings, and ques- tions of compensation arising therefrom ; the estimates and special appropriations ; taxes, duties, and excise ; matters sent down to the Council by special command of the Sovereign ; publication of laws and regulations approved by the King. The King, if he so pleases, is present in person, or may send the Heir-Apparent to represent him. The Chancellor I See p. 250. 378 Korea and Her Neighbors presides, two-thirds of the members from a quorum, motions are earned by a numerical majority, and finally a memorial stating ,n outline the debate and its issue is submitted by the Chancellor to the King, who issues such commands as may seem to hmi best, for, as previously stated, His Majesty is not bound to acquiesce in the decision of the majority The Eui-chyeng Fu as a Department of State through the "Director of the General Bureau" has three sections- Archives, Gazette, and Account., and is rather a recording than an initiating office. The scheme for the reconstruction of the Provincial and Metropolitan Governments has introduced many important changes and retrenchments. The thirteen Provinces are now divided lino 339 Prefectures, Seoul having a Government of its own. The vast entourage of prov.ocial authc-ities has been reduced, and a Provincial Governor's staff is now limited nominally at least, to six clerks, two chief constables, thirty police, ten writers, four ushers, fifteen messengers, eight coolies, and eight boys. Ordinances under the head of " Local Government "define the jurisdiction, powers, duties, period of office, salaries, and etiquette' of all officials, along with ' Official Intercourse. Ord. 45 amends some old practices regulating the intercourse and correspondence of officials. The etiqueUe of the official call by a newly appointed Prefect on the Governor, on the whole Vv rt' '''"'°"^'' '' '' '" '°'"' '^"P"'^ simplified. The old fashion obliged the Magistrate to remain outside the yamen gate, while a large folded sheet of white paper inscribed with his name, was sent in to the Oovernor. The latter thereupon gave orders to his personal attendants or ushers to admit the Magistrate. The t^cin, as they were commonly styled, called out " Sa.ryensr to which the servants chanted a reply. The Gov- ernor being seated, the Magistrate knelt outside the room and bowed to the ground. To this obeisance the Governor replied by raising his arms over his head. The Magistrate was asked his name and age, given some stereotyped advice, and dismissed. The Governor is for the future to re- turn the bow of the Prefect, and conversation is to be conducted in terms of mutual respect, the Magistrate describing himself as /.«.>t.«« (» your subordinate "), and addressing the Governor by his title. The Reorganized Korean Government 379 many minor matters. It is in this Department tliat the re- forms instituted by the Japanese are the most sweeping. Very many offices were abolished, and all Government property be- longing to the establishments of the officials holding them was ordered to be handed over to officers of the new re,i^iiiie, A Local Government Bureau was established with sections, under which local finance in cities and towns and local ex- penditure of every kind were to be dealt with. An Engineer- ing Bureau dealing with civil engineering and a Land Survey, a Registration Bureau dealing with an annual census of the population and the registration of lands, a Sanitary Bureau, and an Accounts Bureau form part of the very ambitious Local Government scheme, admirable on paper, and which, if it were honestly carried out, would strike at the roots of many of the abuses which are the curse of Korea. The whole pro- vincial system as reorganized is under the Home Office. An important part of the new scheme is the definition of the duties and jurisdiction of the Ministers of State. The Cabinet Orders dealing with the duties and discipline of officials at large so far issued are : — ' Order i. General rules for the conduct of public business. " 2. Memorabilia for officials. " 3. Resumption of office after mourning. " 4. Reprimand and correction. " 5. Obligation to purchase the Gazette. " 6. Memorials to be on ruled paper. The management of public offices under the new system is practically the same as the Japanese, The Memorabilia for Officials are as follows : — (rt) No official must trespass outside his own jurisdiction. (b) Where duties have been deputed to a subordinate, the latter must not be continually interfered with. (f) A subordinate ordered to do anything which in his opinion is ir- regular or irrelevant should expostulate with his senior. If the latter holds by his opinion, the junior must conform. ;•! \\ I *■) ¥\' 380 Korea and Her Neighbors (0 Officials n^usT no ?Z L f ?' -/'"''--g their superiors, them on official business! ^'""°"'' '"" ""'^''^^^ °r talk with (/) Officials must be frank with nno ^r,«n, exp"°" "'' ^"'«' »"" ■"<•"••>» -'". was even ™„,. n.™. o„., w,u, .h, special ^^ZJ^uZZ,^"'"'' "' """"• An ordinance restored the hqp /^f ♦!,» . -r ■he ..Ref„™a.i„„ ,.. wt«he: c ^d ^fuuT ""T,*; dress, or undress, and announced ha. Te'i.he „ffi', pnva,e persons were .0 be compelled an" Cf.ot: t-a^ powrd";oru:';^;j:rn:^,°^,^- -f ■•^'- »- "^^^^^^ •oca, Official and poireir t^a Jus^''::;''!!: '";''' .- ^-rettj:xv:-:;;r.:; — ^y degrada.fon of .he higher offlcials of h°n '"" "^ Under ,he Minis.er^is a t" e Mi" Le fj''""'^' '""'• ..ons,cus.od,of.heMi„is.er.sa„dD:p:r:„urs,?r;; The Reorganized Korean Government 381 and despatch of correspondence, and consultation of prec- edents, preparation of statistics, compilation and preservation of archives." In addition to the Secretariats, there are a number of Bureaux, both Secretariats and Bureaux being, for convenience, subdi- vided into sections, each of which has its special duties. The Departments of Government are as follows : — Home Office The Home Minister has charge of matters concerning local government, police, jails, civil engineering, sanitation, shrines and temples, surveying, printing census, and public charity, as well as the general supervision of the local authorities and the police. Foreign Office The Foreign Minister is vested with the control of inter- national affairs, the protection of Korean commercial interests abroad, and the supervision of the Diplomatic and Consular Services. The Treasury " The Minister for Finance, being vested with the control of the finances of the Government, will have charge of all matters relating to accounts, revenue, and expenditure, taxes, national debts, the currency, banks, and the like, and will have supervision over the finances of each local administra- tion " (Ord. 54, §1). Under this Minister there is a Taxation Bureau with three sections — Land Tax, Excise, and Customs.' The ordinances > The finances of Korea are now practically under British management, Mr. J. M'Leavy Brown, LL. D., of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Cus- toms, and Chief Commissioner of Customs for Korea, having undertaken in addition the post of Financial Adviser to the Treasury, and a Royal Edict having been issued that every order for a payment out of the na- tional purse, down to the smallest, should be countersigned by him. if} ''<* f . 382 Korea and Hrr Neighbors Purse was fixed at ^5500,000. ^ Sovere.,;n'.s Privy War Office The Minister for War whn m, » 1 charge of the military admi^tutlo; ^^"-^' ^^^cer, has at 6.C00 men, and the chT 1 'l of '" "'""V"'''' '^^^ tlie army, and is to exer. ! ^ '"^" ^"^ "^^tters in and all building and Tors 'h'7'""^ °ver army divisions, n^iii-yarrangeLrarX™^^^^^^^ ^^^^ Ministry of Education Besides I Miit'' 't° S .r'' "'"^ ""■'"'"■=- Jur,au. which is coacern«l Jt r ' "' *' ^-fe..//,-/, ary, foreign la„g„ar "1 ', '"?"''' "°™'"' '"'"™^ ^ ^^»""« of the Headman h str;efete?^ T'\r ^' ^^^^^'--^° veto of the Mayor to tt Pre . . r' ^'^°'' ^"^ °^^^ ^^e veto of the Prefec rJZl u " ^''''^ '''''' °^" ^he AH resolutions, hoC; mu , T' k "''' ^° ^"^^ ^-""^r- the Home 0«i;e, tTrZ^hT P e?::tt ^G '^''"" '''' '^ 's incumbent on the Prefectural Pn m ''""°' ' ^"^ '* in the year ^'^^fectural Council to sit at least twice The Reorganized Korean Government 385 cise is now made to include, besides ginseng dues, what are known as "Miscellaneous Dues," viz. rent of glebe lands, tax on ruslies used in mat-making, market dues on firewood and tobacco, tax on kilns, tax on edible seaweed, tax on grind- itones, up-river dues, "v! taxes on fisheries, salterns, and boats. All other in }x>sts » -ve been declared illegal. The first Korean Budget under th«; '■eformed system was published in January, 1896, a ul hewed an estimated revenue from all sources of ^14,809,410. The Palace Departniciit underwent reorganization, nomi- nally at least, and elaborate schemes for me administration of Royal Establishments, State Temples, and Mausolea were de- vised, and the relative rank of members of the Royal Clan, including ladies, was fixed— the ladies of the King's Seraglio being divided into eight classes, and those of the Crown Prince into four. The number of Court officials attached to the different Royal Households, though diminished, is legion. Various ordinances brought the classification of Korean officials into line with those of Japan. Every class in tlie country, private and official, has come into the purview of the Reorganizers, and finds its position (on paper) more or less altered. Among the more important of the Edicts which have nom- inally become law are the following : Agreements with China cancelled. Distinctions between Patrician and Plebeian abolished. Slavery abolished. Early Marriages prohibited. Remarriage of widows permitted. Bribery to be strictly forbidden. No one tc be arrested with- out warrant for civil offences. Couriers, mountebanks, and butchers no longer to be under degradation. Local Councils to be established. New coinage issued. Organization of Police force. No one to be punished without trial. Irregular taxation by Provincial Governments forbidden. Extortion of money by officials forbidden. Family of a criminal not to be involved in his doom. Great modifications as to torture. \ ii 386 Korea and Her Neighbors Superfluous Paraphernalia abolished. School of Instruction in Vaccination. Hair-cropping Proclamation. Solar Calendar adopted. "Drilled Troops" (^««-^.«./«/) abolished. Lega punishments defined. Slaughter-Houses licensed. Commitfee of Legal Revision appointed. Telegraph Regulations. Postal Regulatjons. Railways placed under Bureau of Communica- tions. These ordinances are a selection from among several hundred promulgated since July, 1894. Of the reforms notified during the last three and a half years several .ave not taken effect ; and concerning others there has revl^ Tf' "?^"^' '"°^^'"^"*' ""''^ ^ *-"d«"cy to revert to the abuses of the old re^me; and others which were taken m hand earnestly, have gradually collapsed, owing in part to the limpness of the Korean character, and in part to the opposition of all in office and of all who hope for office to any measures of reform. Some, admirable in themselves, at present exist only on paper; but. on the whole, the reorgan- ized system, though in many respects fragmentary, is a gr-at '^ZTTTl °" '^" ""^^ °"' ' ""^ '' "^^y "°* unreasonabfy be hoped that the young men, who are now being educated in en- lightened ideas and notions of honor, will not repeat the in- iquities of their fathers. * ^ ' ■ M CHAPTER XXXIII EDUCATION AND FOREIGN TRADE KOREAN education has hitherto failer' to produce patriots, thinkers, or honest men. It has been conducted thus In an ordinary Korean school the pupils, seated on the floor with their Chinese books in front of them, the upper parts of their bodies swaying violently from side to side or backwards and forwards, from daylight till sunset, vociferate at the highest and loudest pitch of their voices their assigned lessons from the Chinese classics, committing them to memory or re- citing them aloud, writing the Chinese characters, filling their receptive memories with fragments of the learning of the Chinese sages and passages of mythical history, the begoggled teacher, erudite and supercilious, rod in hand and with a book before him, now and then throwing in a word of correction in stentorian tones which rise above the din. This educational mill grinding for ten or more years enabled the average youth to aspire to the literary degrees which were conferred at the Kwa-ga or Royal Examinations held in Seoul up to 1894, and which were regarded as the stepping-stones to official position, the great object of Korean ambition. There is nothing in this education to develop the thinking powers or to enable the student to understand the world he lives in. The effort to acquire a difficult language, the knowledge of which gives him a mastery of his own, is in itself a desirable mental discipline, and the ethical teachings of Confucius and Mencius, however defective, contain much that is valuable and true, but beyond this little that is favorable can be said. Narrowness, grooviness, conceit, superciliousness, a false 387 If) (ft I I >i i I ( n 388 Korea and Her Neighbors pride which despises manual labor, a selfish inH; -^ r yea/old, a nV^ tet. Ii X '"I 111"^'^°"? -- and an estimate of women essen»!!n ^ . "^ '"°'^' '^"^^' the Western leaven T- T"""'"" ' "><^ "orking of «», ana "he'r ;::Lr:r„t:Mtzir '°^"- some of the desire fnr tUi. , t,, T "'° ^'^^ country, threatened to become a fl,„ . '^^^^'^^ *o stimulate what new educationarr:e^hXfrf^rr7^^^ ! V" ^'"^"^°° '^ should radiate from the capiLi ' ''"'""" °^ ^'^'^'^ sch?oi::a"Gormtnr?cL/r''\^"^^""^^^ ^-->- e.gn L^nguageTc^o^t d°M^^^^^^^^ s^hlf 1°' ^n''''' '''■ Vernacular and Mission Schools h^ is the n'r ^"'''^' '''' Royal English School with 7 ! ^ before-mentioned drilled by'aBritish Serge t^^^^^^^^^^ -^"^-ly ball I These young men in Lnr ' """'^ "'^^^^ ^"^t" advance in knLled^ of C 1 ^^^^^^^^^ """' "' "''' instructors. After this cote t' ''^'"^^'"^^^ ^'"^dit on their ^"<^r mis come Japanese. Frenrh ar,^ i> Schools, at present chiefly linguistic Mr b ',1: ^ '^"'" of the Russian School, was a caotain nf\ u ' '" ^^"'"^^ . Russian army, and in bofh th. p ^ ''^''^ ^"'"^''^ ^^ the ' students are Hlled daUy b 'Ru^sii:'!^"!^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ Undoubtedly the establis'hm " ^hfch han"'"". exercising the most Dowerf„i J exercised and is lectuai i'^^e.::tiz^^^^;:^'^-^'^ '■"^^'- the rearing of Useful Men "\ V i I °"^^^ ^" "^" ^o^ This, which belon" tthi'r "'.'"^^ "^^ ^"^^ ^ing in X887. Church, has haT S adva agtrr. ""^^'^^'^^ ^^'^P^^ pal. the Rev H G Annen if r ^'^'''^' °^ °"« P^'^ci- H. G. Appenzeller, for eleven years. It has a Education and Foreign Trade 389 Chinese-iS'«-;«7/« department, for the teaching of the Chinese classics, Sheffield's Universal History, etc., a small theological department, and an English department, in which reading, grammar, composition, spelling, history, geography, arithme- tic, and the elements of chemistry and natural philosophy are taught. Dr. Jaisohn, a Korean educated in America, has re- cently lectured once a week at this College on the geographical divisions of the earth and the political and ecclesiastical his- tory of Europe, and has awakened much enthusiasm. A pa- triotic spirit is being developed among the students, as well as something of the English public school spirit with its traditions of honor. This College is undoubtedly making a decided im- pression, and is giving, besides a liberal education, a measure of that broader intellectual view and deepened moral sense which may yet prove the salvation of Korea. Christian in- struction is given in Korean, and attendance at chapel is com- pulsory. The pupils are drilled, and early in 1897, during the military craze, adopted a neat European military uniform. There is a flourishing industrial department, which includes a tri-lingual press and a book-binding establishment, both of which have full employment. Early in 1895 the Government, recognizing the importance of the secular education given in this College, made an agree- ment by which it could place pupils up to the number of 200 there, paying for their tuition and the salaries of certain tutors. There are other schools for girls and boys, in which an in- dustrial training is given, conducted witi. some success by the same Mission, and the American Presbyterians have several useful schools, and pay much attention to the training of girls. The Socittt des Missions Etrang^res has in Seoul an Or- phanage and two Boys' Schools, with a total of 262 children. The principal object is to train the orphans as good Roman Catholics. In the Boys' Schools the pupils are taught to read and write Chinese and En-mun, and to a limited extent they study the Chinese classics. The religious instruction is given A: <■; i I n 39° Korea and Her Neighbors .ry. and ,ear„ JZ t^^r ulde" 'r " '""' " '"^ ™"- support, tnter a trade nr ll ' ' ^«™'"g their own ned ,o the son, of R„„a„ CathX A. Ri c"' ""■ .tLtt;r;-r -- - - -Co" :z the study of Tananese ;,«:! ^ ', ''"'^^''' '^^'nposition, Iearning,7nd Let" ' on . """ f ^'^ ''""^y ^^ Western 6> 'i"" lectures on science and relimnn tu- i , ™s_^.nte„ded b, i„ Tounde. .o „or. tTc,.£:;t^. "oral,.;, fund:i:Ss^L'„ rtniuisr'"'' ^" ^^""■"» pies of patriotism A .»,.'' * '""■>'• ""'' ">« Pri""- conne Jd ^>Tr;^^Z7^7^::^Trrr " ~ci„Trs.r r f r V" "-- ~ nances, chanfiine theTr 1 H "" ^^ '"^ '"^'^ ««^™- minds for lift Wht .u^f' ""^ ""<' *= '=«">•= °f 'heir on-^"dSr;;:^rti'r:r^^^^^^^ crBdneatio„are:^e^rS„ri7-:--— Education and Foreign Trade 391 lish School, and "he Normal College, placed in May, 1897, under the very efficient care of the Rev. H, B. Hulbert, M.A., a capable and scholarly man, some of whose contributions to our knowledge of Korean poetry and music have enriched earlier chapters of these volumes. Text-books in En-mun and teachers who can teach them have to be created. It is hoped and expected that supply will follow demand, and that in a few years the larger provincial towns will possess Intermediate or High Schools, and the villages attain the advantages of ele- mentary schools, all using a uniform series of text-books in the vernacular. Chinese finds its place in the curriculu-^, but not as the medium for teaching Korean and general history, or geography and arithmetic, which must be acquired through the native tongue. In spite of the somewhat spasmodic and altogether unscien- tific methods of the Education Department, it has succeeded in getting the revived Normal College under way, as well as a fair number of primary schools, where over 1,000 boys are learning the elements of arithmetic, geography, and Korean history, with brief outlines of the systems of government in other civilized countries. Seventy-seven youths are studying in Japan at Government expense, and nave made fair progress in languages, but are said to show a lack of mathematical aptitude and logical power. Altogether the Korean educa- tional outlook is not without elements of hopefulness. Though the Foreign Trade of Korea only averages some- thing less than ;£i, 500,000 annually, the potential commerce of a country with not less than t 2,000,000 of people, all cot- ton-clad, ought not to be overlooked. The amount of foreign trade which exists is the growth of thirtee ) years only, but when we remember that Korea is a purely agricultural country of a very primitive and backward type, that many of her fin- est valleys are practically isolated by mountain ranges, trav- ersed by nearly impassable roads, that the tyranny of custom is strong, that the Korean farmer is only just learning that a I tiff ? ,'■ 392 Korea and Her Neighbors profitable and almost unlimiled demand ..x,-„= , beans across the s,a thai .!,» . " '"' '"' "« and ing can be tep, down by •„ ' IT ''"' "' "'' '«'°" ^'"'h" articles of foreign manrfacTu e andl^ ">' ■n'ro,1,:.tio„ of »^>wly entering the secl„,-»d "ll.;' c ! '"j"" ^"' "' "'■')' the actual b,,.), of the trade i.™,?" ''' "'™'' «»P'on., •""■.^V" are worth con^^.^.^^^'^J™' =*.-"% p^si- E-:. »a,e increased from .he va Jj of « ITT "' '""'8" «.5.i'.324 lit r8,6.' Measured T^ n""?'''"° '*** "> excce* *« Of Jy p„,~r Lt^rs;: ' l"' V "''* of tra:„,.or. coo.^,^^: ^"3'™^;, "'f ''"' '«8' '"""tag Among Korean exports whkhcS '"!""'"• (dried manure), cow hid« ^^!l " """"' "^ l"™- » there are n.Jil.icl^'uiS^T'T'"'- ™'' ""1 «aweed, in China and Japan.Tu K^^^ ""t "■"*« ''-""e^ than w^y to become the g/anary rfX' ill "" «'*'' « ™ "» .890 having reached the ilue Jf 7 """"''■ '" "■?"« '•■• ^ri^rZr^^^-" '^-ca are pate a time when, witi C^;^^!","/'?''"'' ' ^°"''- enment, together with security for^he.'' '"'' ""s""- official and patrician exaCtem Z. i- "'"«' °' '"l"' f"™ occasion for protecti^ Sft^"" "'" ""' "" "^"^ poverty, and when he will tecl. f Pl^arance of squalid . consumer a, well lT^r7Z°Z"^'' ''""'''''' '-'= with comforts and luxuries oTfoSl";" '°"°"°<' "'"■^"f ren are already doing under the l^^i" ru ^ T " ""r^"- >he improved conditions which it ilrl! m "■ ^"''" foM no, be surprised if the va „e „f T"i?'"=. '° "P«'. I Korea were ,0 reach J-,. o„' • ""^ '^°'='>' ■" ade of '"y. and the *a:e\te;gr„;,.r.:t' "'"?■•: ""■ portant question, ^ " *° ""^^^ ^f is an im- ' For detailed su . cs of Korean Foreign Trade ■ x .- *• *™ae, Anpendix C. fish Education and Foreign Trade 393 Our great competitor in the Korean markets is Japan, and we have to deal not only with a rival within twenty hours of Korean shores, and with nearly a monopoly of the carrying trade, but with the most nimble-witted, adaptive, persevering, and pushing people of our day. It is inevitable that British hardware and miscellaneous articles must be ousted by the products of Japanese cheaper labor, and that the Japanese will continue to supply the increasing demand for scissors, knives, matches, needles, hoes, grass knives, soap, perfumes, kerosene lamps, iron cooking pots, nails, and the like, but the loss of the trade in cotton piece goods would be a serious matter, and the possibility of it has to be faced. The value of the import trade in 1896 was ;^7o8,46i as against ;^875,8i6 for 1895 (an exceptional year), and the larger part of this reduction took place in articles of British manufacture, the decrease of ^^134,304 in the value of cotton imports falling almost entirely on cottons of British origin, the Japanese import not only retaining its position in spite of ad- verse circumstances, but showing a slight increase. Japanese sheetings showed a substantial increase, more than counterbal- anced by the diminished import of the British and American article, and Japanese cotton yarn continued to arrive in larger quantities, and is gradually driving British and Indian yarn out of the Korean market. It can be sold at a considerably lower price than the British article, and practically at the same price as the Indian, with which its improved quality enables it to compete on very favorable terms. As the result of inquiries carried on during my two journeys in the interior, as well as at the treaty ports, it does not appear to me that Japanese success is even chiefly caused by proxim- ity, and in 1896 she had to compete with the enterprise and energy of the Chinese, who, having returned after the war to the benefits of British protection, were pushing the distribu- tion of Manchester goods imported from Shanghai. Rather I am inclined to think that the success of our rival is ' il M i '] 394 Korea and Her Neighbors mainly due to causes whiVh t u and Centra, Asia" J^Z^ H °^"^*"°" '" ^-'a only imperfect knowledge of tlZT' '".^ ""'"''^ '""^''^^ "ot b"t the neglect to act up^n tf "^ "«ds of customers, and diplomatic agent aTr ovJadTe "" '"'''''' '^ -"-'a; of manufacture, and the^Z r "'' '° ^"""^^ methods Pauerns, and the widths ^^1^:3 ^cT '''''' ^' *°-'-' and treatment, and the size of h 7 u '"'^ ""'"^'^ ^'^'hing "methods of transport. I do no Ln ? ""''' ^"'*^^ ^° "ative -ade against our manufLte"s of ^,'' /° ''^ ^'^^^^^ °^"'-es because I have never seen an' inH ^^ ^'"^ '"^^^'°^ ^°«ons, nor have I heard any complinTs on l^'T °' ''' ^°^^^^^"^«« or China, but of the ig„Xg of the '"'^''^ "''^^ ^" ^-re^ there is no doubt. It is evefv ? '^^^"'^^n'^nts of customers J°«. and is likely to lo e ^e "' ' '"'""^^ ^"^ «°-ceof Korean market. ' "^' Prospective advantages of the '■on obtained by their keen ,^-,,eV, "' "' ""= '"f"'-^' ">« 'ows and villages ," VI "!" "«!"''' "''<' '"« visited all "•I'ich their manufaftur^ST';"' '° '"' ^^'''f'ness with "ents or the Korean Jrl, Vl'"' */ '"="'' ""'^ -V"'- manageable bales, which do J, * ' ™'''' "» shore in "rival to the minute Ko'ean'r'^V".'" ""^P"" '"» '"gth and texture co„ J„d ,C.„ .he'^ " """' "'•""■• The Japanese nndeistand that r^^ = ''"Poning w.'h adroitness and ,ap°my'closet 'd,Tr''^''"""« 'o-' »rincipal articles of export and import being taken from 'I Lis seems incredible, and compels one to suppose that ;^ is a mis- print for $. • See Appendix B. u.-l fe_: 396 J^worca and Her Neighbors ^-nt f:CZ7t.u7r '-' ''''' P--ed to *-s, i. n.st be ob'sLved ;i!:/:^^";4'%''^^«'"•pPi"g re- unrepresented in Korean .aters even f .'^ " P'"'^''^^"^ steamer being rarely seen The' ml! , '""''^ ^^'''«h ^-de which Japan has en oyed Lro 2?. 1 !'' "^^^'"« '"to by the estabhshment of a uL ^ f' '^ ^''" ^''^''en competitor. * ^ ^"^'^^ subsidized line as a In addition to the \rt,u ^e *i, t Trade i„ ,8,a, e„ tVieh,,^' '*f *"' .P°«» <>?»",„ Foreign there i, ,ha, carried on bvih? *'"" '^'^ "clusively, Chinese and Russian fron„^^„ """-'""^ P""' "'"' on .he In ooncludinc this hnVr n^»- Korea. I .ay remark th! t ja 1 ^'^ ^°"'^" ^'^^^ °^ ponsists in the ability to undeVse, ' '°™^'''''°"' '° ^^' "^ ^"^ « likely to diminish yearbrvj 'T^ ^° "'^^^P^' ^^^or, ^h'cl> joods can be man fac^lT' "" ^^' '°"^'^'""« ""^e those which exist in E^d 7'/'^,^ ^">' approximate to t'^e necessaries of life in ^1 te7 ''J""'^""^ P""'^^ -' l-"g -age." and an appS^ :,';;;"^ ^^ --e than ''. nation all tending in ths direction '"^'^'^ °^^°'"^^- PWn;:?it::;^^^^:^.^---e^H-etobesaid. The fertile kyel, ana rive dollars on . J'"^ '•'' "' ^'^ ^^"^^s on a 60 cents annually, from w^^^^^^^ '''^' ^ ^^ousetaxof of about 4,000,000 dollars a fl ' ''^ "P ^ '^"dg^t f i-ate expenditure of 2 c r.^';"';^'^"^ ^^ ^^^1- remely light. Only about Tr^ of ;" "' ''^ '^ ^'^- collected reaches the Natio. T '"^''^"'"' ^^^""'^X '"finite corruption of the c r,V T^' P^"'>' °^^ "g to the ~ ■•' '•" -« . ..,e ai'CrnfX or^ed'^^- i>ee Appendix C. * Education and Fortign Trade 397 the people, the increased expenditure can readily be met by imposing taxation on such articles of luxury as wine and to- bacco, which are enormously consumed, Seoul alone possess- ing 475 wine shops and 1,100 tobacco shops. But even with- out resorting to any new source of revenue, with strict super- vision and regular accounts the income of the Central Govern- ment is capable of cor 'derable expansion. In spite of the awful official corruption which has been revealed, and the chaos which up to 1896 prevailed in the Treasury, the Korean financial outlook is a hopeful one. At thp close of 1895 the King persuaded Mr. M'Leavy Brown, LL.D., the Chief Commissioner of Customs, to undertake the thankless office of Adviser to the Treasury, confirming his position some months later by the issue of an edict making his signature essential to all orders for payments out of the national purse. Korean imagination and ingenuity are chiefly fertile in devising tricks and devices f< r getting hold of public money, ^nd anything more hydra-headed than the dishonesty of 'orean official life cannot be found, so that it is not surprising tiiat ns soon as the foreign ndviser blocks one nefarious pro- ceeding another is sprung upon him, and that the army of use- less drones, deprived of their " vested interests " by the ju- dicious retrenchments which have been made, as well as thou- sands who are trem'.iiiig for dieir ill-gotten gain aould oppose financial reform by every device of Oriental ingenuit. . However, race, as Vi presented by the honor and c;.t.;xcity of one European, is carrying the day, and Korean Finance is gradually being placed on a sound basis. ^\ ith careful man- agement, judicious retrenchments of ex^ 'nditure, the reduc- tion of the chaos in the Treasury to an orderly system of ac- counts, and a different method of cr 'ecting the land ta ;, which is now being remitted with tolerable regularity to the Treasury, an actual financial c ujiUbriui \ was er 'a!)lished and maintained during the yea 1896, which closed with a considerable sur- plus, and in April, 1897, one million dollars of the Japanese M I ,< ,11 m fl sill ' i 11, ,' I 398 Korea and Her Neighbors of income in iSggS.Ko^^^^^^^^^^^ '"^''' ^^P^'^ off out country without a nat.ona debt TnH ^ ^'""^ P°''"- ^^ - over expenditure I ' ^""^ ""''^ * ""^Pl^^ of income -. regiments were ad^'t e f "tTil'""- ^^° used costly toy, was out ;„»' , ^' ^ "'"^ ^«<^"a^ a dis- sary modern im^roTe^^ 3 undeTtf '"' "'"' "''^ ^" "-- -chini., the Kyeng-wip Lt :'rs 1:^,""°;; °'^ ^"^^'■^" and works connected with the W n ' '''^ <=eremonies were paid for, and a cl derin ^''''" ' ^'°^P^^*'^« ^""^^^1 i' gradually displace, H fa T.^*'""'i"''^"'^"''"' "" « on. of .he ccndiL/wWct a^S Tan?" ''"■" ^' "« '"« '"'■""" "« '"ding in U>e «» Ji^Xn """'''"' """''■ til CHAPTER XXXIV DiEMONISM OR SHAMANISM KOREAN cities without priests or temples ; houses with- out " god shelves " ; village festivals without a mikoshi or idols carried in festive procession; marriage and burial without priestly blessing ; an absence of religious ceremonials and sacred books to which real or assumed reverence is paid, and nothing to show that religion has any hold on the popular mind, constitute a singular Korean characteristic. Putting aside Buddhism with its gross superstitions, prac- tised chiefly in remote places, and the magisterial homage be- fore the Confucian tablets to the memory of the Great Teacher, the popular cult— I dare not call it a religion— consists of a number of observances dictated by the dread of bodiless beings created by Korean fancy, and representing chiefly the mysterious forces of nature. It may be assumed, taking tradi- tion for a guide, as certain of the litanies used in exorcism and invocation were introduced along with Buddhism from China, that Korean imagination nas grafted its own fancies on those which are of foreign origin, and which are of by no means distant kinship to those of the Shamanism of northern Asia. The external evidences of this cult are chiefly heaps of stones on the tops of passes, r ide shrines here and there containing tawdry pictures of mythical beings, with the name in Chinese characters below, strings from which depend small bags of rice, worn-out straw shoes, strips of dirty rags, and, though rarely, rusty locks of black hair. Outside of many villages are high posts (not to be confounded with the distance posts) 399 7Tf if m « 400 Korea and Her Neighbors rags, ricebag, ZZ^T^'J^C:' 'T T' "" "'"'" heaps of stones at which iti.T. T?' "'"^" "''''<^'" "= gaS, there are ows 0^™*" ' f '"''' ""'"""S' -1 -'/ the purpose o/drivL at? ""T J"""'" "' ^'>'"^ "^'''^^ f"' a log of wood perforal7l^ '" ^'"°'""' "'"' =' ""^''oads bunfed "P tr:r t atLrsr:^ ,1 ""■" -^ ""'^ times be seen In rin.. .u T ■'^ carefully, may some- breaking the oLwise p^:^ II! ^^^ T^'^ "'^'^ -" 'ravelling through the coun^ h. "'«'"' ^""* '" stantly to be seen Toinr,r'^' I "'""^ """ceress is con- performances in the^l r^"" "T"' ""'"'^ ^-"l details of ^^»,X fs have hUhUrf " " ""^ '"S"" »"^'' fa an unwillingness to spelk to f" '^"'""=''- ^here inquirers may have been ™ T"*"''' °'' ""'' '"P'"^' »"<) been gained fo make utJ^Tlr'''' "" "°"«'- "- ductive of very valuable rl 3 . xt """"'^ "'" "^ f"" Which is higher r:;:rpo^:t:^;r :x""''= ""■-■"^^ Ap.r. f™„ ,i,e „sea„h« „ „ , f X'' '°'; ^"""i' «' Che„.lp„. Dffimonism or Shamanism 401 It is indeed asserted by many of the so-called educated class that the only cult in Korea is ancestor worship, and they pro- fess to ridicule the rags, cairns, shrines, and the other para- phernalia of daemon-worship, as the superstition of women and coolies, and it is probable that in Seoul, at least, few men of the upper class are believers, or patronize the rites otherwise than as unmeaning customs which it would be impolitic to dis- continue, but it is safe to say that from the Palace to the hovel all women, and a majority of men, go through the forms which, influencing Buddhism, and possibly being modified by it, have existed in Korea for more than fifteen centuries. Without claiming any degree of scientific accuracy for the term Shamanism, as applied to this cult in Korea, it is more convenient to use it, the word daemon having come to bear a popular meaning which prohibits its use where good spirits as well as bad are indicated. So far as I know. Shamanism ex- ists only in Asia, and flourishes specially among the tribes north of the Amur, the Samoyedes, Ostiaks, etc., as well as among hill tribes on the southwestern frontier of China. The term Shaman may be applied to all persons, male or female, whose profession it is to have direct dealings with demons, and to possess the power of securing their good will and avert- ing their malignant influences by various magical rites, charms, and incantations, to cure diseases by exorcisms, to predict future events, and to interpret dreams. Korean Shamanism or Daemonism differs from that of north- ern Asia in its mildness, possibly the result of early Buddhist influence. It is the cult of daemons not necessarily evil, but usually the enemies of man, and addicted to revenge' and caprice. Though the Shamans are neither an order, nor linked by a common organization, they are practically recog- nized as a priesthood, in so far as it is through their offices that the daemons are annrosched and propitiated on bdialf of the people. It is supposed that the Shaman or wizard was one of the figures in the dawn of Korean history, and that 1,1 lif 1^ ! ' |»^j| ? ■ 'if 402 Korea and Her Neighbors organization of ,he P.„i„sula/fig„re fn ver/ ° Iv K to make a good living and support them in their old a^e Thl Pan-su were formerly persons of much distinction in f he k^n. much tr ThV'v': V" ""^ '="^ 'Jueen, has wrought M?^tJi;^ro?^^:-^^^^^^^^ Government, which gives prestige to the whok bol ) guilds, and in the various sections "clubhouses" built out of beoul was built and maintained by Governmenf »nH ^^ * ch.fo,«cia,,of.heguimho.d,orL^™:":"L.?„V"'° It appear, that admission into the fraternity is only g™,ed dr„T 'r"'r "'^ «'™»P-f of proficien'cyin .heW, edge of a cumbrous body of orally transmitted Shaman tra d,t on, „,sdom and custom, much of i, believed by t" peol to be 4,cco years old, and embracing scraps of 'upSn Dsemonism or Shamanism 403 from the darkest arcana of Buddhism, as well as fragments of Confucianism. The neophyte has to learn of " the existence nature, and power of daemons, their relations with man, the efficacy of exorcism through a magic ritual, and the genuine and certain character of the results of divination." He must meditate on "the customs, habits, and weaknesses of every class in Korean society in order to deal knowingly with his clients. A slight acquaintance with Confucianism must enable him to give a flavor of learning to his speech, and he must be well drilled in the methods of exorcisms, incantations magic spells, divination, and the manufacture of charms and amulets." The services of sorcerers or geomancers are invariably called for in connection with the choice of sites for houses and graves, in certain contracts, and on the occasion of unusual calamities, sickness, births, marriages, and the purchase of land. The chief functions ef the Shaman are, the influencing of daemons by ritual and magical rites, propitiating them by offerings, exorcisms," and the procuring of oracles. In their methods, dancing, gesticulations, a real or feigned ecstasy and a drum play an important part. The fees of the Shaman are high, a- :t is believed that ut the lowest computation, D^monism costs Korea two million five hundred thousand dollars annually ! In order to obtain favors or avert calami- ties, It IS necessary to employ the Shamans as mediators, and it is their fees, and not the cost of the offerings which press so heavily on the people. Among the reasons which render the Shaman a necessity are these. In Korean belief, earth, air, and sea, are peopled by daemons. They haunt every umbrageous tree, shady ravine crystal spring, and mountain crest. On green hill slopes, in peaceful agricultural valleys, in grassy dells, on wooded up- lands, by lake and stream, by road and river, in north, south east, and west they abound, making malignant sport out of human destinies. They are on every roof, ceiling, fireplace (I Iff: 404 Korea and Her Neighbors kang and beam. They fill the chimney, the shed the livinir room, ,he kitchen-they are on every shdf and a. In thou' sands tey waylay the traveller as he leaves his home beside h.m beh,nd him, dancing i„ front of him, whirr"h1 head, cry,ng out upon him from earth, air, and water Thev said that the.r ubiquity is an unholy travesty of the Divine Ommpresence ' This belief, and it seems to'be the onfy o e henso; r: " ^r:" '" ^ P^P^^"^' ^^^^^ of nervousappr" hension, it surrounds him with indefinite terror., ^nA ,/ truly be said of him that he " passes the tin /fu' ^^ hereinfMr" t? r^ P^^^^'^ ^'^e time of his sojourning he e there and f"'''^''''-- '^^'"^ ^^ subject to demons' po n't n L T' .""'' ^^'' ^""^'^ '^' Korean at ever; sere " t' T ' '" "'"-'""^ ^^^^"^ ^ ^ -"tinual series of acts of propitiation, and they avenge every omission are the self-existent spirits, unseen enemies of man, wliose de s,g s are always malignant or malicious, and spirit of de. Stan! The P " ' '''^'J" ' '''''''' P°^*^'°" ^^ - ««■ s Slant. The Pan-sr, recites a farther part of his magic ritual, us power bemg shown by acute movements in the wand in spU^ of attempts to keep it steady. A parley takes place with^he objects. He promises to catch the Ckan^-kun, the mahVnant d^mon, and after preparations and offerhigs have been made ,s V ' rYT ''".'' '" ''"• '"'^^ '"^^ -ho holds the Tand o t e j; ' 7'V' ' ^"P--'"-l Po-r out of the house o the place where the CAan^-^un is. Then the a.an..^,„ is toTe W.""" '^"^' ^"' ^^--^-hoIderisdraggXck alotstde'' T/l' ""''^ '7'^' '"°"*^^ '^ P"* °" ^he floor, and alongside ,t a piece of paper inscribed with the name of the unclean d.mon, wMch has been obtained by divination and ^7?u J f P^P^' ''^'"^ '°"^hed with the magic wand jumps id^ rl r' '"■^'; '"'^^ ^"^'^^^ ^"^ ^"'^^^ - the hT siae or at the crossroads. ritll^-n ".r^"' form of exorcism has a long and unintelligible ritual, ,n the cases of those who can afford to pay for it occu- d'lilTbvThe'r '"' 'I ^"^^" °^ '''''' ^-^''^ --P-ed ceeded by a form known as the Ritual Pacification, which takes a whole night. This is for the purpose of r^to in^ order among the household demons, who have been much p m ttin J t' '7-r '"""''"^^' ^'^^"'"^ ^'- h--' -^d co- rn tting It and Its inmates to the protection of the most power- ful members of the Korean demoniacal hierarchy The instruments of exorcism used by the Pan-su are offer- ings to be made at various stages of the process, a drum cymbals, a bell, a divination box, and a wand or w;nds ' The S/iamans claim to have derived many of their very numerous spells and formulas from Buddhists, who on their ■'\ s Dsmonism or Shamanism 407 side assert that daemon-worship was practised in Korea long before the introduction of Buddhism, and a relic of this wor- ship is pointed out in the custom which prevails in the Korean magistracies of offering to guardian spirits on stone altars on the hills, pigs, or occasionally sheep, before sowing time and after harvest, as well as in case of drought, or other general calamity. This sacrifice is offered by the local magistrate in the king's name, and though identical in form with that offered to Hananim (the Lord of Heaven), is altogether distinct from it. Most of the formulae recited by the Shavians have the reputation of being unsafe for ordinary people to use, but in c. "isideration of the possibility of a great emergency, one is provided, which is pronounced absolutely safe. This consists of fifty-six characters which must be recited forwards, back- wards, and sideways, and is called "The twenty-eight stars formula." * Divination is the second function of the Pan-su, and con- sists in a forecast of the future by means of rituals, known only to himself, associated with the use of certain paraphernalia. This is used also for finding out the result of a venture, or the cause of an existing trouble, and for casting a man's horoscope, i.e. "The four columns of a man's future," these being the hour, day, month, and year of his birth, or rather their four combinations. This horoscope is the crowning function of divination. In these "four columns" the secret of a man's life is hidden, and their relations must govern him in all his actions. When a horoscope contains an arrow, which denotes ill-luck, the Pan-su corrects the misfortune by formulae used with a bow of peach, with which during the recital he shoots arrows made of a certain reed into a " non-prohibited " quar- ter. One of the great duties of divination is to cast the horo- scope of a bride and bridegroom for an auspicious day for the • The twenty-eight constellations, or stellar mansions, referred to in the Shu King, one of the Chinese classical books, showing the close connec- tion between Chinese and Korean superstition, — W. C. H. •If 4" 408 Korea and Her Neighbors an Jt^'CZrcrr^d' tt °" "' *' " ^-«*- " » -de like a ^ono.: C ^^ 1 vaSrid ''" '"« """ <-^*, over which the A,-« „„«,! '^' """"»' ""« which has been .ranstedThr-Wm »«"""' '"'°^"''°"' to reveal the symbols •• Th. ■ '" ^" J""" PWP'e grant ■nd the three 'f"fsprese„,.ir"'r.'''''°"'" '''''' •■■"«. characters, „u, „f „Wch hi m! T^ "" '=°"'W»«ions of second implement Tf divina.ir is t k'^k"'' °""=- ^he closed at both ends, but "ith a s^U .r °° "' '"" '"^^ the exit of small bamhn„ . f °'° '" °"= '0 allow of The same .h"g s o be J„ oT °' "''"i!' ■' ""'a'- eight. Each splinter L lo^oTtoZl'ZT' '""' '" ^'■■"- for a symbol of certain si™ on ,£ ^ ' °" "' """ "^"''» old, called the W/ whicT ?■";« '"'^'^ ^•°'"' ^^ars •he Chinese. Two o'thet '"'""'' '*""«' ■" V acers, eight beinlco nectd wl '" ."'" '"° ""^ "^ ^'"■•- ^— has obtainfd the e is r ad , T""'' ""'™ "" Great reliance is placed on ,1^ '''°'™ '''=' ''"■^'=- -ake and sell. P oa ablv 1 e ar eT" ",'''^'' "" ''•'"-"' "-ho do not wear these as am,, e,s Thr """ °' "'""'"" ■n 'he form of insects, or cons , of Ph '^ "f «'"""">■ ""«'= are written on special v^rT.^ of Ch,nese characters. They are regarded asTeinf effilf '"°" "'"" '" '"^ '"''■ '"d 'amities. Amnlets a?e made o°f"thf '"V'T """ °"'" ^ lightning, which is sun J?^ . """"^ "^ "''^^ "'"ek by S. wn,ch ,s supposed to possess magical qualities. CHAPTER XXXV If 1 3 NOTES ON DiEMONISM CONCLUDED THE second and larger division of the Shamans consists of the mu-tang. Though the Pak-su Mu, who are in- cluded among the mu-tang, are men, the female idea prevails so largely that these wear female clothing in performing their functions, and the whole class has the name of mu-tang^ and is spoken of as female. The mu-tang is universally prevalent, and her services are constantly and everywhere sought. She enters upon an office regarded as of high importance with very little ceremonial, re- quiring only a little instruction from some one who has prac- tised magic, and the " supernatural call." This call, of which much is made, consists in the assurance of daemoniaca! posses- sion, the daemon being supposed to seize upon the woman, and to become in fact her ddppel ganger , so completely is his per- sonality superimposed on hers. The daemon is almost inva- riably a member of the Korean " Da:moneony Mr. Jones mentions a woman who claims that her indwelling daemon is known as the spirit Chil-sotig Shin, supposed to come from the constellation of Ursa Major, and he brought with him a legion of other daemons, from which the ;««-/««^ derive their honorific title, Man-shin, a Legion of Spirits. This woman in her early married life was ill for three years, and had frequent visions of the spirit, and heard but resisted the "call." When at last she yielded she was immediately cured, and was received into favor with the spirit ! On obeying a daemon call the woman snaps every tie of cus- tom or relationship, deserts parents, husband, or children, and 409 m 'I Siw^ 4»o Korea and Her Neighbors obeys the "call" alone. Her position from that hour is . pecuhar one for while she is regarded as indispenlb.e o he c mn.unuy she .s socially an outcast. In the curious 1 ° ' of the Shamanate, the Pan-su is obviously the Master of the D^rno... ga.n.„g power by cabalistic for.ul. or ritu o dr e them off or even bury them, while the mu-tang supplicate! at *vH.H , ","°"' '"" '■™P'"«'<'"= Of d^emoL Irch Uiemcn FesHvals, one public the other private. Tl,e oublif one IS a triennial /„,a celebrated either by a large vMaw or by an ,,g,ega.ion of hamlets, and occupies Lee o' fl X me- !^".,'! "Z 't'"' """^ °f *' -•e'^'orhood, andfa T , : , :"'! T • ""i'"""' ""''■P' ""<" 'hanksglvlng. 1. _ ,a,bers choose two of their number to take entire char„ Vic t ""Th' "f V'" " '^^ '" "P"- - ">^^ onX -gic and ...a.^he'trrc:rS: ;:L\rreZrir:nrL^ Stan, from animal food for seven previous da I' ""' "" "^ that iht h1 P "'f =" "> *= ^P'"B- The popular belief is during'The fo o:C h^rlat' ^1'"'"'°" '""■"■' ^"'"" vwiiig mree years. A common " test " at this Notes on D:rnionisin Concluded 41 1 festival is the burning a tube of very thin white paper in a bowl. Its upper end is lighted by the tnu-tang, who recites her spells as it ^iurns. When it reaches the . im of the bowl, if the ai'^ury for the future be unfav 'e, the paper burns away in the bowl, if favorable, the r lifts itself and is blown away. The private / v^ ^. '/ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I I^|3j8 12.3 !f 1^ 12.2 13^ 14.0 2.0 1.8 125 lllll 1.4 il.8 1.6 !SOmm /flPPLIED^ IIVMGE . Inc .^as 1653 East Main Street JSS^ ^ Rochester, NY 14609 USA ■S^^ Phorie: 716/482-0300 •JBS'.sr Fax: 716/288-5989 1993, AppNM Imsgs, Inc.. AH RIghtt RMcrvMl ^ o 4" it /^ 4s ■<^ r\ 'C^ ^. ^^^'^'% ^pS ^ '^ ^ «h.m as to M JZ^^r "f P'°)~» of pcTOnal advancement, as well ing ch.me ,, a hazel wand wi.h . circle of bells at one end These are shaken .iolen.Iy by the m,,.,„g. and in theSin thus created she hean, the utterance of the dtmon farmer ?„'27 /°l "" "" "' ""'"'™ '» '•^"'on, is a TLT „y^ ,T3 of iTt'tif "" "'T"'^ •"■' '°"« th,. nhiw » • ^ ^ "'^ account), and the sale of the child to a sp.nt .s he believes the best way of attaining h.s object. When the so-called sale has been decided o ^ hf tTe child n '' '^°''" •' "'"'">^ " ^"'^" "^-•- home, and he child .s there - consecrated " to the d.xmon by the Z tang w.th fitting rites. Thencefor.vard, on the i.Ui day o LcVfi ™""'r';'^ 3rd day of the 3rd n,oon. wo^^'a^d Tar^e oVr !, "' '\ '" '""''"• ^^^^ ^'^'« ^ct of safe the name of the daemon becomes part of the boy's name I i! not an unusual thing for the sale to be made to thTL W herself, who as the proxy of her daemon accepts the ch"ld in case she learns by a magic rite that she may do so She tak^ - Its stead one of its rice bowls and a s/oon.Tnd tht;;': - « < I o i^ i ': : i 1 1 1 - .i ■ ■ * i I " : 1 ■ ^ % ■ 1 ■ ,u 1 r^r ll li Notes on Djpiiionisni Concluded 413 getlier with a piece of cotton cloth on which thfc fads concern- ing the sale of ti»e child are written, are laid up in her own house in the room devoted to her dnemon. There is a famous mutang, whose house I have been in Jus». outside the south gate of Seoul, who has many of these, which are i)Iaced on tables below the painted daubs of demons ordinarily, but which, on great occasions, are used as banners. At the I'eri- odic Festivals offerings are made on behalf of these children, who, though they live with their paren's, know the sorceress or mutant^ as Shin, and are considered her children. The mit-tanf^ rites are specially linked with the house datmon and with Mama the smallpox dxmon. The house drcmon is on the whole a good one, being supposed to bring health and happiness, and if invited with due ceremony he is willing to take up his abode under every roof. He cannot always keep off disease, and in the case of contagious fevers, etc., he dis- appears until the rite of purification has been accomplished and he has been asked to return. The ceremonies attending his recall deserve notice. On this great occasion the mutang in office ties a large sheet of paper round a rod of oak, holds it uprig.it, and goes out to hunt him. She may find him near, as if waiting to be invited back, or at a considerable distance, but in either case he makes his presence known by shaking the rod so violently that several men cannot hold it still, and then returns with the mutang to the house, where he is re- ceived with lively demonstrations of joy. The paper which was round the stick is folded, a few cash are put into it, it is soaked in wine, and is then thrown up against a beam in the house to which it sticks, and is followed by some rice which adheres to it. That special spot is the abiding place of the daemon. This ceremony involves a family in very consider- able expense. The universal belief that illness is the work of daemons ren- ders the services of a Pan-su or mutang necessary wherever it enters a house, and in the case of smallpox, the universal HM. II 4>4 Korea and Ht-r Neighbors and ha,o,„y n,f..„,'Krl fo X™?""'o!";',;e r'' •Piri. wi.l, a r^uncl mH„;: el 1°""^. ;!"""' <•'"-« done, and if there are ,„.l„i,i , '^ "^ "" """k » ".e malady, .1 ey '.,, iS ' ," T r" ,""'"'"' '""' "°' ''"^ obemnce (worship) ,o ,he ...fferL cln T,!. ™,' <"""" ''"' limes in honorific terms n, , *• ' '' "'''''"' " "' »" 'he .«h day, „h !™he ,«!7 " """''^ '° ^ ""'' "<" farewell banaiclis „ !eV T'''^ " '«"'" """•"•<'"«'. '"d » pared, and is' ^^dS^ he snirT'sT '"" """^T ""^ " P^ food and monev kVZTj'^ 'T"^'" "■'"' '""^" "^B' of he receive, >ZryZ^'^''Zt """"' "' '^'"■""> own place I * "^"^ '"' P'o^P^ro"' «turn to hi, -?e:^ :he'':;rt^f r-^^^^^ falling of flerotTai:' iTll '" '"^'' ""- '^ '"' chiefly mediatorial It 7. i , ' "" P'«ent vocation is her daughter or eten I u 'T'"« '""'""'' '•"'''itary. The ••ca'.l"is"o::iXr; ;-:•*"« " "- -k^! women are of the lower cla^ Thf '; °"''"""y > Korea, a,^ Vace I i n^^ T ""1 "''"'"' "'" ""i"^" '"^' n.-in.hesma^rmptrX;tr*^'^--*'-- -: ;r:r im":!:,:e";:er:e!rrvr"' *■« ^^ and ambitious Korean nl I "^P'^' '^'°»' 'he clever ^«»-.» on blllalfo;: e'f" ; o^LT"" 1°""""^ '° "" 'he humbles, peasant fam r Tht a^riT ,W "l ''°"" '<■ /• ineyare in intimate contact Notes on D:emonism Concliulcd 415 with the people in all times of difficulty and affliction, their largest claims are conceded, and they are seldom out of em- ployment. The demons whose professed servants the Shtvnans are, and whose yoke lies heavy on Korea, are rarely even mythical be- ings, who might possibly have existed in human shape. They are legion. They dwell in all matter and jjervade all space. They are a horde without organization, destitute of genus, species, and classification, created out of Korean superstitions, debased Buddhism, and Chinese mythical legend. There h.ive been no native attempts at their arrangement, and what- ever has been done in this direction is due to the labors of Mr. G. H. Jones and Dr. Landis, from whose lists a few may be chosen as specimens. The 0-bang-chan^-kun are five, and some of the more impor- tant preside over East Heaven, South, West, North, and Middle. In Shaman's houses shrines are frequently erected to them, bearing their collective name to which worship is paid. They are held in high honor and are prominent in Pan-sit rites. At the entrance of many villages on the south branch of the Han the villagers represent them by posts with tops rudely carved into hideous caricatures of humanity, which are ofttimes deco- rated with straw tassels, and receive offerings of rice and fruit as village protectors. The Shin-chang are daemon generals said to number 80,000, each one at the head of a daemon host. They fill the earth ■ .1 air, and are specially associated with the Pan-su, who are capable of summoning them by magic formulae to aid in divi- nation and exorcism. Shrines to single members of this mili- tant host occur frequently in Central Korea, each one contain- ing a highly-colored daub of a gigantic mediaeval warrior, and the words, •' I, the Spirit— dwell in this place." The Tok-gabi are the most dreaded and detested, as well as the best known of all the daemon horde. Yet they seem non- descripts, and careful and patient examination has only sue- 1 ■■ 1 ' 1 ( 1 1 4»6 Korea and Her Neighbors mit ;" 7j^««''"fi;'''^'" 'o the class of such myths as the Will o the W.sp. and Jack o' Lantern, elevated however in Korea to the status of genuine devils'with f<^i;he7oT^^ «^uls of those who have come to sudden or violent ends. They are bred on execution grounds and battlefields, and wherever :TnroX"d:r.^i,;?r^" r overwhelming .eS: terrifying the^S ^''01 :VhV"b t'l^' ^''«^'' sion of the fine Audience HalVrhet:. rr^'l^.^ -i tr'inTbdieted^ f""''"^ T'"''''' frigh.f.T t;.erL:i doief^spieiiTor i;r:a: tr; °'''^^ ^'".''' '^°" ones because of them The rfe!i 1 T ' ""' ''""^ "*^^ mafiu', hnf J I, T* . , "'*'^' "^^y '^ »"<=h things as a dirf enshl;. ' f'"''' °' '-^''''''« ^'^'•'' '-"en with age and a iriDuted to the Tok^rabt they are accused of many pranks such as placing the covers of iron pots inside 1^^^' poundi , „, ^,,,^,^^^ ^„ ^^.^^^Pot- -ns-d h m a„ would be smashed, yet leaving no trace of their work. ^ Of the vast "£>amo,„on," infest Korean life like vermin wandering about embracing every opportuity of urtZand' niolestmg man Against these both Z.su anVL CVa ' continual war by their enchantments, the P.u-su by thei ex Another great group of daemons is the Sa^-SAw JPv."«._the sp.nts of the mountains. I found their shrines in a^the^l country, along both branches of the Han. "; spr t d streams, and specially under the shade of big trees and on «.y././«. covered rocks, a flat rock being a sp SVlpro lortunate. I he d«mon who is the tutelary spirit of ^«. Notes on *!a3inonism Concluded 417 senf^, the most valuable export of Korea, is greatly honored. So also is the patron da;mon of deer hunters, who is invari- ably represented in his shrine as a fierce looking elderly mar in official dress riding a tiger. Surrounding him are altars to his harem, and there are also female demons, mountain spirits, who are pictured as women, frequently Japanese. The tiger which abounds in Central and Northern Korea is .understood to be the confidential servant of these mountain daemons, and when he commits depredations, the people, be- lieving the da;mon of the vicinity to be angry, hurry with offerings to his nearest shrine. The Koreans consider it a good omen when they see in their dreams the mountain dae- mon, either as represented in his siirine, or under the form of his representative, the tiger. These mountain demons are specially sought by recluses, and iwople ofttimes retire into solitary mountain glens, where by bathing, fasting, and offer- ings they strive to gain their favor. These spirits, believed to be very powerful, are much feared by farmers, and by villagers living near high mountains. They think that if when they are out on the hillsides cutting wood they forgot to cast the first spoonful of rice from the bowl to the daemon, they will be punished by a severe fall or cut, or sc * other accident. These spirits are capricious and exacting, ai- 1 for every little neglect take vengeance on the members of a farmer's household or on his crops or cattle. The Long-shin, or Dragon daemons, are water spirits. They have no shrines, but the Shamans conduct a somewhat expensive ceremony by the sea and riversides in which they present them with offerings for the repose of the souls of drowned persons. The phase of Daemonolatry which is the most common and the first to arrest a traveller's attention is also the most obscure. The Sdng IVJioang Dan (altar of the Holy Prince), the great Korean altar, rudely built of ?oose stones under the shade of a tree, from the branches of wnich are suspended such worthless 4»8 Korea and Her Nciglihors e^vofos as strips of paj^r. rags, small bags of rice, old clouts and worn-out si.oes. look less like an altar than a decS ca.rn o large size.- A peculiarity of the .Si;,, //'wX; ..that they are generally supposed to be frequented by varbu d.-emons. though occasionally they are crowned by a shri. o a single sp.r.t. Korean travellers make their special plea to a travellers' daemon who is supposed to be found Zr.SZl Y'lor l.kew.se regards the altar as the shrine of his guard an daemon and bestows a bit of old ro,,e upon it. Furthe than th.s. when some special bird or beas! has destroyed i eC in- junous to agriculture, the people erect a shrine to it on h "e altan. or ca.rns. on which may frequently be seen the rude daub ofa bird or animal. "ccn me ruae Two spirits, the To-fi-chi Shin and the Chon-Shin are re- ga. ed as ocal d.mons. and occupy s,.ts on the luTtai . similar o that offered in ancestral worship is made to them be ore the body is laid in the earth. tL sJ^l^^Z over his, and one of them intones a ritual belongin/to thi occasioi. The shrine of Con-Shin is a local temple Vsm^ decayed erection usually found outside villages, in SeouUe has a „.ud or plaster shrine is which his picture is ensluin d with much ceremony, but in the country his fetish is usually a sn-aw booth set up over a pair of old shoes under a tree. For the observances connected with him all the residents in a neighborhood are taxed. He maybe regarded as the chief deemon in every district, and it is in his honor that the mu- /a«^ celebrate the triennial festival formerly described />~?i"'' T''l "'. '''' '^^ '•^•^'°" °f '"^^ Korean n^moneon. Song Ju, the spirit of the ridge pole who pre- we'rfl' - 1; J°"".'"eeests the idea that these uncouth heap of stones Ted ZT^ """Tu °u "" °^" "'"^'' '"''•'"^ da-mons'were s p Notes on Dirmonlsm Conchnhd 419 sides over the hume, occupies a sort of imperial i)ositiun with regard to the other houschukl spirits. His fetish consists of some sheets of paiK'r and a paper bag containing as many siwonfuls of rice as tlie household is years old on the day when the mn tans; susi)ends it to the crossbeam of the house. The ceremony of his inauguration was conducted as follows in the case of a householder who was at once a scholar, a noble, a rich man, and the headman of a large village. A lucky day having been chosen by divination, the noble, after grading the site for his house, erected the fran:ework, and with great ceremony attached such a fetish, duly prepared by the Pan-su, to the crossbeam. Prostrations and invocations marked this stage. When the building of the house was com- pleted, an auspicious day was again chosen by divination, and a great ceremony was performed by the mutang for the en- shrining of the daimon in the home. The mutang arranged the ceremonial and prepared the offerings, and then with a special wand only used en these occasions, called the spirit who is supposed to be under her control, and returning to the house solemnly enshrined him in the fetish, to which it is correct to add a fresh sheet of paper every year. After Song/u was sup- posed to have had time to feed spiritually on the offerings, they were pla- ' before the gu?sts, and a great entertainment fol- lowed. Ti/u, or the lord of the site, is the next great daemon, but investigations regarding him have been very resultless. Little is known, except that offerings are presented to him at some spot on the premises, but not inside the house. These offer- ings, which are of food, are made on the ist, 2nd, 3rd, and 15th of each month. This food is afterwards eaten by the family, and a continual offering is represented by a bit of cloth or a scrap of old rope. His fetish is a bundle of straw, empty inside, placed on three sticks, but in some circumstances a flower pot with some rice inside is substituted. ! i !M. M H 4^0 Korea and H.cce of cloth or pa,.r nailed to the wall above the cooking .nd'^t'. »h"! '""' V ;'"^'"°"' *'^° "* '>"^*^hed to the family and not the house, the first of them being Cho Wan, a sniHt of the constellation of the Great Bear. \ very po X sE' H., ,hr.ne .s outside the wall, and his fetish, to ^ ich woE he'd • " Tr '"" °'^'°''' '^"^ ^^'' ^^ ''^-J»ofL' the daemon familiar of a mu-tang. y^lLl'*:^^' ''.'.' '''" '■"'" °' '"^"^ °f »he family, and every household ., am^.t.-ous to secure him. Hi, fetish is a straw' booth three feet h.gh. in which is a flower pot containing some nee covered with a stone and paper ^ torit? 5'*''"' 1'''' ^''""^ ^«^'"°"» •■» «" «"cient and his- toncal d^mon. ChUi Sok, who is regarded .- the grandfather of A,« Chin.cm 3ok, the d.mon of nativity. H is etish un :rm'fa^:no"srV \' "^^^-"^"^ /estroyed.'d:t'e:d" irom father to son. He has several fetishes, and when he re thTrreLT'' ^t the Triennial Festival, the ..-^putso; the dre«i of an offic.al. He is the dcemon of nativity and the g.ver of posccrity, and is a triple daemon. Korean women jSii« .^/« enables them to understand the mystery I He is be ncved to have the control of all children up'to th'e age oV ou ' He avenges ceremonial defilement such as the sight by an ex! house where there has been a recent birth, a notice warning visitors not to enter is often put up on his behalf. He mpo^ on plebe.an mothers a period of seclusion for twenty on7da^ thlh' h ^T '""■ "°^'* "^'^'^'^ °"« hundred days, for ttz^:::z, '' ''' '- -' '^'''y --^^^"-^ the^BrTtui *';' ^*'"°" l""^''^' '» the Japanese DaiJ^oku and the Br.t.sh Ma^.,on. He is worshipped in the granary, and Notes on Da'inonisin Comluilcd 421 thanks are ofTered to him as well as petitions. His fetish is a paste jar set up on two decorated bags of riie. A man in Chemulpo, now a Christian, had a very famous fetish, wliich was originally a jar of l)eans, but these were changed into clear wafer, and a mysterious improvement in the fortunes of the family set in from that date, the jar becoming an object of grateful worship. One day it was found broken and the water lost, and from that time his fortunes declined. Kol lip is the daemon who takes charge of the external for- tiuies of the family, and is also the mercury of the I'riisehold divmons. His fetish is enshrined over the gate house, and consists of a mass of rubbish, old straw shoes for wearing on his travels, cash for spiritual funds, and a fragment of grass cloth for travelling outfit. There is also the daemon of the gate whose fetish hangs over the entrance. Dr. Landis has classified the Korean dxmons as follows:— Spirits high in rank I. Spirits of the Ilcnvcns. a. Spirits of the Earth, 3. Spirits of the Mountains and Iliril. 4. Spirits of the Dr.igons. 5. (Juardiaii Spirits of the District. 6. Spirits of the Huddhist Faith (?) Spirits oj the House 7. Spirit of the ridge [wlo. Tliis is the chief of all the spirits of the House. 8. Spirit of goods and furniture. 9. Spirit dxmon of the Yi family. 10. Spirit of the kitchen. 11. Attendant spirits of No. 9. I a. Spirits which serve one's ancestors. 13. The fluards and servants of No. 9. 14. The Spirits which aid jugglers. 15. Spirits of goods and chattels, lil^e No. 8, but inferior in rank. 16. Spirits of smallpox. 17. Spirits which take the forms of animals. \^ 422 . Korea and Her Neighbors exorcL^""" "'''' "^^ ^""*'°" °' y''""^ «"-^'' -"^ change them into 19. Spirits of the seven stars which form the Dipper, ao. Spirits of the house site. Various kinds of Spirits ai. Spirits which make men brave that they are all evil. ^ " " needless to say 23. Spirits which cause tigers to cat men. 24. Spirits which cause men to die on the road 26 £r"u wLvh ■■"■" ''"' ''' '°"^ '^^"^'"e ^" '°^» of calamities. 26. Spirits which cause a man to die away from home. 27- Spir. s which cause men to die as substitutes for others. 28. Spirits which cause men to die by strangulation. 39- Spirits which cause men to die by drowning 30. Spirits which cause women to die in childbirth 31. Spirits which cause men to die by suicide. 33. Jpirits which cause men to die by fire. ZZ. Spirits which cause men to die by being beaten 34. Spirits which cause men to die by falls 35- Spirits which cause men to die by pestilence. 36. Spirits which cause men to die by cholera The belief in the efficacy of the performances of the««. tang ts enormous. In sickness the very poor half starve thm- ^Ives a..d pawn their clothing to pay for her exorcism h" T'T T T "''^'^ "P°" '''' ^°""try for hundreds, if no thousands of years. The order is said to date bac 4 0- o2l r ''" ''"'^ '" ^'^•"^' ^"^^'^ it was under official regulations, mu-Aam. Five hundred years aeo the founder of the present dynasty prohibited ;««-4 LX ^ wuhin the walls of Seoul-hence their houses and temple e found outside the city walls. lempies are Women are not mu-fang by birth, but of late years it has become customary for the girl children of a sorc«e» to go Notes on DjEmonism Concluded 423 out with her and learn her arts, which is tending to give the profession a hereditary aspect. It is now recruited partly in this fashion, partly fronj among hysterical girls, and partly '"or a livelihood, but outside of these sources, a damon may take possession of any woman, wife, maid, or widow, rich or poor, plebeian or patrician, and compel her to serve him. At the beginning of the possession she becomes either slightly or seriously ill, and her illness may last four weeks or three years, during which time she dreams of a dragon, a rainbow, peach trees in blossom, or of a man in armor who is suddenly meta- morphosed i; an animal. Under the influence of these dreams she becomes like an insane person, and when awake sees many curious things, and before long speaks as an oracle of the spirits. She then informs her family that messengers from Heaven, Earth, and the Lightning have informed her that if she is not allowed to practise exorcism, they or their domestic animals will die. Should they insist on secluding her, her illross shortly terminates fatally. If a daughter of a noble family becomes possessed, they probably make away with her, in the idea that if madness takes this turn, the disgrace would be indelible. But things usually go smoothly, and on being allowed to have her own way the first thing she does is to go into a vacant room and fill it with flowers as an off'ering to the daemons. Then she must obtain the clothing and professional parapher- nalia of a deceased mu-tang. The clothing may be destroyed after the daemon has taken full possession of his new recruit, but the drums and other instruments must be retained. After the possessions of the deceased mu-tang have been bestowed on the new one who claims them, she proceeds to exorcise such bad spirits as may be infesting the donor's house, so as to en- able his family to live in peace, after which she writes his name on a tablet, and placing it in a small room invokes bless- ings on him for three years. If 424 Korea and Her Neighbors lucrative profession. Her "q °2enT "''^ ''"P^''^"^ ^^^ dresses, some of them very cos7 ! H '°"T °' ' ""'"»'" ^' glass, four feet in length coDoe^;; ^k ? "^'^'^ ''''*^^" ^'^"r- tinklers suspended from il bv ^ ^ u"^'' " '°PP^^ ^°^' ^'^h paper bann^s whirfloat^oundT "^T' ''"^' '^ ''^'^ -"^ brelJas, wands, images oTm" 7 "' '^' ^^""^' ^^"«' ""n- gongs, and a Uirfftdescone T TT''' '"^^ °^ =°PP" chiefly used incases o'^C^^^^ result from rats climbing aboJurh^ ''''•'' '"^^^^^^ *° scratching sound made bv a 1 , ^'"^" '"''"°^- ^he which resembles the noise If k' "'' °^ ^'^^^^ baskets, and drive away these rodems ' "*'' '^ ''^''''^ ^° ^-re 4ect hSrrain^:sr ^''^ ''- -«■'-- -- three days, during wh ch time?,^ '"^'"« ^'^^ ^ "^^n^h to fish, and must pfrtlnf f^T tf""'' '''*"" ''°™ ^^^'^ «"d steeped in wateLnd tl r;erettL\Vtr^^^^^ ^^^ « as she walks round the housed ff i '' ^"^ 'P""'^l«' and going through the sleremo'r ^^''""^ ^"^^ -^- the^pIoplH; S:ore7v:nTnr "^^ ''' ---- °- o^ l>e observed that in KorelTrJ ^- '''°"' ''^'^'''- ^' ^'H demoniacal posseslf,Tn, t T ' "'' """■''^' "'^'^ or .u.,an^, are alway ren.^uUed T" °' *'' ^''"^«' and surgery are the most success^lt •, ^"T'" "'^^'^'"^ and degrading system wM^hTld Z^^^'' ^^^^^^^ respects highly civilized in k ^ ^^'°"' '" ""any bc^.as p.i.,-red inr„; .r:r:.td!c: r""" °' tending increasinglv in ih. Hir.„ r '""''<^='' Missions " is I' would be imws^^ . ,^ '"" °' ^"^""^'Pa'ion. deceived. In ^^ThJ, ' ^ '" "" """""'f '» «'f- •be exorcises "TTeltn'TLTS/^^' '" "'>'^'' Notes on Daemonism Concluded 42c works herself into such a delirious frenzy that she falls down foaming at the mouth, and death is occasionally the result of the frantic excitement. The "Dsmon of the Yi Family" is invoked in every dis- trict once in three years by the mu-tang in a formula which has been translated thus-" Oh Master and Mistress of our Kingdom, may you ever exist in peace. Once in every three years we invoke you with music and dancing. Oh make this house to be peaceful." If this malignant spirit arrives at a house he can only be appeased by the death of a man, an ox or a pig. Therefore when the mu-tang becomes aware that he has come to a house or neighborhood, a pig is at once killed, boiled, and offered up entire-the exorcist takes two knives and dances a sword dance, working herself into a "fine frenzy after which a box is made and a Korean official hat and robes are placed within it, as well as a dress suitable for a palace lady. The box is then placed on the top of the family clothes chest, and sacrifices are frequently offered there. This daemon is regarded as the spirit of a rebellious Crown Prince the sole object of whose daemon existence is to injure all with whom he can come into contact. A man sometimes marries a mu-tang, but he is invariably "a fellow of the baser sort," who desires to live in idleness on the earnings of his wife. If. as is occasionally the case, the mu- tang belongs to a noble family, she is only allowed to exorcise spirits in her own house, and when she dies she is buried in a hole m a mountain side with the whole paraphernalia of her profession. Some mu-tang do not go abroad for purposes of exorcism. These may be regarded as the aristocracy of their profession, and many of them are of much repute and live in the suburbs of Seoul. Those who desire their services send the necessary money and offerings, and the /,/«-/a«^ exorcise the spirits in their own houses. The use of straw, ropes, and of pieces of paper resembling the Shinto ^^y%«, during incantations, with a certain similarity 426 Korea and Her Neighbors r„^r^;^■::.'.^■i■^•r■="^ To, doctrine, has not yet been affixed to D«monism. CHAPTER XXXVI SEOUL IN 1897* IT was midnight when, by the glory of an October full moon, I arrived from Chemulpo at tlie foot of the rugged slope crowned with the irregular, lofty, battlemented city wall and .picturesque double-roofed gateway of the Gate of Staunch Loyalty which make the western entrance to the Korean capital so unique and attractive. An arrangement had been made for the opening of the gate, and after a long parley between the faithful Im and the guard, the heavy iron-bolted door creaked back before the united efforts of ten men, and I entered Seoul, then under the authority of Ye Cha Yun, an energetic and en- lightened Governor, under whose auspices the western part of the city has lost the refuse heaps and foulness, with their con- comitant odors, which were its chief characteristic. In the streets and lanes not a man, dog, or cat stirred, and not a light glimmered from any casement ; but when I reached Chong- dong, the foreign quarter, I observed that the lower extremity of every road leading in the direction of the Russian Legation was irregularly guarded by several slouching Korean sentries, gossiping in knots as they leaned on their rifles. The grounds of my host's house open on those of the King's new palace, and the King and Crown Prince, attended by large retinues, were constantly carried through them on their way from their asylum in the Russian Legation to perform the • I left Korea for China at Christmas, 1805, and after spending six months in travelling in the Chinese Far West, and three months among the Nan-tai San mountains in Japan, returned in the middle of October, 1896, and remained in Seoul until late in the winter of 1896^7. 487 I; 'i l!) rt 428 Korea and Her Neighbors customary rites at the spirit shrine, to which the fragmentary remains of the murdered Queen had been removed, to wait until the geomancers could decide on an "auspicious " site for her grave, the one which had been prepared for her at an enormous expense some miles outside the city having just been pro- nounced "unlucky." A few days after my arrival the King went to the Kyeng- wjn Palace to receive a Japanese prince, and courteously ar- ranged to give me an audience afterwards, to which I went, attended, as on the last occasion, by the British Legation in- terpreter. The entrances were guarded by a number of slouch- ing sentries in Japanese uniforms. Their haw, which had been cropped at the time of the abolition of the "topknot," had grown again, and hung in heavy shocks behind their ear's, giving them a semi -barbarous appearance. At the second gate I alighted, no chair being permitted to enter, and walked to a very simple audience hall, then used for the first time, about ao feet by 12 feet, of white wood, with lattice doors and win- dows, both covered with fine white paper, and with fine white mats on the floor. The King and Crown Prince, both of whom were in deep mourning, />. in pure white robes with sleeveless dresses of exquisitely fine buff grass-cloth over them, and fine buff crino- line hats, stood together at the upper end of the room, sur- rounded by eunuchs, court ladies, including the reigning favorites, the ladies I^ak and Om, and Court functionaries, all in mourning, the whole giving one an impression of absolute spotlessness. The waists of the voluminous white skirts of the ladies, which are a yard too long for them all round, were as high up as It is possible to place them. The King and Crown Prince bowed and smiled. I made the required three curtseys to each, and the interpreter adopted the deportment required by Court etiquette, crouching, looking down, and speaking in an awe-struck whisper. I had not seen the King for two years, a period of great anxiety and vicissi- he fragmentary :d, to wait until s "site for her at an enormous just been pro- to the Kyeng- courteously ar- which I went, h Legation in- nber of slouch - i/, which had le "topknot," ind their ears, e second gate I id walked to a St time, about oors and win- rith fine white were in deep ess dresses of ne buff cri no- he room, sur- the reigning ctionaries, all )n of absolute 5 skirts of the )und, were as led, I made reter adopted liing, looking had not seen f and vicissi- 1^ t/5 o -] u u u u < < a. Q ►J o w Seoul in 1897 429 tude to him, but he was not looking worn or older, and when 1 congratulated him on his personal security and the assump- tion of his regal functions he expressed himself cordially in reply, wjth an air of genuine cheerfulness. In the brief con- versation which followed the Crown Prince took part, and showed a fair degree of intelligence, as well as a much ira- proved physique. Later I had two informal audiences of the King in his house in the centre of the mass of the new buildings of the Kyeng- wun Palace. It is a detached Korean dwelling of the best Korean workmanship, with a deep-caved, tiled roof, the carved beams of which are elaborately painted, and their terminals decorated wuh the five-petalled plum blossom, the dynastic em- blem. The house consists of a hall with a kang floor, divided into one large and two small rooms by sliding and removable partitions of fretwork, filled in with fine tissue paper, the win- dows which occupy the greater part of both sides being of the same construction. The very small rooms at each end are in- dicated as the sleeping apartments of the King and his son by pale blue silk mattresses laid upon the fine white mats which cover the whole floor. The only furniture was two ten-leaved white screens. The fastenings of the windows and partitions are of very fine Korean brasswork. Simplicity could not go further. * Opposite is the much-adorned spirit shrine of the late Queen, connected with the house by a decorated gallery. The inner palace enclosure, where these buildings are, is very small, and behind the King's house rises into a stone terrace. Numerous as IS the King's guard, it is evident that he fears to rely upon It solely, for of two gates leading from his house one opens into quarters occupied by Russian officers, who arrived in Seoul in the autumn of 1890, at the King's request, for purposes of mili- tary organization J and the other into small barracks occupied by the Russian drill instructors of the Korean army. Through the former he could reach the grounds of the English Legation 430 Korea and Her Neighbors in one minute, and after his former experiences possibilities of escape must be his first consideration. The small buildings of this new palace were already crowded like a rabbit warren, and when completed will contain over i,ooo people, includ' ing the bodyguard, eunuchs, and Court officials innumerable, writers, readers, palace ladies, palace women, and an immense establishment of cooks, runners, servants, and all the supera- bundant and useless entour ge of an Eastern Sovereign, to whom crowds and movement represent power. This congeries of buildings was carefully guarded, and even the Korean soldier who attended on me was not allowed to pass the gate. The King had given me permission to take his photograph for Queen Victoria, and I was arranging the room for the pur- pose when the interpreter shouted '« His Majesty," and almost before I could step back and curtsey, the King and Crown Prince entered, followed by the Officers of the Household and several of the Ministers, a posse of the newfangled police crowding the veranda outside. The Sovereign, always cour- teous, asked if 1 would like to take one of the portraits in his royal robes. The rich crimson brocade and the gold embroid- ered plastrons on his breast and shoulders became him well, and his pose was not deficient in dignity. He took some trouble to arrange the Crown Prince to the best advantage but the result was unsuccessful. After the operation was over he examined the different parts of the camera with interest, and seemed specially cheerful. At a farewell audience some weeks later the King reverted to the subject of a British Minister, accredited solely to Korea; and the interpreter added, as an aside, " His Majesty is very anxious about this. " He hardly seemed to realize that even if a change in the representation were contemplated, it could scarcely be carried out while Sir Claude Macdonald, who is accredited to both Courts, remains Minister at Peking. The King was for more than a year the guest of the Russian Legation, an arrangement most distasteful to a large number THE KING OF KOREA. ii fcoiil ill iH(jy 43> of hi, .ubjrcu. who naturally reganle,! it a, a national hunnlj. ation that thc.r Sovereign should be un.lrr the ,m.,ection of a fore.gn flag Rumors of plots for removing him to the I'alace from which he escaped were rife, and there were days on which he feared to v.sit the Queen's tablet-house unless Russian offi- cers walked beside his chair. Mr. Waeber. the Russian Minister, had then been in Korea twelve years He is an able and faithful servant of Russia He was trusted by the King and the whole forngn communuy." •nd up to the time of the Ife^ira had been a warm and judU Z7JTV' '^' ^"''"'' "'^ «"''^^"- ■ '«•'' have pre- vented the Kmg from making infamous appoint, ,ents and arbi- trary arrests, from causelessly removing officials u <, were work- •ng well, and from such reckless extravagance as a costly Embassy to the European Courts and a foolish inc ease of the army and pohce force. But he remained passive, a. lowing the Koreans to "stew in their own juice." acting poss biy under orde« from home to give Korea "rope enongMo h.,g it sel . a proceedmg which might hereafter give Russi a legiti- mate excuse for interference. Apart from such instru tions. it must remain an inscrutable mystery why so excelle, t a man and so capable a diplomatist when absolutely mastc of the situation neglected to aid the Sovereign with his valu. ,le ad- vice, a course which would have met with the cordial a, .rovai of all his colleagues. B, that as it may, the liberty which the King has e, .yed at the Russian Legation and since has not been for the a van- tage of Korea, and recent policy contrasts unfavorably vith tlut pursued during the period of Japanese ascendency, whch. on the whole, was in the direction of progress and righte. us^ ,oi?'V''"'''u^'"°PP^*^ "P ^^^y' ^'"'^^"« ^"d other favori es sold offices unblushingly. and when specific charges were maJe against one of the King's chief favorites, the formal dema.l for his prosecution was oiet by m^Jcing him Vice-Minister of 432 Korea and Her Neighbors Education ! The King, freed from the control of the muti- nous officers and usurping Cabinet of 8th October, 1895, from the Queen's strong though often unscrupulous guidance, and from Japanese ascendency, and finding himself personally safe, has reverted to some of the worst traditions of his dynasty, and in spite of certain checks his edicts are again law and his will absolute. And it is a will at the mercy of any designing person who gets hold of him and can work upon his fears and his desire for money— of the ladies Pak and Om, who assisted him in his flight, and of favorites and sycophants low and many, who sell or bestow on members of their families offices they have little difficulty in obtaining from his pliable good nature. With an ample Civil List and large perquisites he is the most impecunious person in his dominions, for in common with all who occupy official positions in Korea he is sur- rounded by hosts of grasping parasites and hangers-on, for ever clamoring "Give, Give." Men were thrown into prison without reason, some of the worst of the canaille were made Ministers of State, the mur- derer of Kim Ok-yun was appointed Master of Ceremony, and a convicted criminal, a man whose life has been one career of sordid crime, was made Minister of Justice. Con- sequent upon the surreptitious sale of offices, the seizure of revenue on its way to the Treasury, the appointment of men to office for a few days, to give them "rank" and to enable them to quarter on the public purse a host of impecunious re- lations and friends, and the custom among high officials of resigning office on the occasion of the smallest criticism, the administration is in a state of constant chaos, and the ofttimes well-meaning but always vacillating Sovereign, absolute with- out an idea of how to rule, the sport of favorites usually un- worthy, who work upon his amiability, the prey of greedy parasites, and occasionally the tool of foreign adventurers, paralyzes all good government by destroying the elements of permanence, and renders economy and financial reform diffi- Seoul in 1897 a 00 cult and spasmodic by consenting to schemes of reckless ex- travagance urged upon him by interested schemers. Never has the King made such havoc of reigning as since he re- gamed his freedom under the roof of the Russian Embassy. I regret to have to write anyihing to the King's disadvan- tage. Personally I have found him truly courteous and kind as he is to all foreigners. He has amiable characteristics, and I believe a certain amount of patriotic feeling. But as he is an all-important element of the present and future condition of Korea, it would be misleading and dishonest to pass over without remark such characteristics of his character and rule as are disastrous to Korea, bearing in mind in extenuation of them that he is the product of five centuries of a dynastic tra- dition which has practically taught that public business and the interests of the country mean for the Sovereign simply get- tmg offices and pay for favorites, and that statesmanship con- sists m playing off one Minister against another. Novelties in the Seoul streets were the fine physique and long gray uniforms of Colonel Putiata and his subordinates three officers and ten drill-instructors, who arrived to drill and discipline the Korean army, the American military ad- viser having proved a failure, while the troops drilled by the Japanese were mutinous and rapacious, and the Japanese drill- instructors had retired with the rest of the re^me. This "Military Commission " was doing its work with characteris- tic vigor and thoroughness, and the flat-faced, pleasant-look- ing, non-commissioned officers, with their drilled slouch serviceable uniforms, and long boots were always an attraction to the crowd. A novelty, too, was the sight of the Korean cadet car/s of thirty-seven young men of good families and seven officers, marching twice daily between the drill ground of the Korean troops close to the Kyeng-pok Palace and their own barracks behind the Russian Legation, with drums beat- ing and colors flying. These young men, who are to receive a two years' military education from Russian officers, are un- 434 Korea and Her Neighbors • accoutrements, and hard work for " ^ °"'"'"''= ""^ Tl.= army „„„ cottsists of 4' „o me" 1 & 7V' "" <'^^- are drilled as a bodyguard ffr,rv ' *°° °' "'""» provinces, in JapauesI unTforlf , *' """ ''"» '" "■» .;) With 3,ooi Ls,"rit™:;sre?:y^''if„^:':: K '''^^ The dnil and words of command are Russian °"'^ for'aiJp^r^L^esT Ue/Td ^ "T "^^ "^ ^"^cien. °f 0,000 is an unb,urA"X,:etdThr; ■"■"^ her resources. It is mn« ■,,„k ti , '^""J' <*'''"" ™ armed by Russia, ac us"" d^^'t p" ' f<"- billed and -ted byanin,;„seTeX;ha:^'lfT" <"^— 'l ani- a valuable «r^^ ^.„„„^, to R„« "^ ■'"P""' """W prove .ha. ambitiousld rXempt '" '"= "'"' "' "" -* The old itsa or .fj/ir ifai-mts with .^•; • and long red plum« are now onir,„ h ""=""•«'"■« ^'^ in attendance on olScialsof tTCe^n o"' "' "'^'""'^• « now policed, much overpoiced f^" u ""T'"'- ^«"'' men, when a quarter of Vh;, , '^ * '°™ °f '.»<>o ■■« orderly po ^Cn EvlXr:'™,''' """^--^for men on and off duty in Ial!Z ''"''^'' "^ ^'-'"'^'■ing shocks of hair ^^^ll^^Z^ZTV-^'"'""^-^^ scabbards by their sides, s'gl^ „"1 "al' "" ""'^'-'""«' Penditure. The soldier and police b' T "'™=«="' «" ment made by the Taoan^. f i ' '^ " """'« ""nge- alter, are enormousVoZaM e " u- ''""'^ P""'"' •» lars and a half a mon^ "fn f !,. '■'"""'""« ^'^ ^ol- e;.h. to ten, only Zdtg th Td '^,"'' '"=■-•- '- about the most highly pfid h te world t?™" ""^ '^ rean m his great baggy trousers mT' . """«' '^°- brimmed hat, capacioSslelr a .'d lotT""=' ''™''- ^ "snally a docile and harmlCllT^e ^tS .it. 1 to find that training in- ti rifles and 'f the day. 3 of whom ■oo in the far as they to Korea. 1 sufficient 5 ^; army drain on billed and ' and ani- jld prove war with e dresses Lt rarely, ■ Seoul >f I,200 :ient for ouching ns, with I-plated [ant ex- rrange- ible to ve dol- e from rmy is jeKo- broad- ' coat, lothes Vi u in a; 7) t/2 a, O u w u o 1^ Seoul in 1897 435 through .,fe coumy w e a^e™ ":,?"''';""'"•"'<' brutality and mara„cli„g7r„pe s ,« L vi„T "? """ Russian officers ar» m„™ "l«!nsilies early in 1897, and unless disoipiinC^-: r„r ■:nr: :rjtt^^^^^^^^^^^^ the requirements of the couotrv rZ '' "«' '"' ness and frequent disorder '' ' '"°'" ' =°""^= "' "^k- both sides, bridged bys™^ Ih ,! "?'"""''' """""^'^ "» »hich we; bSng'1 J tf' hoi"''" m' ''''''''' ^"'''• been widened, slimy^1,°,e s h^d b ^f"'"" '""'» "-^O r;"s:ad:t;n£x-^^^^^^^^ had been er«tedta 'lb ""''""'T'^''°'« "'*«'«= f""^ ■■n. Of refus^ilrfo IhVre?;:" e^t^Sfe'L'ajr""" r™-:::™: bir .t' a:;r„f' — - - ^;: cleanest city of ,be Far East , " °" "' """ '" '«'"8 ">= ^o^irdT^j^r^'^'-^'r *-^ ™* "f f°- Commisioner of Custom, T,"^' "1 '''^'"'' "' "■= ^hief intemgen. Gov:Lor T 'e ti.; Tcha v' "' t't'^ ^""^ quaiuted himself with the wtkil „f ^ ",'""""' ="=• Washington and wh„ -.i, " """■apal affairs in credit ,0 htasei? hi " ■"' '"'^'''^ "''^^ «' '>'■<' »", of e!^ry :;c'irof 'mtirr'"^ :i't "^ "■•"•" ^«™""'^'-» -ich LLr ^x^"--^- :uri:^^^^^^^^ 43^ Korea and Her Neighbors being fast improved off the face of the earth V.f u- u- . brisker than W^X Z TLdj '"'r ,'°°'^ '^'^^ far« llrteTr °°''' '" *' '""''"'« "' ^"^ thorough- lares tnat the improvement consists. Verv manv nf .!,» „ lanes have been widened th.r, ,™j ""X "any of the narrow and stone gutters havXe„ b„i uIT,,"":' '"" ^™"«'' by the people themse7v« a> ? "" '"*''■ '" »°™ •''^ P^uliaf odor toXs ^t^lTT'!' *^ '"^ P""*™'- enforced, and civihzation C u .^"'""X 'Wlations are removal if the "ow from the fromt'^;? ' '"'«'" '"" "" Pbo.ographfyr:-e--x;:atroft:i^;:^r w (/5 u OS c/J c/3 }* Seoul in 1897 437 IZT.'^ T"'"'' ''°"'""' """ ">= "Pi'al is being recon ..ructed on Korean line,, and i, no. being Eu.opeaniJd Chong-dong ho»ever, the q„ar.er devoid TfoX Le r^paL^i:7^erdrolX"nr„:'i^r^^^ Korean Kings, has L its ideX I s r«k "S™ 1 ,"" and bou,de„ have disappeared-L ™ fga l^^i 'bt' widened and .he sides chiselled i„.o smoJhness, and under iowelS hdgh. • "^ '""" '"= '"^ "'" "" Many o.her changes were nc.iceable. The Tai-won Kun Western Palaces, w.th their enormous accommodation and im mense pleasure-grounds, were deserted, and were a^readv Z C? '° ^r'' '''' J^P^"- -1^-- h " ; aS the Par. '.° 'T °''"P''' "^y '""'^ <='°^e to the Kyenipok Palace, and, reduced to the modest numbers of Tt.?.- ing groups of houses in various parts of the canital anH fi,^ was a singular «< ^,o/^.v. »» • , . capital, and there singular boom m schools, accompanied by a military I J, 438 Korea and Her Neighbors '""-«, had been edited tit Ki< "" ^.'".""''" -""' ^""f- a"d published a, Gover„me",ul' ' ?"T'°: "^P""""". •entences occur :_ "Ponse, i„ K|„ch the following "■-iof /J.t°MiddirK[L'"' f" '"' -'-of civi. English, French, Germans 2 r/ •'""" ^"'"'•"- T"ks, and beasts than t^en a„d L . ^'""^ ""^ "^ ''■■" ''"<<« ing of fowls." ' '' """ '^"e-'^e^ ^"""d like the chirp. and erroneous, and i a„^t"a "0^,':"'°",'' ™'«»'' =''^"- customs, which are not w" f ' Ir *' "l"'^ °f ""l-arian Theyworshipthebea „;X/br; r'^'""- ' ' ' ents, they insult heaven inZyl^^'^T ?'"? '° •"'" relations. This is truly a tvne „T b ^"''.°"'"'°™ the social "o. worthy of .reatm™.^n'L°,^;^"J" "'.--•»"<< is «P^;allyasatthisti„..h.ref^irirs::XrS bn' - are st'prised to fi d t ,™ht°?t- """ '"'«'°" O' people have not escaped contalinatl by"^^'""^ """'^^ -" "11 P- 42 it is said : " Of !,«,. ,1,. „ . (Christianity) has been irv.-n 7 '^^"^'' ^' *' ^^^ i'» barbarous teachnr "! "'. ""'?"-'"»« '"eWorld wifh of Heaven and H l^i, /''"""' -'t' '^''^^ ">' "» «""« -orship, and inter Icis he*'" T''' "" "^ "' '"'""^^ of Heaven and Earth. Thesete. h r * 1""' "" S"^' ■n'ellect, and are no. worth d^^i*; ,?""«' °' ' ^'^">"^ Seoul in 1897 439 P. 50 : " How grand and glorious is the Empire of China, the Middle Kingdom 1 She is the largest and richest in the world. The grandest men of the world have all come from the Middle Empire." This tirade from an official pen was thought worthy of a re- monstrance from the foreign representatives. The graceful Pat-low, near the Peking Pass, at which gener- ations of Korean kings had publicly acknowledged Chinese suzerainty by awaiting there the Imperial Envoy who came to invest them with regal rights, was removed, and during my sojourn the foundation of an arch to commemorate the as- sumption of Independence by Korea in January,, 1895, was laid near the same spot, in presence of a vast concourse of white- robed men. An Independence Club, with a disused Royal Pavilion near the stumps of the Pai-low for its Club House, had been established to commemorate and conserve the national autonomy, and though the entrance fee is high, had already a membership of 2,000. After a number of patriotic speeches had been made on the occasion of the laying of the foundation of the independence arch, the Club entertained the Foreign Legations and all the foreign residents at a richerchi "collation" in this building; speeches were made both by Koreans and the Foreign Repre- sentatives, and an extraordinary innovation was introduced. Waiters were dispensed with, and the Committee of the Club, the Governor of Seoul, and several of the Ministers of Slate themselves attended upon the guests with much grace and courtesy. One of the most important events in Seoul was the establish- ment in April, 1896, by Dr. Jaisohn of the Independent, a two- page tri-weekly newspaper in English and the Korean script, enlarged early in 1897 to four pages, and published separately in each language. Only those who have formed some idea of the besotted ignorance of the Korean concerning current events in his own country, and of the credulity which makes 440 Korea and Her Neighbors which ,l,allsiUnj2en. on 'l,""j'"l" P""'' "Ptaio- i» already fulfilling an r^ll t^ '!"' "«'"'" '"»''«')>. It and dragging ,i,/„ i„ Xyth,"".!?" '" ""'""""(tabu.™ rational educa.ion and rSnabt r "''"«'"''"''' f" ■omething of a .mor .oS ' ' n"' r "" '' '«"°""8 P'il) is a Korean gentleman elo^tn • /' ^'"'°'"' ^^^ ^Wa "ejfare of l,i, co/n.ry rrlghTyrbLt""''^^' '"^ "" "" reading tbemTnTb ," fZ'T: " "?"""' ""■' "' -" Besides .1« /,„l,p„LTT' ' "" "°"'"'« of '897. ^'»,- and .he KoL? ;'7-^'*'''''''''''"<''l'««'-'>',», ■oonthly magazine rrS., ?"!'"" <^'''- P"""''™ a and foreign'ne^ ^t ch t 'a t ' k""'- '"'"■""' "'="«• Japanew and Korean srrint „. 1 1' ^ ^'"'' """', m mixed •here are newspap^in ,',!"'*'? °" """'»» "■'y'- and and Chemulpo' 'aI h « td ,? r'^'' ''°"' '" f""" ^"'VoO'.are'.begrowtronheL h '"""""'" """'"' ^'- The fcri,I.„ „<■ , • . ^'' ""■^^ years. •he :^tli ~r:re";r''^ "'^^^ '" '^°- - ■» Chin. « »eing turned .0 use^ r/nrThlrr^'"' "■' "™"«- aSKciation, „hich represents one If .^"' °' P""=''''= "^ features of Korea, develoos n„ " " "'°" "oteworthv benefit associatlons/ron^ , I™"™^« ""■?»"'•«. "-'"ai riage and burial clubs, great trad^rt''"'' '°""'"'»' ■""- ^ With its innumerailf^s.^ 'til*"'"'- ='"'' "any others, have alluded to, Korean Hf!^!" •,""''' " *" "f «hich I Korean business „orTVfe/l^:^"f^ ""'"^^' '"" "" nearly all the traders in the con n^! 1 ">' "«""«'' "'»n ours. Po«rfully bound together, and .Ivin^.h! °"°""" "' «"''*• ' ^ "*^'"«^ the common feature of Seoul in 1897 441 mutual helpfulness in time of need. This habit of united action, and the measure of honesty which is essential to the •uccess of combined undertakings, supply the framework on which various jo.nt-stock companies are being erected, among which one of the most important is a tannery. Korean hides have huherto been sent to Japan to be manufactured, owl!; to caste and superstitious prejudices against working in leather The establishment of this company, which broughfover ul nese instructors to teach the methods of manufacture, has not only made an end of a foolish prejudice, in the capital at following. " °^'"'"^ ' '"^ '""''''" '"^"^'^y' ^"d °^h^" -r« 21 f h J .n " °" "^' ^'^"'^ '"'■^•"«"^- It '"-y be said who h'n 7 " '" ''' '' '^ '''''''' '' -» - t'- Judges who shall administer ,t equably. A mixed Committee of Re- vision has been appointed, but the Korean members show a marked tendency to drop off. and no legal reform, sol. )v the work of foreigners, would carry weight with the people. " Mr Greathouse. a capable lawyer and legal adviser to the Lw De- partment, has been able to prevent some infamous transactions, b t on the whole the Seoul Law Court does little more than ad! minister injustice and receive bribes. Of the two Law Courts of the capital the Supreme Court, under the supervision of the Minister and Vice-Minister of Justice, and in which the foreign adviser sits with the judges to advise in important cases, is the mos hopeful; yet one of the most disgraceful of late appoint- ments has been in connection with this department. The out- rageous decisions, the gross bribery, and the actual atrocities of the Seou Court are likely to bring about its abolition, and I will not enlarge upon them. One of the most striking changes introduced into the Seoul Of 1897 IS the improvement in the prison, which is greatly owing to Mr. A. B. Stripling, formerly of the Shanghai Police who, occupying a position as adviser to the Police Department, I 442 Korea and Her Neighbo-s is carrying out prison reforms, originally suggested bv the Japanese, in a humane and enlightened manner t1^ u "ary, i8„, were subjected to i, el^where ' ' ^''"' givr'me a 1!^ * ?^ °' " f°™" ''"«>" "> Seoul, have stoeH a d\t:e /d'll''"''" ""t "' *' ""-- "- co.»pa.t. b'tlrfbeT cuTrit^/oV'-S .T^ not a usual temDerati.re ti u f '' ^"^ ^"^'s '» those who go out to work get a third meal Thic f' ! cost iXd. per day. * ^'"'^ ^"P^^ ^^'^t nar^m"" /r '"''" *° "^'^^^" P"— ^ ^-^ ordi- nary room, and fifty were awaiting trial in one roomy hall A •5»«^-»> uui 1 aid not see anv fettpre tu^ Ti ^;..g in their own mattresses, ifs ^d .I^IZl'ZfoL' cooiies outside. A perforated wooden bar attarhf.H f« .u s^:::! r'yr" ^°™^'«"^'"« pe*- 0-2;^ secures the legs of the pr soners at nieht Th* =; i, , ' thirtiir «r> *i 1- . « •'""cia cti nignt. Ine sick were Iv uff .io^rstnrinTefr"'"^'"^"''"'^" ■"™- aassfaca. Seoul in 1897 443 conspiracy were with convicted felons, who might or migiit not be acting as spies and informers ; a very fine-looking man, sentenced for life, the first magistrate in Korea ever convicted and punished for bribery, and that on the complaint of a simple citizen, was in a "cell" with criminals wearing cangues. Some of the sentences seemed out of proportion to the offences, as, for instance, a feeble old man was immured for three years for cutting and carrying off pine brush for fuel, and an old blind man of some position was incarcerated for ten years for the violation of a grave under circumstances of provocation. Much has been done in the way of prison reform, and much remains to be done, specially in the direction of classification, but still the great Seoul prison contrasts most favorably with the prisons of China and other unreformed Oriental countries. Torture is at least nominally abolished, and brutal exposures of severed heads and headless trunks, and beating and slicing to death, were made an end of during the ascendency of Japan. After an afternoon in the prison of Seoul, I could hardly believe it possible that only two years before I had seen several human heads hanging from tripod stands and lying on the ground in the throng of a business street, and headless bodies lying in their blood on the road outside the East Gate. To mention the changes in Seoul would take another chap- ter. Dr. Allen, now U.S. Minister to Korea, said that the last four months of 1896 had seen more alterations than the previous twelve years of his residence in the country, and the three months of my last visit brought something new every week. As a foil to so much that is indicative of progress, I con- clude this chapter by mentioning, on the authority of the Gov- ernor of Seoul, that in January, 1897, there were in the cap- ital a thousand mu-tang, or sorceresses, earning on an average fifteen dollars a month each, representing an annual ex- penditure by that single city of a hundred and eighty thou- A 444 Korea and Her Neighbors sand dollars on dealings with f),- • • -™ paid .0 .hebH:?:*;' r;h:"^'"*=°'''-^'-«= geomancers, whose claims on thl„ ''™"^' """ '<> «>= -r one o, „„k and .eaU^r slX^ir:'"'""™' <" KOREAN POLICEMEN Old /Hifgfmt New iV«'^,-»„ CHAPTER XXXVII LAST WORDS ON KOREA 'T^HE patient reader has now learned with me something of X Korean history during the last three years, as well as of the reorganized methods of Government, and the education, trade and finance of the country. He has also by proxy travelled in the interior, and has lived among the peasant farmers, seeing their industries, the huckstering which passes for trade, something of their domestic life and habits, and the superstitions by which they are enslaved, and has acquired some knowledge of the official and patrician exactions under which they suffer. He has seen the Koreans at home, with their limpness, laziness, dependence, and poverty, and Koreans under Russian rule raised into a thrifty and prosperous popu- lation. He can to some extent judge for himself of the pros- pects of a country which is incapable of standing alone, and which could support double its present population, and of the value of a territory which is possibly coveted by two Powers. Having acted as his guide so far, I should like to conclude with a few words on some of the subjects which have been glanced at in the course of these volumes. Korea is not necwanVy a poor country. Her resources are undeveloped, not exhausted. Her capacities for successful agriculture are scarcely exploited. Her climate is superb, her rainfall abundant, and her soil productive. Her hills and valleys contain coal, iron, copper, lead, and gold. The fish- eries along her coast-line of 1,740 miles might be a source of untold wealth She is inhabited by a hardy and hospitable race, and she has no beggar class. 445 446 Korea and Her Neighbors ' Ha.io.ns, sp.„c, .hd? liveat Lc ,1"' t^fn"'^?'^' °''"- ■10 careers are open ; the- • are nnZT^ "" '""'<"= «'"« 'hey can ,„„■ .heir en rg^ The „ r""""""^ '° '''>ich than is necessary to keep tte lu "''''^ "°* "° harder cien, reasons. Even ^Seo!,] l/"" *' ''""'•' '°' "'^ ^""i- ■»en,s have hardly ri^uftt' "f'^'""'^=»'''"«al'feh. Korea has been on a lo! rl "'°'^- ^^"yMm in Cass and cmcial e altb„n''.oTaUb "''• ^'^ ^''"'4" «™rity of al! earnings a Gov! "' °' >"'''^'- 'he in- 'he »ors, traditions of;hichTr:r ""l^^"" ''"''^ ^' ■nents are based, a class of offill 1^™"' °"'"'^' G"™"" " monarch enfeebled bv,h°f ''°^''"' ''«?«' '" '»'">«, pet'lnessesoftheX^o' X;r """^ ""'^^^ ="^ *= corrupt of e,„pi„s, thf^tlralorof"''' °""f ''■' ^ «s. and an all-pervading and te r^ Sn'? ""'"* '""'«"■ 'heir best to reduce Korea to ZT J .'"P"^"«on have done and dreary squalor ,7which I flrH'"™ "' '^^^celessness ^^^ Which I formed my fe, impression of an'rhtdTptlSr ^'^ "■"'• '" "" -. her soil. 'hotsfnTs' oflltS r itr^/V' "^''" ■•" '">'^- ing," on relations or friends 'h^*' °1 '""«'"8' "' "=«- selves. There is „„ sharaetn T,"" ■*"" "" """' 'hem- public opinion to contm ° aZTT:"" "■"' '^ "° come, however small has to „m„ . ^^' " ""^'n '"• his wife's relations ma^'Vr '^^ "^ ^is own kindred, of his relatives. TWroartll , °™ I""""' """ '^e Wend offices, and 'heir p^s tL a's ""T u '"* "" °°'"™™' man burdened wi.'h a ZiTort'^tlZ:"''"''- ^" " -- continual creation'^f^^Ciro^.h^-l- e lie dormant, of social obli- £ middle class ions to which ork no harder for very suffi- tile establish- everything in >s privileges, stice, the in- i carried out Ual Govern- in intrigue, ice and the of the most ted foreign - i have done ircelessness aression of » her soil, : in which or "sorn- lan them- here is no ertain in- kindred, e friends 'ernment s. To a .^enue of bles him iccounts il object Last Words on Korea 447 l than the pensioning of the relatives and friends of the men who rule the country. Above all, this explains the frequency of conspiracies and small revolutions in Korea. Principle is rarely at stake, and no Korean revolutionist intends to risk his life in support of any conviction. Hundreds of men, strong in health and of average intelli- gence, are at this moment hanging on for everything, even their tobacco, to high officials in Seoul, eating three meals a day, gossiping and plotting misdeeds, the feeling of honorable mdependence being unknown. When it is desirable to get rid of them, or it is impossible to keep them longer, offices are created or obtained for them. Hence Government employ- ment IS scarcely better than a "free coup" for this class of rubbish. The factious political disturbances which have dis- graced Korea for many years have not been conflicts of prin- ciple at all, but fights for the Government position which gives Its holder the disposal of offices and money. The suspicious- ness which prevents high officials from working together is also partly due to the desire of every Minister to get more influence with the King than his colleagues, and so secure more appoint- ments for his relations and friends. The author of the Korean Dictionary states that the word for work in Korean is synony- mous with "loss," "evil," "misfortune," and the man who leads an idle life proves his right to a place among the gentry. The strongest claim for office which an official puts forward for a prof^gi IS that he cannot make a living. Such persons when appointed do little, and often nothing, except draw their sal- aries and " squeeze " where they can ! I have repeated almost ad nauseam that the cultivator of the soil IS the uUimaf, sponge. The farmers work harder than any other class, and could easily double the production of the land, their methods, though somewhat primitive, being fairly well adapted to the soil and climate. But having no security for their gains, they are content to produce only what will feed and clothe their families, and are afraid to build better houses I i I) 448 Korea and Her Neighbors wh!>° hir '''^''''^\ '^.'^^'•^ "« innumerable peasant farmers y r owLT.r '''"""^ '"" '"'''' °f -'^"- year by year, owing to the exactions and forced loans of magistrates fo n"""^ T' '"^ "'° "°" °"'>' ^^'^^ -'-^ -» enable hem to procure three meals a day. It is not wonderful that clasL^ whose manifest destiny is to be squeezed, should have su„k lIsTssnl^ ''-' '-'-' '' ^"^^^--' ^-^a, apath^aL' In spite of reforms, the Ko;ean nation still consists of but t^dges, theRobbers an ^he Robbed ,-the official claL recruited from the ^'a^^-^a^TTthniESd vampires of the Out of such unpromising materials tlie new nation has to be constructed, by education, by protecting ,l,eprodudng cla^ worLcl;;!"""""""' "*"'■ '■■'■ 'y W'-^o^for capable foreign supervision, is shown by what has been ar comp^h^ in the Treasury Department in'one et nX tTr, / T '"/."'°" """"' ^"^ ^°""P' 'condition, and rte ra,n,ficat,ons of its corruption were spread all througL^he ^epted the thankless position of Financial Adviser, from his known force of character and remarkable financial clritv Althoogh hi, efforts at financial reform have been thwarted a. every turn, no, alone by the rapacity of the King's me colrolr'"^' "' ■"' ■"'"""'«= '"""■•"« -0 -f, of hTmlf 1' r ° '"'"• "■= ^""'^''S" •» actions concern, .ng money wh.ch are subvenrive of the fairest schemes of fi»anc,al r^tuude, but by chicane, fraud, and corrupti™ I i Last Words on Korea 449 every department ; by the absence of trustworthy subordi- nates; by infamous traditional customs; and the fact that f ery man in office, and every man hoping for office, is pledged by his personal interest to oppose every effort at re- form actively or passively, Korean finance stands thus at the close of 1897. In a few months the Augean stable of the Treasury Depart- ment in Seoul has been cleansed ; the accounts are kept on a uniform system, and with the utmost exactitude ; "value re- ceived" precedes payments for work; an army of drones, hanging on to all departments and subsisting on public money, has been disbanded ; a partial estimate has been formed of the revenue which the Provinces ought to produce ; superflu- ous officials unworthily appointed find that their salaries are not forthcoming; every man entitled to receive payment is paid at the end of every month; nothing is in arrears; great public improvements are carried out with a careful supervision which ensures rigid economy ; the accounts of every Depart- ment undergo strict scrutiny ; no detail is thought unworthy of attention, and instead of Korea being bankrupt, as both her friends and enemies supposed she would be in July, 1896, she closed the financial year in April, 1897, with every account paid and a million and a half in the~Treasury. out of w hich she has repaid one million of the Tapanese loan of three mil - lions. If foreign advisers of similar calibre and capacity were attached to all the departments of State similar results might in time be obtained. One thing is certain, that the war and the period of the en- ergetic ascendency of Japan have given Korea so rude a shake, and have so thoroughly discredited various customs and insti- tutions previously venerated for their antiquity, that no retro- grade movements, such as have been to some extent in progress in 1897, can replace her in the old grooves. Seoul is Korea for most practical purposes, and the working of the Western leaven, the new impulses and modes of thought 450 Korea and Her Neighbors introduced by Western education, the inevitable contact with foreigners, and the influence of a free Press are through Seoul slowly affecting the nation. Under the shadow of Chinese suzerainty the Korean yang-ban enjoyed practically unlimited opportunities for the extortions and tyrannies which were the atmosphere of patrician life. Japan introduced a new theory on this subject, and practically gave the masses to understand that they possess rights which the classes are bound to respect, and the Press takes the same line. It is slowly dawning upon the Korean peasant farmer through the medium i»f Japanese and Western teaching, that to be an ultiaiate spoi>B;e is not his inevitable destiny, that he is entitled to civil rights, equality before the eye of the law, and protection for his earnings. The more important of the changes during the last three years which are beneficial to Korea may be summarized thus : The connection with China is at a nend, and with the victories of Japan the Korean belief in the unconquerable military power of the Middle Kingdom has been exploded, and the alliance between two political systems essentially corrupt has been severed. T he distinction between patrician and plebeian has been abolished, on papeTTtJ east, al ong witlTiaomestic slaver y, and the disabilitie s whi ch renderedlhe sons of concu - bines ineligible for high~5 mce. Brutd punishments £"^dlor - ture are done away with , a convenient coinage has replaced i^' ap improved educational system has been launched^ a disciplined army and police force has been created, the Chi- nese literar y examinations are no longer the test of fitness for official employment , a small measure of j uHir.in i reform has been granted, a railroad from Chemulpo to the capital is beinp rapidly pushed to completion , t he pressure of the Trades Guilds is relaxed , a p ostal system efficiently worked and comrnanding confidence has been introduced into all the Provinces , the fi nancesof the country are being placed on a sound basis , the change from a land-tax paid in kind to one which is an asseM ^ Last Words on Korea 45 » ment in mo ney on the value of the land greatly diminishes the^portumtieyorj)fl^ ^ squeezing ," and large and judi- T^j;', .» of the three Korean treaty ports was as follows in Tan- uary, 1897 :— - Chemulpo Selllement. Japanese ^^^ Chinese British ^ German ••••.., 19 American ^ ^ » French Norwegian , Greek ! ! .* 3 Italian ^ . Portuguese j Total .... 4,357 Estimated native population .... 6,756 _ Fusan Setllement. Japanese ^ jgg Chinese 74 British jq American „ German «... « Danish ^ I French I Italian I Total .... 5,564 Estimated native population of Fusan City and the Prefecture of Tung-nai .... 33,000 \{ 470 Appendix D Japanese Chinese American German British French Russian Danish Norwegian Total Estimated native population WSn-san SeHlement. 1,399 8 3 2 2 2 I I »»357 15,000 Appendix E 471 APPENDIX E Treaty between Japan and Rr si\ with Reply of H.E. the Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs MEMORANDUM The Representatives of Russia and Japan at Seoul, having conferred nnder ttie identical instructions from their respective Governments, have arrived at the following conclusions : — While leaving the matter of His Majesty's, the King of Korea, return to the Palace entirely to his own discretion and judgment, the Representa- tives of Russia and Japan will friendly advise His Majesty to return to that place, when no doubts could be entertained concerning his safety. The Japanese Representative, on his part, gives the assurance, that the most complete and effective measures will be taken for the control of Japanese sosAi. The present Cabinet Ministers have been appointed by His Majesty by his own free will, and most of them have held ministerial or other high offices during the last two years and are known to be liberal and moderate men. The two Representatives will always aim at recommending His Majesty to appoint liberal and moderate men as Ministers, and to show clemency to his subjects. The Representative of Russia quite agrees with the Representative of Japan that at the present state of affairs in Korea it may be necessary to have Japanese guards stationed at some places for the protection of the Japanese telegraph line between Fusan and Seoul, and that these guards, now consisting of three companies of soldiers, should be withdrawn as soon as 'possible and replaced by gendarmes, who will be distributed as follows : fifty men at Fusan, fifty men at Kaheung, and ten men each at ten intermediate posts between Fusan and Seoul. This distribution may be liable to some changes, but the total number of the gendar^ne force shall never exceed two hundred men, who will afterwards gradually be withdrawn from such places, where peace and order have been restored by the Korean Government. For the protection of the Japanese settlements at Seoul and the open ports against possible attacks by the Korean populace, two companies of Japanese troops may be stationed at Seoul, one company at Fusan and in 472 Appendix E Seoul, I4/;« May, 1896. tr::p":sr;rtL7nr:^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ These troops at those pCanTwCi^ e^Thd"' ''' """'" °'^^''^""^ in the interior is completely restored " "" '°°" ''^ '""^^^^'^ (Signed) c. Waeber, Representative of Russia. J. KOMURA, Representative of Japan. PROTOCOL nary of His U.^.",y,^lt''^ZV^ ""^"T •'' "'"'""'^^^ ^^^--'J'" on the situation^or 1^:!^^'^^^^^;:^^^^ ^^- ^^^Ttl^^^^^^^h^ i Korea, the Governments superfluous expenditurTLd t "estlK.^^^^^^^ '° '''^^"'^^ ^" revenues. If. L conseouenrVnf r ! ''"''"'^'^ ^^*^^^" "P^"^" and necessary to CeTo^ ToltrLt^h t^^"^^^^^^ " "^^ ^^ mutual consent give their support to Korea ^°""»™^«'« ''hall by asT'r%?rra":;tTr'^r^ mit. the formation ad rat eranTo^'atf "1°' *'^^ ^°""'^^ '^•" P"" of such proportions as wilfbe suffid nt fo The ""'' '" •" ^"' P^"'^'^ ternal peace, without fceign sup^Tt F^ervation of the in- III wkich a„ a. p Jem?™, h.r * '° "'™"'*' "■' '^'"S-P" "»- Appendix E 473 IV In case the above matters should require a more exact or detailed ex- planation, or if subsequently some other points should present themselves upon which it may be necessary to confer, the Representatives of both Governments shall be authorized to negotiate in a spirit of friendship. (Signed) Lobanow. Yamagata. Moscow, 9//4 June, 1896. The following is the exact translation of the reply sent to the Japanese Minister by the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, concerning the Russo- Japanese Convention : — Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mar. <)tk, 2nd year of Kun-yang {i%y^). Sir— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 2nd instant, informing me that, on the 14th day of May last, a memo- randum was signed at Seoul by H.E. Mr. Komura, the former Japanese Minister Resident, and the Russian Minister, and that, on the 4th of June of the same year, an Agreement was signed at Moscow, by H.E. Marshal Yamagata, the Japanese Ambassador, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Russia; and that these two documents have been laid publicly before the Imperial Diet, You further inform me that on the 26th ultimo you received a telegram from your Government, pointing out that the above- mentioned Agreement and memorandum in no way reflect upon, but, on the contrary, are meant to strengthen, the independence of Korea,— this being the object which the Governments of Japan and Ru- ia had in view,— and you cherish the confident hope that my Governn.er.t will not fail to appreciate this intention. In accordance with telegraphic instruc- tions received from the Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs you enclose copies of the Agreements referred to. I beg to express my sincere thanks for your despatch and the informa- tion it conveys. I would observe, however, that as my Government has not joined in concluding these two Agreements, its freedom of action as an independent Power cannot be restricted by their provisions.— I have, etc., (Signed) Ye Wanyono, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. H.E. Mr. Kato, Minister of Japan, etc. \l I / M INDEX Abbot, a refined, 84. Absolutism of the Korean crown reitnposed, 377. Agricultural implements, rude and few, 161. Agriculture, primitive charac- ter of, 78; improved method ^< in the Han Valley, 100; meth- ods of, 160 ; ministry of, 383. Ah Wong, 31. Allen, Mr. Clement, 185; Dr., 352. 353. 354, 443. Altar-piece, an unique, 148. American Missions, 22, 63, 172, 279. 3". 346-350, 388. Am-nok River, the, 14, 17, 74. Amur Province, the, 234, 242. Amur River, the, 219, 220, 233, 241, 242, 244. An-by6ng, 163. Ancestral temple, an, 87; wor- ship, 61, 63, 88, 401. An-chin-Miriok, 345. Ang-paks, 77. 125, 157. Animal and Bird life, 73, 74, 150. An-ju, 328. An-"kil Yung Pass, crossing the, 330. An-mun-chai, the, 138, 141, 144, 146. An object of curiosity, 88, 94, 97. 127, 146. Appenzeller, Rev. H. G., 388. A-ra-rling style of^ nusic, 166. Archipelago, a remarkable, 15. Army, 56, 57, 210 ; standing, an extravagance, 434. A-san, 206; battle of, 207. Assassination of the Queen, 271, 455. Assembly, a national, 373. Atai-jo. king, 169. Australian ladies, mission work by, 28. Baikal horses, 237, Banks and Banking, 26. "Bann.-nien," (irregular sol- diery) of Manchuria, 190, 191. B? rter, the mode of exchange, 78. Bas-reliefs, 84. Beacon fires, 97, 105. Beheading abolished, 265. "Believing Mind, Temple of the," 139. Bell of Song-do, 295; of Seoul, the great (see Seoul). BirukofI, Mr., 388. Botany, Native, 17, 95, 98. Bows and arrows, reliance on in Manchuria, 190. Bridges, infamous character of the, 1 71 ; precarious, 293. Brigands of Manchuria, 189. British political influence and trade, 457. Broughton Bay, junk excursion in, 15, 173. Brown, Mr. M'Leavy, 37, 369, 397. 435. 448. 457. Buddha, statues of, 136, 144. Buddha worship, 137. Buddhism, disestablishment of, 61; moribund, 142; introduc- tion of, 148 ; palmy days of Korean, 169; gross sr-^rsti- tions of, 399; relics of Korean, 286. Buddhist hells, representations of, 139; nunneries, 115, 135. 475 if 476 Index Buddhistic legends, 145. Buddhist monastery and i->m. pie, 63, 76, 79. 84, ,319- Uull, Korean, as e. beast of burden, 36, tio; .sed for ploujvhsrg, 162, Burial customs, 63, 304, 7R6, Burial place,, 36, 61. Hutchers, methods of, 172. Cabinet, the, 371,374.375; min- isterF, execution of, 367. Campijdl, Mr.. 133, 135, 138, 826. tar.eb, Consul. 130, 329, 355. v-av,-ilry, Chinese, General Tso's ^ f rigade, 210. Cave, a remarkable, 99. Cham-su-ki. 95, 96; tree, 96. Chang-an Sa, 137, 141, 142, 143, 144. 150, 160. Charms, 408. Cha-san, 322, 344. Che-chan, 106. Chefoo, arrival at, 185; return to, 213, Chemulpo, 20, 30, 33 ; war ex- citement at, 178 ; exodus of Chinese from, 182 ; return of authoress to, 245; accident on the way to, 267; arrival at, 357; railroad from to the cap- ital, 450; leave from, 459; banks at, 32, 436; cemetery at, 318; Chinese settlement »n, 31, 245; Japanese settle- ment in, 31, 181, 246; Korean quarter, 33; occupation of, by Japanese, 206, 245; population of, 469, trade in, 33. Children, non-burial of in Man- churia, 204 ; sale of daemons, 412. ' Chil-sung Mon, the, 315. 316. China, diplomatic relations with Korea, 19, 182. Chinese in Korea, 12, 20, 182- predominant influence of, 22,' 452; their settlement in C^c- tnulpo, 31; the colony at. )eoul, 44; consternation ; Chinese colony, jm- connec- tion with Korea severed, 458 Uiiaese Manchuria, 237, 244 Chm-nam-po. 19, 357, 453. Chmo-Japanese War, origin of the, 2o6. * f^hOi Sok da;tnon, 420 Chol-muri Kaut, the, 411. ChoJ-yoiig-7;o. 23. Cho>i«^rdong, 427, 437, Ch«R:v_phong, town of, 90, 93. 94; lemale curiosity at, 04. Chong-sOp (abbots), 141. Chon-shin daemons, 418. ChSn-yaing, 88. Chosen Magazine, The, 440. Cho Wang daemon, 420. Christianity,progressof,2oi,202. Christian missions (see Mission- aries and the Missions), 'christians, native, 65, 227 Christian work in Seoul, 63; in Korea, 65; Korean estimate of. 438. Christie, Dr., 198, 201, 202, 211. Chu-la, 25, 306. Chun-chh6n, 109. ^Ij^ng Chong-Do, 75, 84. Chyu-pha Pass, the, 129. C ass privileges, loi, 446, 450. Climate, healthy character of. 16; at Mukden, 201. Coasts, character of, 15; tour along, 150. Coinage of, 20, 66, 398. Concubinage, a recognized in- stitution, 342. Confucian college, the, 382: temples, 76, 83, 94, 103. Confucianism in Korea, 21, 22 Conjugal fidelity, 116, 341, 343. Conspiracies, frequency of, 447. constitutional changes. 371-386 Conventions with China, re- nunciation of the, 207 ^:c 'kery of the Koreans', 154 ^'i;^;^J'«^°P'33.37,49.63.64. ti%8.''"°° ** Seoul. 30, 33, -crruption, 431. 448. Index 477 y, i''-^, connoc- ;a severed, 458. ria. 237, 244. . 357, 458- War, origin of . 420, the, 411. 3. . 437- 'wn of, 90, 93, losity at, 94. ts), 141. ns, 418. TAf, 440. n, 420. ressof,20i,202. s (see Mission- lissions). '< 65, 227, 1 Seoul, 63; in 'rean estimate I 201, 202, 211. . 75, 84. le, 129. :oi, 446, 450. character of, 201. of, 15; tour . 398. ecognized in- e, the, 382; 94. 103. -orea, 21, 22. 116, 34t, 343. Jency of, 447. »ges, 371-386. China, re- '; 207. reans, 154. »7, 49. 63, 64, Seoul, 30, 33, 8. Cossacks, Russian, rigid discip- line of, 238. Costumes, 26, 27, 45, 46. Council of State, formation of a, 370, 375- Council of State (Korean), or- ganization of, 375. Court functionaries, 428, 430. Crown Prince, the, 253, 273, 362, 365, 428; Princess, the, 273- Customs, Korean, 59, 78, loi, 114, 127, 265, 266, 287, 359, Customs revenue the backbone of Korean finance, 458. Curzon, the Hon. G. W., 138. Daemon festivals, 410, Daemons, classification of, 421. Damon Worship, 79; fear of daemons, 127, 129; daemonism, 399. 404, 409, 417- ^ Dallet's Histoire de 1' Eglise de Kor6e, 11; quoted in regard to the position of women, 341, 355. Dancing women, 344, 352. " Death, customs connected with, 63. Deluge, a Manchurian, 193. Diamond Mountain Monasteries, .133. Diamond Mountain, the, 74, 75, 103, 129, 133, 140. Disciples, Five Hundred, Tem- ple to, 170. Distinctions between Patrician and Plebeian abolished, 385. Divination, 407, 408. Dog-infested Seoul, 47. Dog meat, use of, 154. Dogs, 47, 72. Dolmens, 131. Domestic animals, few, x6i; life unknown, 355; slaves, 47. Domiciliary visit, 304, Dragon daemons, 417. Drunkenness common, 91. Dwellings, 77. Dye, General, American mili- tary adviser, 271, 272, 277, 279. Dynasty, Korean, worn out, 255. Eastern Siberia, maritime prov- inces of, 242-244. Eastern Siberian, drift of popu- lation to, 244. Edgar, H. M. S., 302. Edicts. See Royal. Education, 143, 203, 387, 438; the ministry of, 382, 391. Education and Foreign Trade, 387. Education in the hamlets, 79. " Eight Views," the 155. Elm trees, fine, 93. English mission, the first, 63. English-speaking Koreans at Seoul, 49. Eternal Rest, Temple of, 134. Eui-chyeng Pu (the cabinet), 371, 377. Europeans, Korean estimate of, 438.. Examinations for ofilcial posi- tion, 152; royal exams, abol- ished, 388. Exorcists and Exorcism, 114, 344. 350, 400, 405, 423. Exports and Imports, 392; re- turns of, 466, 467. Extortions and tyrannies, 450. Falconry, 74, Farmers, 447, 450. Fauna of, 16. Fengtien Cavalry Brigade, 210. Ferguson & Co., Messrs., 185. Fermented liquors, 91, 92. Ferries, 104. Ferry boat, an ingenious, 131. Festivals, 410-413. Fetishes, 416, 421. Fever, attack of, 193. Finance, 396. Fire Dragon Pool, the 145. Fish and Fishing, 158. "Five Hundred Disciples," temple of the, 170. Floods in Manchuria, 193. Flora of, 17. Forced labor, 337. Foreign Goods, trade in, 24, 387 391. 395, 464. I I 478 Index Fordgn liquors, love of, oi; ..Office, the, 38r. ' ^' Forest wealth, 1 7. Formosa, transfer of, 260 fortress, an ancient, 105. F/°"^Sages,"Hallofthe, 136. Fox, Mr., 37, 39. • J • irench clocks, rage for at Yn _ Ju. 90, 91. Frescoes, curious, 60, 310. Funerals,observancesat, 62.286 Fusan, 20, 23. 24. 25; its Japan! ese character, 26; markets of, 28, Europeans in, 178; Janl anese soldiers in, 245 454- population of, 469. ^^^' Gale, Mr., 167, 173; Mrs., 173. Game, 174. ' '•'• Gap Pass, the, 36, 181, tS"^(} M'-- (acting consul), 35, 183; Mrs. and Miss, 37 Gautama, a shrine of, 137 Geographical position deter- mines Korea's political rela- tionships, 452. Geology and the geological for- mation. 15. Gesang, The, (singing and danc 35!. 3^5?^ Phyfng.yang. Ginseng. ''the elixir oflife,"2Q6- extent of its cultivation 2?7' riWl''^''"" ^°' market, 298.' Giri-babies, not specially wel- come in a family, 300, 341. Giris, seclusion of, iiq ^ Godobin, Fort, 214. rnt°l^^'' ^^™P'« to the, 319. Go ld-digg,ng, 108, 322, 324 ^ Gold-dust exports, 108. Golden Sand, the river of," 80, Gold ornaments, loS, Gorge, a grand, 95. Government departments (Ko- rean) reorganized. 381 W«;«.«/G^a..«.,the,373,374. •■ r'^nT.^"^ Hospital," the.64. Great Fifteenth Day, "the 266. Greathouse, General, 76. Greathouse, Mr..44x:' Greek Church in Siberia, Us Litany, 231. 229; Ha Ch 1 style of music, 166. Ha-in class, the, 448. .7?i''-"0PPing edict, 359. 36, . Haf-wayPlace,"the,9i.^^* Hall of the Four Sages." 1,6 Ham.gy«ng Do. 219. 223. 233^ Ham.gy6ng Province, 156, 163 Hanka Lake, 242, 244! ' ^' S»" D?"fi^'^'"ageof, 68,70. 76. Tin. I' u ^' 92. 99. 103, 106, 10 a cheap and convenien highway, in; descent of the. 105; fauna and flora of, 71, 72 a?ounS°t'he,"7x' "'' '"""^ Han valley, inhabitants of the, 70. 78-79; cultivaiion of the 100; limestone cliffs of the' 104; schools in the, 79; teml perature of the, 81. ^' Harbors of Fusan and W«n-San ^4. 30. ' Ha-;, Sir Robert, 213. Hats, monstrous, 345 Heidemann, JWr., 22^, 228, 231. Hemp cultivation, gr. "^ Hermit City, the, 37 " Hermit Nation," the, opened „.by the treaties of 1883. tr Hilher, Mr., 183, 246. 251 2^0 269, 28i, 283. ^ • =9' .^^'?,; denudation of, 17. Hill Towns," the, 308. Hiroshima, trial of assassins at. Hoa-chung, 151, 152. Hoang-chyongSan, 153. Home Office, the, 381. Homesteads of the Han Valley, Hong Colonel, 271, 272, 274. Hon-j6, 293. '^ Ho pai,ordivining table, the.4oa Index 479 Hospitals supported and con- ducted by the Missions, 33. Houseliold spirits, 418. Hulbert, Rev. H. B.. 164, 165, 166, 391. Hu-nan Chang, 94. Hun-chun, 228, 230, 237; Chi- nese at, 237, 238. Hun-ho river, the, 199. Hunt, Mr., 25, 458. Hwang-hai Do, 16. Hwang-hai Province, 303. Hy6n, Colonel, 272. Idleness of the nobles at Seoul, 46 Im, accident to my servant, 331. Images, stone, 170, 171. Im-jin, 292. Im-jin Gang, the, 292. Immorality, 341. Import trade, value of, 393. Incantations, 425. Independence Arch, the, 439. Independence of Korea assured by the Japanese, 247; opposed by the native officials, 262. Independence, proclamation of, 247. Independent newspaper, the, 439^ 440. Industries, 26. Inns, regular and irregular, 124, 125, 157, 294, 326. Inouye, Count, 247, 251, 261, 262, 268, 270, 274, 280. Inscription, an amusing, loi. Interior of the country, efforts to reach, 49, 66. Interrupted Shadow, Island of th?. 23. Inundation in Manchuria, 195. Isolation maintained up to 1876, 19. I-tai, the innkeeper, 31, 245. Itinerary of travel, 357, 358. Jaisohn, Dr., 129, 389, 439. Japanese, designs of in Korea, 181, 206 ; lacking in tact, 263,453; in Korea, 26; their settlement in Chemulpo, 31 ; hatred of the Koreans to- wards, 31, 344; shipping and commerce of, 32; control rice trade of Chemulpo, 32; the Legation and colony at Seoul, 43; Japs in W6n-San, 176; prestige, a blow to, 278. Japan, last glimpse of, 23; sea of, 14. 30, 74. 103. 145. 149; outwits China in Korea, 182. Jones, Mr. Heber, 341, 400, 415, 418. "Judgment, Temple of," 139. Junks, Korean, 174. Justice, the Ministry of, 383. Ka-chang, 322, 323. Kai-chh5n, 355. Kai-SSng (Song-do), 293. Kal-rSngi, 150. Kang-ge Mountain?, 297. Kang, the, 197, 204. Kang-w5n Do, the, i4. Kangw5n Province, 156, Kanjo SAim6onevrspa.per, A. . ;,.to. Ka-phySng, 109, 112. Keum-Kang San Mountains, the, 107, 129, 133, !40, 141, 146, 149, 150; Monasteries of, 134, 141. Keum-San Gang river, 129, Keum-San goldfields, 323, 355. Khabaroflka, 242, 244; Korean settlers near, 225, 233. Khordadbeh, the Arab, his " Book of Roads and Prov- inces," 12. Ki-cho, the, 138, i^t, T49, Ki-jun, 355. Kimchi, 89, 153, 154. Kim Ok-yun, murderer of, 432. Kim, the boatman, 70, 82, 85, 92, 101-102, 107. King Li Hsi and the Kur-dong at Seoul, 58; audience with, appearance and character of, 252. 253, 256-260, 268, 428; practically a prisoner, 362; escapes to the Russian Lega- tion, 365, 430; issues procla- mation respecting hair-crop- 480 I i i|! 1 Index Kinfir's oath, the Korean. 249. Kings, palace of the, 205. Of Chine-. .:v.l.*i..u,.iln t^ • l2thce>uury,i2,355;histo„b and temple. 318, 319. Kobe, 175. -^ ^ Kol-lip daemon, 421. Ko-mop-so river, the 323. Ko-moun Tari. 310 Komura, Mr., 278, 281. Kong-wOn Do, 74, 155. Kong-wfln, 107. "•J,4;lhe(;hurchof, 11; open- ed first by the treaties, u- anS h^'T' '3; "vers, likes,' and harbors. 14; volcanoes 14, geology, 15; mountains, 15, climate, 16; fauna, 16- forest wealth, 17; flora 17.' minerals, 17; rulers of 18- cabinet ministers, 18; army' '9; provinces of. ,9; the rev! enue and its sources, 19; trea- ties with, 19; the coinage, ig 20; treaty ports, 20; lanluage 20, 21; religion, 21. 6|, 3^: society, 22; neighbors of, 2v' foreign women in, 28; r^beU I'on ,n South rn. 179; Tap- anes*; propos s for its ad- ™";""'ation 206; the King's oath, 249; dynasty of. worn out 255; a dark chapter in its Ji'-tory, 271; last words or, ^fJiu '■•'°"' ''•445; class Lul8^^"^'^Oi.4-t6.45o;dis. satisfaction in, 281; farmers in, 447,450; Japanes'' .'jiiuei'-e in 25, 3i,.359- 431. 440 452; law,' LtTT" ''.°''" ■441/mar: Kets in, fcs isF ,ary meth- ods in. 28 , 6 ^oney of. ot'- 67, 7', provincial aovl fnTo"!,s^' 37=^. .378; rfads injjo, 128; security in. 295; trade in. 24, 32, 304, 307, gji-' winter in. 36. '' ^^ ' ^°!:*f" ^n'mals. 73; bulls, 36, tio. 162; customs. 59, 65 78 IVo' dlL "°' "7. 283.''3 : 359, dogs, 47, 73; dwellings 77, education. 143, J' finance, 396; graves. 36, Ci- offic.als,46; pigs. 73. 62.322" Sr, A ''"P' 7'' '^3 ; soli diers 56. 209; streets, 27: travellers, 127; villages. 7?' 162. 225. 234. **"■ "• A-cr^att Christian Advocate, and Christian News, the. 440. Korean Repository, the. ii, 168. „ 346. 352, 440. Koreans, the, traces of Manchu- nan conquest on, J2; uniform, tty of their costume, 12; phv- 8>ogn^ -ny of. 12; a hanu .ome r=KK ■',''«'«''* of, 13; mental calibreof, 13; possess Orie 1 vices, 13; seclusion and in nor position f women, n ^nH^^^?'*,^' '■^'''' corruption and brutal methods of pun- ishment, 33; squalid character of ordir.ary Korean life c , 330; encumbered with debt' 70; a drunken people 02' voracity and omnivorous charl acter, 154; their music. 164- tS/.V" ^•'^"^' "3; attach themselves , the Greek Church, 229; under IMuscovite government. 233; race im- proved by settlement in Si- beria. 236, 336: independence -' secured by .apanese, 247 Kowshlnr.t\,^^ nsport, 207! Ko-yar,^, 285. ^86. ^ Krasnoy, Celo, 2 o. 233,234. ^ '-mu-nio, no. ^^' ^^' a''', 282, 362; abolition of the. Kuntz and Albers, Messrs., 216 220. 224, 239. Kur-dong. the, a unique jt Index 481 now rare ceremonial, 51, 60, 61, 119, 247. K'wan, 233. Kwan-jtt.the, (official passport), 86, 87, 128, 146, 159. 283. Kwan-yin, 143; image of, 137. Kwass, 231. Kyei, or associations, 440. Kyeng-pok Palace, 251, 256, 365. 3(^9, 433. 437. Kyeng-wun Palace, the, 369, 398, 428, 4? 437. Kyfing-heufiK, ^27. KyOng-hwi Province, 303. Ky6ng-kwi Do. 75. Kyfing-ku-kyttng. 141, 146. Kyflng-sang Province, 25, 30. Kyting-wfin Do, 75. Lakes, 14. Landis, Dr., 400, 415, 421. Language of the Koreans, 20, 1 73. Laundresses, 45, 339, Lava-fields, 16, 131. Law its administration infa- mous, 441. Liau river, the, 186, 193, 199. Li Hsi, the King, royal proces- sion of at Seoul, 55; in seclu- sion at outbreak of war, 183. Li Hung Chang, 267. Lindholm, Mr., 241. Lion Stone, the, 145. Liquor drinking, 91. Litany, a Greek, 231. Literary s\v lis, 104, 310, Literatun . iise Temple of, 382. Lone-tree Hill, the, 45. Long-shin daemons, 417. Lotus dance, the, 352. Lucifer matches, 168. Lynch law, amateur, 104. Macdonald. Sir Claude, 430. Ma-cha Tong lake, 156, 158. Ma-chai, 85, 06, iii. Magistrate, an interview wit*- a, 86. Ma-ha-ly-an Sa monastery, 143, Mak-pai P ss, the, 1^0. Ma-k^'o, I ). Mama, or the smallpox daemon, 413. 414. Manchu head-dress, 200; sol- diers, 2o3, 210. Manchu race, the, igo, Manchuria, brigands in, 188; Chinese immigrants to, 188; Government of, 201; immi- grations from, 12; population of, 187; trade of, 189; vice- royalty of, 187, 191; authoress departs to, 186; sojourn at vice royalty of, 187; a deluge in, 193; old capital of, 201; prac- tice of medicine in, 203; lest hostile to foreigners, 207; visit to Russian, 223. Mandarins and their retainers, 329. Mang-kun, the, 114, 360. Man-pok-Tong, the, 145; fear of tigers, 132, 292, 302, 325; superstition of, 129. Manufactures, 18. Ma-pu, 35, 40, 68, i8i. Mapus, or grooms, 121-132, 164, 284, 285, :- ^, 302. Marble pagoua of Seoul, the, 43. Ma-ri Kei, 132. Market, a Korean, 28, 306, 307. Marriage customs, 114, 342. Marriage, early, prohibited, 385. Matunin, Mr., 227. Meals, 79; by the way, 82, 83. Medicine, practice of in Man- churia, 203; medical missions ir 01 ea, 124, Mebuzoic ' metamorphic rocks. '■; Geology.) Miller, Mi., ,4 young missionary fellow-traveller, 66, 70, 83, 87. 104, 105, 142, 151, 159. Mineral wealth of, 17, 18, 25, 108. Missionaries and the Missions, 20, 21, 29, 30, 63, 64, 65, 17.', 198, 201, 346, 390; statistics of Missions 462, 463. Monarchy, character of th« 18. Monasteries, Dian.jnd Mount- ain, 133. Monastery of S6k-WangSa, 169. 4^2 Index I Mongolian eye, obliquity of In the Koreans, 13. Millet, the use of. 321, Min clan, the, a6i, Ming tombs, the, aor. Ministers, execution of. ifi?- at State, duties of, 379. ' ^ ^' °' ' Ministres de Parade," aoi. Mm Yeng-chyun, 371. Minang, 35. Mirioks. 76, in, 386. Miriok Yang Pass, 321, Missionary work, aa, 39, 30, 63- 05. 173, 30I, 307, 237, 346; statistics of, 463. Mission Hospital, a fine, aoa- service, a, 350. ' Miura, General Viscount, 260 270. 275, 277, 453. 455. Moflfet, Mr., 76. 312, 313, 316, „320, 347. Mok-po, 458. Mok-po river. 14, ro. Money, 66, 78, Monks, 133-149; ignorant and superstitious, 143. Monuments, 394. Mou-chin T i, 338, 336, 338. Mounds, used for interment of the living, 175. Mountainous character of the country, 15; of Seoul, 45, Mourning costume, 63. Mukden, anti-foreign feeling in, 208, 3ii; cabs of, 199; mission hospital, 3oa; pawnshops, 305- suicides in, 205; system of medicine, 303; trade of. 200, 211: city of, 192. 199, 200; its successful missions, 201, 202 208. ' Mulberry gardens of Seoul 43. Mulberry palace of Seoul, 4? 247, 416. *='' Music, discordant character of the native, 164, 165; voc?' 66, Murata rifle, the, 209, Mu-tang, belief in, 422-426. Mu-tang sorcerors, 114, 129, 164, 287, 290, 3t3, 335, 351 400, 408; as oracles, 413; rite. ot, 413 marriage with. 435. Myo-kil Sang, the, 145. ' Nagasaki, Chinese town of ai 213. 269, ' •*• Nai Kak, the, 377. Naktong, 64. Nak-Tong river, 14, 35. Nam Chhon valley and river. 308, 309. • ^*Ti."*" ^o""-"". 83, 84, 105, Nam-San, 45, 68, 163, 169; for- tress, 105. ^' ^68! 97." '"°""'*'''«'' 39. 43. 45. Nang.ch«n, 106, no, n2. ^aniwa, the cruiser. 207. National life of Korea exists only at Seoul, 59. Newchwang, city of. 175. 186. J87. 191. 192, 213, 355; port of. Newspapers issued at Seoul 440. • Nicolaeffk, 319. Night, a hideously memorable t57. ' Nikolskoye, military station of. 240. 341; Korean settlements near, 233. " Ninety-nine Turns," pass of the, 152. Nippon Yusen Kaisha. steamers .01. 175. i8r. Nobles their idleness, 46; a privileged class, loi; exac- tions of, 102. North branch of the Han, voy- age on, 106, ' Northward ho! 320 Nowo Kiewsk, Russian military post, 224, 225, 234, 238. Nuns, 141. O-bang-chang-kun da5mons,4i5. O Conor, Lady, 186, Officials, superbly dressed, 46, 54; resent the new r6gime in- augurated by the Japanese, Index 483 36a; considered as vampires in Korea, 303, 370, 373; memo- rabilia governing, 379; cor- ruption of, 397, 431. O-hung-sulc Ju, 301. Oieson, Mr., 158, 458. Oil paper used as mats, 323. Okamoto, Mr., 271, 277. Omnivorous Koreans, 134. Op Ju dsmon, 420. Oracles, 412. Orange peel, use of, 92. Oricol, 346. Osaka, 267. Osborne, Mr., 458. Oahima, General, 318. Otori, Mr., 44, 183, 269, 373, 374, 455- Ou-chin-gang, 344. Outfit, 67. Pagoda, a ruinous, 91. Pai-Chai College, 388. Paik-kui Mi, 102, 113. 114. Paik-tu San Mountain, 14, 15, 334. Paik-Yang Kang River, The, 130, 131- Pai-low, the 439. Pa Ju, 285, 292. Pa-ka Mi, loi, I02. Pak-su Mu, the, 409. Pak-Yfing-Ho, the Minister, 247. Palace department, the, 385. P'al-kyong, 155, Pa-mul daemon, 420. Pangas, 123, 162. Pang-wha San, 97. Pan-pyOng, 130. Pan-su, the, 402, 424. Paper manufacture, 306, 323. Passenger cart, a Chinese, 197. Pawnabi^ps cf Mukden, 205. " Pea-boats " 187, 192. Peasants' houses, 77. Peasant farmer, the, 78, 305. Pechili, Gulf of, 184, 213. Pedlers, Korean, 75, 306. Peiho river, 186. Peking, European exodus from, 313. Peking Pass. the. 43. 437. 439- Peninsula of Korea, its geo- graphical location, 13. People, the, oppressed by taxa< tion, 102. Phallic symbols, iir. PhyMng-an Do, 321; goldfields, io8, 322. Phyiing Kang goldfields, 108. PhOng-yang, 280, 293, 305, 308, 3to, 312-319, 328, 330; occupa- tion by the Japanese, 313; battle of, 309, 261, 317; size of, 356; coal mines of, 315; dancing and singing girls at, 352; first view of, 310; Japan- ese soldiers for, 245, 285; mis- sion work at, 346, 350; toy shops in, 168. Physical appearance and height of the Koreans, 13, 26. Physiognomical features of the Koreans, 12. Pigs, 73, 162, 322. Pirates, attacked by, 212. Police, 434, 441. Political relationships, 452. Pong-san, 304. Ponies, 32, 36, 54, 121, 122, 163. Pflpheung, king, 135. Population, 13, 76. Port Lazareflf, 174. Port Shestakoff, 174, 219. Po-san, 345. 355- Posango, 75. Possiei Bay, 224, 228, 233. Potato cultivation, 229, 333. Po-tok-am shrine, 143. Potong Mfln, 315, 317. Potters at work, 85. Pottery, native, 307. Prefectural towns on the Han, no, 112. Primorsk, 220, 223, 233, 236, 241. Princess' Tomb, the, 62. Prisons, Eastern, experience of, 442. Procession, a quaint and motley one at Seoul, 56. Protestant churches in Seoul, 63. 65. 484 Index Provincial Government, 372 378. Puk-han fortress, 105. Puk-han mountains. 39, 247, 284. Punishment, brutal character of, among Koreans, 33; abolished by rhe Japanese, 263. Purification, the rite of, 411. Putiata, Colonel, 433. Pyeng-San, 308. Pyok-chol, temple of, 84. P'yo-un Sa monastery, 138, 130, 143. 144. Queen of Korea, audience with, 251; description of, 252; dress of, 259; assassination of, 271, 273. 455; removal of the re- mains of, 369, 428. ! > Rainfall, 161, 191. Rapids of the Han, 92, lor, 105. Rebellion in Southern Korea. 179- "Red Door," distinction of the, 299. Reforms in Korea pressed by the Japanese, 257; partial accept- ance of, 386, 448, 452. Religion, no national, 21, 63, 399. Religious shrines, 76. Reorganized Korean govern- ment, 371. Revenue, the, and Its sources, „i9. Revolutions, frequency of, 447. Rice cultivation, 155, i6r. Rice trade of Chemulpo in Ja- panese hands, 32, 33. Rice wine partaken to excess .91. 92. Richofen, Baron, his work on China, 12, Ride, a long, hot, 156. Riong San, 270, 271, 390. Ritual of invocation, etc., 411. Rivers, lakes and- harbors of Korea, 14, 25. Roads, bad character of, 20, 123, 128. Roman Church and Missions in Seoul, 64, 65. Ross, Dr. and Mrs., 198, 202, 211 Royal city, a, 292. Royal Edict, a fraudulent, 276- later edicts, 281, 366, 451. Royal examinations, abolition of, 388; Library, the, 256. Royal tombs of Seoul, 62. Royalty, an audience with, 24s Rulers of Korea, i8. Russian homes, 235; adminis- tration, 236; legation at Seoul. 431. Russian intervention, 281; Man- churia, 223, 243; soldier, the. 218. Russia's "New Empire" and maritime province, 242, 243- ascendancy of. 430; her gains in Korea, 455; her ascend- ancy lost, 456. Russo-Chinese frontier, 230- Japanese Treaty, 471; Korean frontier, 230; Korean settle- ments, 225, 226, 229; hospi- tality of, 235. Ryeng-an Sa, temple, of, 84, Sabatin, Mr., 271, 272, 277. Saddle, twelve hours in the, 325. Sagem daemons, 416. Saghalien, 220. Sai-kal-chai, the, 150. Sai-nam, gateway at, 308. Sajorni, 231. Sakyamuni, image of, 136. Salt industry, the, 158, 228. Sampans, 70, 75. Sa-mun, 25. San Chin-chai Sok daemon, 420. Sang-chin, 25. Sang-dan San, 294. Sang-nang Dang, 129. Sanitary regulations, 436. San-kak-San mountain, 38. San-Shin RyOng daemons, 416. Saretchje, 229. Sar-pang Kori, 123, 126, 129. Satow, Sir E., 68. Scotch missionaries, 201, 207. Index 485 Scranton, Dr., 350. Sea of Japan, 74. Seoul-Fusan railway, projected, 25. Seoul, port of, 14, 19; the capi- tal, 35; mode of transit and appropch to, 36; mean archi- tecture of, 37; population and fine situation of, 38; beautiful and safe environs of, 39; foul- ness of the intra-mural city, . 40; later sanitary improve- ments in, 40; the shops and their wares, 41; the great civic bronze bell, 41,42, 51; beauty of the ancient Marble Pagoda, 43; its hordes of mangy dogs, 47; women of, free to take ex- ercise in the streets only after nightfall, 47; the A'«r-i« Nation. ' Joseph Hardy Neesinu, the Runaway Japanese Boy who founded the First Christian Colleee in Japan. Bv Rev T D Davi.s,D,D. Illustrated. i2mo, cloth, |i.So '^^'^^^-J-^- John G. Paton, An Autobiography. Edited by his Brother. Illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $1.50. A new one-volume edition of the complete authorised autobioe- raphy, heretofore $2.00 net. " Vilungs of To-day. Life and Medical Work among the Fishermen of Labrador. By W. T. 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"ueresting, reUabJe, instructive and ^Ty fe oT &* ^'^-ToJ'^^ Story of the M.s.on- Re^im-sTownfsieta&e^Af'ri^^ Society in pertences, he"e old 7n D? piereonV V™/^'^^'° '^^3. His ex- we. most extraordl„ar?Ind"'^^r^o&i fe"l?i„^^fe"v^- VtY^ ^ ™TSfTllJ,^„^BTRev''/cl*°"" °f -^'"ion^ry Work vivid JSfa'ne%s%o'rk"e'4'1:tfe'^^^ adventures through wS he Dass^htp^f"-''^'' ^"^ *>"= «""■*"(? I>aRe, while the who^ l^k liP^I'^^iA^^^/Pf'" upon the printed sionary fervor Thosrwho «,^^» . i*" ""«nse and pure mis- fairyland ^romancefai^?„^t' 'o^now more of India (the ^c^ces and la"bo?s of our ti^teL'in'Jh',t^'•'"^V"'^^ ^"'^^»'« do no better than read thTs '^SI'^l'A'l't^^gr^';^ '"'* ^ ^'^'^^"^o^ oi Mis^ons. By Rev E M D.D. '6mo, cloth, 75 cents. /«/#„/ Blis^ A ages, knowl i-;£$£'^^T.?-^£i7S.ag^^-^ I