ORIENTAL LIFE art? MANY WRITERS THE UNIVERSITY MISSISSIPPI LIBRARY .' fl ft C THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES v « Oriental Life and Myikyina into Western China, through Lashio into the Northern Shan States, and across the Lower Burma frontier into Karenni and Siam. In the year already mentioned, this trans-frontier traffic amounted to $15,000,000 in value. The imports are cattle, ele- phants, silk piece-goods, and miscellaneous produce, and form more than one-half of the total trade. The exports are cotton, rice, bullion, and opium. The above facts and figures speak lor themselves, and easily refute any charge that may be brought against the Government of Burma of having failed to promote the development, trade, and prosperity of the province. The building of railroads and the progress- ive measures being taken in matters of education, san- itation, law. and justice, and the several other things that go toward the material welfare of a country, show that Burma is being given more of the fruits of her 154 ORIENTAL LIFE— BURMA labor, that not nearly so much of her funds is being diverted to other provinces of the empire as formerly, and that she is no longer entitled to the name of Cin- derella, or, if she is, it is the transformed Cinderella, made resplendent by the fairy godmother, Protest, and the Prince ; the latter impersonatec by the British Government. There is still one thing necessary to Burma, and that is population. There is a vast area of nearly twenty-five million acres of splendid soil awaiting new- comers for its clearance, and when this is taken into consideration with the fact that there are vast con- gested districts in India, there comes a possible and ultimately probable solution of the double problem. Xo matter how much the local government of Burma may dislike the idea of swamping the country with Hindus or Mohammedans from the overpopulated parts of India, yet such an influx will come in time, and the Government of Burma neither can nor will encourage a policy of closing a province in which there is ample room and abundance of virgin land, now lying waste and uncleared, against immigration that would relieve the necessities and distress of other overpopu- lated provinces, and would add greatly to the prosper- ity of its own province. The time seems at hand when the prosperity of Burma, and the comfort and happiness of both the lotus-eating and the more ener- getic portions of its population are to be realized.' CEYLON CHAPTER XIII THE LAND OF POETRY AND ROMANCE CEYLON, which at a period not very remote was little more than a vague image of poetry or romance, has become an important reality to the mer- chant, the traveler, and the student of ancient civiliza- tion and religion. To those who have had the most extensive experience in the East and the West, the claim of Ceylon to be regarded as the very gem of the earth does not seem extravagant. In these few pages we shall endeavor to give some evidence in support of this claim. But not on aesthetic grounds alone does Ceylon deserve notice. The economic results due to its situation in the eastern seas, a spot on which converge the steamships of all nations for coal and the exchange of freight and passengers ; its wealth and diversity of agricultural and mineral products ; the in- dustry of its inhabitants, both colonists and natives — these, together with its scenery and the glamour of its unrivaled remains of antiquity, entitle Ceylon to a place of high distinction among the dependencies of the Indian Empire. In outline Ceylon resembl< a pear suspended from the south of India by its stem. Its extreme length 155 156 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON from north to south is 271 miles; its greatest width 137 miles, and its area 25,000 square miles. A grand upheaval, culminating in a height of 8,200 feet, occu- pies the south central part of the island to the extent of 5,000 square miles; the whole of this surface is broken and rugged, exhibiting a vast* assemblage of picturesque mountains of varied elevation. Let us in imagination ascend to the highest point, the lofty moun- tain of Pidurutallagalla, 8,300 feet above the sea, and with the whole island at our feet survey its geograph- ical features. Looking south, the immediate prospect presents Nuwara Eliya, an extensive plateau encircled by hills and possessing two lakes, a race-course, two golf links, various clubs with their recreation grounds, a well-stocked trout stream, a lovely public garden, sev- eral good hotels, fine residences dotting the hillsides, many of which are available to visitors, and for most of the year a charming climate, bright and cool as an ideal English spring ; and moreover possessing the im- portant adjunct of a mountain railway which conveys the enervated resident from the heated plains to this elysium in a few hours. Still looking south we notice a gap in the surround- ing hills through which a good carriage road passes and rapidly descends a beautiful wooded ravine em- bellished by a cascaded stream sacred to the goddess Sita, until at the fifth mile, a small ledge is reached o'erhung by the precipitous rock Hakgalla. Here is one of the botanical gardens for which Ceylon is fa- mous throughout the world ; a favorite spot for picnics, THE LAND OF POETRY AND ROMANCE 157 where beneath the shade of giant tree ferns and orna- mental foliage that transcends description are the roll- ing downs of Uva. Upon these patnas, as they are locally called, five thousand Boer prisoners-of-war were encamped during the late war, and we still see the buildings erected for their accommodation ; the ground now being used for local military purposes. These Uvu patnas form a sort of amphitheater amongst the moun- tains ; the acclivity to the right ascends to the Horton plains (7,000 feet above the sea), beloved of the elk- hunter and the fisher. Curving to the left, the heights form a ridge beyond which stretches a magnificent panorama of undulated lowland aglow in purple heat. Here are large stretches of park and forest inhabited chiefly by the elephant, bear, leopard, and buffalo. Still looking south but inclining to the right the line of vision is in the direction of Dondra Head, the southern- most point of the island. Behind this lies a fair prov- ince where tropical culture of every kind abounds and flourishes : cinnamon, citronella, cocoanuts, tea, and rubber are the chief agricultural products, while be- neath the soil lies an abundance of plumbago. A gleam of light upon the coast gives us the position of Ham- bantota ; it has the appearance of surf glittering in the rays of the sun ; but in reality it is pure white salt ; there has been dry weather on that coast, and the water of the shallow lagoons, which are separated from the sea only by sandbanks, has in process of evapora- tion deposited its salt around the banks and upon the beds. In this simple way Nature provides enough salt 158 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON for all the half million inhabitants of the southern province. The southern coast is remarkably interest- ing in its scenery, products, and antiquities, while its inhabitants are, perhaps, the most purely Sinhalese of the whole population of the island. Upon our pedestal on Pidurutallagalla we now turn to the west, and face Colombo, distant from us but sixty-five miles as the crow flies. For half the distance mountain ranges, interlaced in intricate confusion, with peaks and spurs all forest clad, lie outstretched. On their ledges and spreading over their steep declivities are the thousand tea estates for which the island is so justly famous. Dimbula, Lindula, Maskeliya, Boga- wantalawa, and Dolosbage lie here at varying eleva- tions. They terminate where the Kelani Valley begins its descent to the lowlands and extends its cultivation to the western shore. We now make a complete turn about and survey the eastern part of the country. Here we notice the mountain railway ascending from Nuwara Eliya to Kandapola (6,323 feet), whence it descends into the heart of the Udapussellawa tea district. The lovely town of Badulla lies twenty miles away surrounded by lofty and striking mountains. Farther distant at Lunugala the scenery is still more remarkable. Here the eastern borders of the great central highlands are reached, and at their base a mass of forest-clad foot- hills extends northward through what is known as the Bintenne country, the home of the wild men who still exist in Ceylon, a miserable remnant of an aboriginal THE LAND OF POETRY AXD ROMANCE 159 race. On the eastern coast there is a long strip of alluvial plain extending north and south for upwards of one hundred and fifty miles and from ten to thirty miles inland. For the most part this land is unculti- vated park, forest, and jungle. It is the retreat of wild animals and birds of gorgeous plumage. Innumerable rivers flow through it to the sea ; these have apparently varied their courses from time to time under the influ- ence of tropical torrents and have thus formed count- less still lakes and canals, the banks of which are cov- ered with mangroves of enormous size. The east coast is centered by the town of Batticaloa, famous for its plantations of cocoanuts, extending north and south for fifty miles. Northwards the rugged and beautiful Maturatta is nearest our view, and to the left of it the better-known Ramboda pass leading through Pussellawa into the Kandvan country, where lovely scenery, quaint cus- toms, interesting temples, and strange ceremonials con- spire to provide a veritable paradise for the tourist, who here enjoys easy means of communication and a pleasant temperature. Europe knows nothing of the scenes or the life that greet us here. There is nothing somber or monotonous in the Kandvan country. End- less variety characterizes the landscape and vivid con- trast* the foliage. Precipitous heights and narrow passes for centuries denied the white man possession of this ancient and beautiful kingdom, where railways, marvels of engineering, now encircle the heights and a network of excellent roads affords easy access to 160 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON every feature of interest. In the haze, as we look far- ther north, the mountains fall away in long spurs that radiate in various directions, the farthermost stretching towards the lake of Minneriya (1,000 feet), an object of great interest in the history of Buddhism ; and the famous solitary rock of Sigiriya, the fortified retreat of King Kasyapa in the fifth century. To the left lies the northwestern province with its capital town of Kurunegala, once the seat of kings. This is a lowland province reaching from the northern Kandyan borders to the western shore, chiefly devoted to the cultivation of cocoanut palm, of which there are thirty thousand acres. Interspersed with these plantations are vast stretches of paddy-fields in the low lying swamps. A characteristic feature of the coast is its great salt la- goons, where this precious article of diet is obtained in even larger quantities than at Hambantota. Still farther north, and stretching across the island almost from shore to shore is an almost uncultivated and com- paratively uninhabited province, yet possessing anti- quarian interest second to none in the world ; for here lie the remains of ancient cities which at the zenith of their greatness extended over greater areas than Lon- don to-day, and contained buildings of greater size than any of which Europe can boast. The cities are surrounded by the ruins of an irrigation system still more wonderful. Into the heart of this' district the tourist can now journey in all the luxury of a broad- gauge railway. The buildings still towering hundreds of feet above the soil are open to his inspection, and THE LAND OF POETRY AND ROMANCE 161 their history, carefully compiled from authentic rec- ords, can be had for the reading. After this archaeo- logical feast, a pleasant excursion may be made to Trincomale, one of the most beautiful harbors in the world; or the railway will convey the traveler to the northernmost part of the country, the peninsula of Jaffna, which abounds in interest as being quite dif- ferent from the rest of Ceylon. It is a change in soil, climate, products, and people. Here that born agri- culturist the Tamil has brought every acre of ground under cultivation ; the climate being dry, tobacco fields take the place of paddy, and the beautiful palmyra palm is a special characteristic of the landscape. The absence of rivers in the peninsula is noticeable, the land being fertilized by filtration from large shallow estu- aries. Now we know something about the physical fea- tures of this marvelous land, and it will not be unin- teresting to know something about its history. Three thousand years ago when the Sanskrit-speaking peo- ple, the Aryans of the north of India, had not as yet emerged from obscurity, the whole of Ceylon was peo- pled by barbarous tribes, a wretched remnant of whom still exist in the wilds of the Bintenne country. But before the dawn of civilization fell upon England, history tells us of the marvelous colonization of Cey- lon. People of the Aryan race had discovered the wonderful resources of this beautiful island, had con- quered and colonized it, and by a system of irrigation, which is the admiration of the greatest engineers of our 162 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON own time, had brought the whole country into a high state of culture ; moreover, they had built beautiful cities, the remains of which at this day hold a pre- eminent position amongst the wonders of the world When we come fully into the domain of authentic his- tory, some three centuries before the present era, we rind these people of the Aryan race a great nation of Sinhalese in a high state of civilization for the period, and numbering probably ten millions. But as the cen- turies rolled on, evil times fell upon them. The Dra- vidian races of southern India were becoming power- ful and made frequent incursions upon them, over- throwing their kingdom, plundering their treasures, and even occupying the Sinhalese throne for long periods. In the ruined cities mentioned one can read the history of the rise and fall of a great nation. The first intrusion of the white man took place in the year 1506, when the Portuguese, who had for eight years maintained a fleet in Indian waters, acci- dentally discovered Ceylon while on one of their piratical expeditions for Moorish vessels trading be- tween Cambray and Sumatra. On this occasion, after some palaver with the owners of the Moorish ships off Colombo, the Portuguese captain, Major Dorn Lou- renco, sent an embassy to the King at Cotta, who en- tered into a treaty of mutual friendship and trade, and, moreover, permitted the erection of a stone monu- ment at Colombo to commemorate the discovery of Ceylon. Historians are not altogether in agreement regarding this event ; but there still exists a rock near THE LAND OF POETRY AND ROMANCE 163 the harbor of Colombo engraved with the Portuguese Royal Arms and the date 1501. It is, however, diffi- cult to reconcile the engraved date with the general historical facts of the period, which go to prove the year 1506 as the date of discovery. The Portuguese remained but a short time upon their first visit, but kept up intercourse, with Ceylon in the threefold char- acter of merchants, missionaries, and pirates, a com- bination which they had found effective in obtaining settlements in the Persian Gulf, India, and Malacca, and a few years later they obtained a stronghold at Colombo. The period was favorable to their enter- prise. Political authority throughout Ceylon had be- come divided amongst numerous minor kings or chiefs who held imitation courts in at least half a dozen petty capitals. The north was in possession of the Tamils, and the sea-ports were controlled by the Moors. The monarch of the southwest was Dharma Parakrama IX., whose good-will was craftily gained by a promise on the part of the Portuguese admiral to aid him with military services in his difficulties due to the intrigues and ambitions of other claimants to the throne. Thus did the Portuguese first obtain their footing in Co- lombo. They soon erected a fort, under the guns of which they could trade in spite of the hostility of the Moors; and although the latter besieged them for many months, they succeeded in establishing them- selves securely, eventually gaining possession of all the maritime provinces, of which they remained the mas- ters for one hundred and fifty years. But for them 164 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON Ceylon proved a hornets' nest rather than a bed of roses. The Sinhalese of the interior did not at all approve of the alliance between Parakrama and the Europeans, and with remarkable courage they attacked the allies persistently, and with such vigor that by the year 1653 the Royal stronghold of Cotta fell, and the humiliated king thenceforward resided within the Avails of Colombo under the more immediate protection of the Portuguese guns. So bitterly was the intrusion of the Portuguese resented by the majority of the Sin- halese that all their settlements on the coast were fre- quently attacked and the inhabitants put to death. The struggle lasted without intermission the full one hundred and fifty years of Portuguese occupation. It is impossible not to admire the spirit of patriotism which sustained the Sinhalese in their continued war- fare over so long a period. The arts of war introduced by the foreigner were so rapidly learnt and improved upon, especially in the manufacture of weapons, that they excelled the Portuguese, and on more than one occasion defeated them in the field owing to superior acquaintance in the use of arms and the tactics that had been first employed against them. Moreover, these sturdy patriots had to contend not only with the Portuguese, but with large bands of their own country- men who had been won over to the enemy. At length Ceylon was lost to the Portuguese, who were succeeded by the Dutch under circumstances that may be briefly related. The Portuguese had been in possession of the carrying trade between Europe and THE LAND OF POETRY AND ROMANCE 165 the East for nearly a century when Philip II. of Spain acquired the kingdom of Portugal and at the same time lost the allegiance of the United Provinces, who, in their struggle for independence, organized a powerful navy to protect their merchant vessels engaged in sea carriage between European ports. Philip struck at this commerce, and in doing so ultimately brought dis- aster to the Portuguese. The Dutch carried on a con- siderable trade upon the Tagus in purchasing the car- goes brought from the East by the Portuguese and transporting them to the northern capital. This traffic being interrupted by the short-sighted policy of Philip, the Dutch turned their attention to the East and sub- verted the Portuguese monopoly there. In May, 1602, the first Dutch ship seen in Ceylon anchored off Bat- ticaloa. Its commander, Spilberg, with some diffi- culty ingratiated himself with the local chief who fa- cilitated his journey to Kandy, where he offered King Wimla Dharma an offensive and defensive alliance with the Prince of Orange. This alliance was ac- cepted with alacrity, the Kandyan king being delighted at the prospect of ousting his bitter enemies, the Por- tuguese. The Portuguese were not entirely expelled from Ceylon for many years, and we have not time to go into detail here concerning the struggles. Their last stronghold, Colombo, capitulated May 17, 1656, and the Dutch became masters of every port in the island. They had taken them in the name of Rajah Sinha, acting under a treaty with that monarch so worded that he had a right to expect them to regard 166 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON themselves as occupying the recovered territories in his behalf. They preferred, however, to place on the treaty an interpretation more favorable to themselves, and occupied the fortresses as their own by right of conquest. Thus the Kandyans were duped, and found that, notwithstanding their brave efforts, they had merely exchanged Portuguese for Hollander, and were still confined to their fastnesses in the central mountain zone. And it was not in the hearts of the Hollanders to do anything for the benefit of the Kandyans. Un- like the Portuguese, they dissipated none of their strength in fanatical missionary zeal ; their whole thought and energy were directed to securing trade monopoly. By means of a string of greatly improved forts at all the ports serving the cinnamon country and other rich parts of the island they were able to repel the incursions of the Kandyans, and to insure that nothing was exported save through their factories. The remains of their forts at this day abundantly prove how thoroughly they carried out this policy. The brave Kandyans, enduring all this with impatience, frequently put them to the sword, heaped upon them contumely and outrage, and even executed their am- bassadors. To such treatment the Dutch replied only with further blandishments and presents and new em- bassies, by which means they sought to allay resent- ment while they secured the wealth and produce of the country and shipped it, not only to Europe, but to India, Persia, and other countries of the East. Com- merce was their one and only object, and, to preserve THE LAND OF POETRY AND ROMANCE 167 this, a policy unworthy of conquerors was maintained toward the Kandyans during the whole of the Dutch period in Ceylon. It was, in fact, a policy of obtain- ing wealth by any and every artifice, a method not un- known to or unpracticed by even prouder nations at this period. YVe have seen how in turn the Portuguese and the Dutch came into partial possession of Ceylon and what use they made of their conquests. We now proceed to the British period and the consideration of the so- cial and economic changes that followed on the British occupation. The attention of Great Britain was not turned to Ceylon with ideas of conquest until late in the eighteenth century, when it became absolutely nec- essarv that it should be added to the Indian possessions of the British Crown. The Dutch had never done more than occupy the maritime provinces in military fashion. It remained for the British to introduce civi- lized colonization throughout the length and breadth of the island, and to develop its resources. The rup- ture between Great Britain and Holland in 1795 was the occasion for sending a force against Ceylon. The King of Kandy was as anxious now to ally himsef with the English for the expulsion of the Dutch as his predecessor had been to ally himself with the Dutch for the expulsion of the Portuguese ; but before nego- tiations had been completed the English had taken possession of all the fortresses. Trincomale, after a siege of three weeks, was the first to fall ; Jaffna next surrendered ; Calpentyn and Xegombo were in turn 168 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON occupied; Colombo and the rest capitulated, and by February 16, 1796, the occupation was complete. The Dutch were not driven out by the English as the Por- tuguese were by the Dutch. On the contrary, their property was preserved to them, their institutions were upheld, their code of laws adopted, and public offices of trust were awarded to them which their descend- ants hold to this day. A short period of mismanage- ment followed the annexation. The administration of the new colony was placed in the hands of the Gov- ernor of Madras who gave great offense to the Sin- halese by sending over incompetent civilians assisted by Malabar subordinates to collect the revenues. The unwisdom of this policy was, however, soon rectified by the home government, who decided that Ceylon should be governed by the Crown direct by means of a responsible governor and civil officers appointed by the King. The beneficent policy thus introduced grad- ually wrought the change that has made Ceylon one of the freest, happiest, most prosperous and attractive countries in the world.™ CHAPTER XIV THE DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES OF CEYLON IT is a common error to suppose that Ceylon is con- trolled by the administration of India. Ethnolog- ically only is it a part of India. Geographically, po- litically, and in every other way it is distinct from the adjoining continent. Its system of government is that of a Crown Colony, which literally means autocratic rule by the minister who happens for the time being to preside over the Colonial Office in London ; but the actual administration is in the hands of a Governor, assisted by an Executive Council of the five chief offi- cials of the Colony. The local legislature consists of the Governor, the above councillors, four other gov- ernment officials of the civil service, and eight unoffi- cial members appointed by the Governor. From this preponderance of officials and the circumstance that all ordinances are subject to the sanction or veto of the Secretary of State in London, it will be seen that the people have little voice in the government of the colony. Nevertheless, public opinion through the press has its influence upon the council, which usually acts with wisdom and discretion. The fact that all sections and classes of the population are prosperous and con- tented is the best defense of the system, which, how- ever objectionable it may seem in theory, works well in practice. The power and responsibility for good or 170 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON ill placed in the hands of Governors of Ceylon have never been misused. The Governors have been a series of men remarkable for their industry and their capacity for directing the destinies of the country placed in their charge, and to them is mainly due its present high place among British possessions. The Governor receives his appointment from the Crown, generally for a term of six years, and his pow- ers are controlled only by the authority of the Crown. The adoption or rejection of the advice and enactments of his councils and legislature rests entirely with him- self. He can overrule their deliberations or nullify their labors ; but the necessity for such extreme meas- ures has scarcely ever arisen. The functions of the government are carried out by a civil service organized on the model of that of India. Each of the nine prov- inces into which the island is divided has its chief and assistant government agents, who are responsible tc the central Government. One of the first things to be considered in the development of a country is its railroads and high- ways. Fortunately Ceylon is well equipped in both respects. Her railways now afford an easy and even luxurious means of reaching the most attractive parts of the country. They render easily and quickly acces- sible the most beautiful scenery, the most interesting antiquities, and all those fields of agricultural industry — the tea, the cocoanut, the rubber, which have brought about the advanced state of prosperity which the Colony enjoys. No other country in the world can THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEYLON 171 take you in such spacious and comfortable coaches, on a track of five feet six inches gauge, over moun- tains at an altitude of more than six thousand feet. Yet such facilities are provided in Ceylon. The Ceylon Government Railways are state-owned, as their name implies, and are under the control of the Ceylon Government. The total mileage is five hundred and twenty-six miles, of which four hundred and ninety-five are on the broad gauge {S J / 2 feet) and sixty-seven on the narrow gauge (2 l / 2 feet). The rolling stock of the railway is now constructed locally in the workshops in Colombo, where upwards of three thousand workmen are employed under the superintendence of skilled European foremen. These shops are well equipped with pneumatic and other labor-saving machinery, whilst new tools are being added year by year. The older type of four-wheeled carriages were imported from England and used in the colony, and there are still a good many of these on the line, but they are being steadily replaced by the standard type of bogie carriage forty-two feet long. These modern carriages, which are constructed of teak, are not on the Indian type with longitudinal seats, but on the English, and are furnished with ex- cellent lavatory accommodation. The outside of the carriages is of varnished teak, whilst the interiors are of the same wood, picked out with satinwood and adorned with photographs of interesting places on the line. The lines are well provided with sleeping and refreshment cars, the former running on the up and 172 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON down night mail trains between Colombo and'Nanu- oyam, whilst the latter are run on the principal trains between Colombo, Kandy, and up-country stations. Some of the most valuable products of Ceylon are rubber, cocoanuts, tobacco, rice, tea, and the various spice products, such as cinnamon, cloves, pepper; all kinds of nuts and fragrant and medicinal gums are to be found also in Ceylon, to say nothing of her valuable woods, including teak, ebony, sandalwood, satinwood, and bamboo. Most all tourists go to Henaratgoda to visit the Botanical Garden, where some of the most important experiments have been, and are still being, made. The garden is one of a number of such institu- tions that are under the Government Department of Botany and Agriculture, with headquarters at Pera- deniya, where its director and his extensive scientific staff of experts reside. The Henaratgoda gardens were opened in 1876 for the purpose of making ex- periments in ascertaining suitable products for culti- vation in the heated lowlands. It was about this time that the Para rubber seed was planted, and many of the trees that we see there to-day are therefore more than thirty years old. Had we space in this brief chapter we should like to go into details regarding rubber culture and the preparation of the raw material that is shipped from Ceylon all over the world. The raw material that is shipped is the extracted milk of the plant secured by tapping the trees. This milk is then condensed into biscuits or blocks and shipped to the manufacturer. THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEYLON 173 By the manufacturer it must be torn to shreds, melted and mixed with certain chemicals and ingredients nec- essary to its use for manufactured articles. This is a long and expensive process, and it is believed by cer- tain parties in Ceylon that these chemicals can be mixed with the latex as soon as it is taken from the trees, and the manufactured products created on the grounds. If this could be brought about, it would mean a great future for Ceylon, as all kinds of rubber trees and plants grow freely in the soil of the island, and there are thousands of acres of waste land that could be utilized for this purpose. The cocoanut is the chief source of Sinhalese wealth : but, unlike some other tropical products, de- pends on man for its existence, and if left to nature, it pines and dies. It is true, therefore, that wherever you see the cocoanut palm there you will find popula- tion. Although European colonists have considerably extended its cultivation, it is pre-eminently the national tree, the friend of the natives, all of whom share in its benefits, from the wealthy owner of tens of thou- sands of trees to the humble possessor of a tithe of one. There are few gifts of the earth about which so much may be said ; its uses are infinite, and to the Sinhalese villager it is, as the date palm is to the Arab, all-suffi- cient. With the trunk of the tree he builds his hut and his bullock-stall, which he thatches with its leaves. His bolts and bars are slips of the bark, by which he nspends the small shelf which holds his stock of household utensils and vessels. He fences his little 174 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON plot of chillies, tobacco, and fine grain with the leaf stalks. The infant is swung to sleep in a rude net of coir-string made from the husk of the fruit; its meal of rice and scraped cocoanut is boiled over a fire of cocoanut shells and husks, and is eaten from a dish formed from the plaited green leaves of the tree with a spoon cut out of the nut-shell. When he goes fish- ing by torch-light his net is of cocoanut fiber, the torch or chule is a bundle of dried cocoanut leaves and flower-stalks ; the little canoe is the trunk of the cocoa- palm tree ; hollowed by his own hands. He carries home his net and string of fish on a yoke, or pingo, formed of a cocoanut stalk. When he is thirsty, he drinks of the fresh juice of the young nut; when he is hungry, he eats its soft kernel. If he have a mind to be merry, he sips a glass of arrack, distilled from the fermented juice, and he flavors his curry with vinegar made from this toddy. Should he be sick, his body will be rubbed with cocoanut oil ; he sweetens his coffee with jaggery or cocoanut sugar, and softens it with cocoanut milk ; it is sipped by the light of a lamp constructed from a cocoanut shell and fed by cocoanut oil. His doors, his windows, his shelves, his chairs, the water gutter under the eaves are all made from cocoanut wood. His spoons, his forks, his ba- sins, his mugs, his salt-cellars, his jars, his child's money-box, are all constructed from the shell of the nut. Over his couch when born, and over his grave when buried, a bunch of cocoanut blossoms is hung to charm away evil spirits. The marvelous bounty of THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEYLON 175 the cocoanut-palm has been gracefully summarized by the poet as — "clothing, meat, trencher, drink and can, Boat, cable, sail, mast, needle, all in one." As an object of commerce, cocoanut oil, of which upwards of five million gallons are annually exported, holds the first place. Next in importance is the fiber of the husk known as coir. This is exported to the extent of about ten thousand tons annually. The ex- port of coprah (the dried kernel of the nuts) amounts annually to about 375,000 hundred weight, while that of the dessicated nut for confectionery amounts to upwards of sixteen million pounds. From this recital of figures it will be rightly surmised that a very small proportion of the annual yield of nuts leave the coun- try in their natural state, nearly all the export trade being in manufactured products. One thousand mil- lions is a reasonable estimate of the year's supply of cocoanuts in Ceylon, about two-fifths of which are ex- ported in oil, coprah, confectionery, and husked fruit, the remainder being consumed by the population chiefly as food and drink. The tourist often makes his first acquaintance with the unhusked cocoanut at the railway stations of Cey- lon, where little brown urchins with hatchet in one hand and in the other several nuts su.spended by stalks, perambulate the platform shouting, Kitrumba, Kur- umba! The thirsty traveler is thus invited to drink the water of the fresh cocoanut, which is at once wholesome, cool, and refreshing. Many Iuiropeans 176 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON add an ounce of whisky to the pint of water which the kurumba contains and declare that thus adulterated it is a drink for the gods. It is also regarded by many as an excellent preventive of gout. The convenience of the beverage when traveling in this thirsty country is great; for one has but to shout Kurumba! when for a few cents some obliging native is willing to ascend a tree and bring down the grateful nut. Tea districts are numerous all through Ceylon, though some attention must be paid to climate in locating them. The finest estates are found along the Agra River near Agrapatana. In this old town of Agrapatana one finds many curious things, the most interesting being the bazaars. In these bazaars laborers, men, women, and children of a hundred tea estates are supplied with their luxuries, which consist chiefly of trinkets, sweets, curry stuffs, and cloths of many colors which, without any tailoring, serve them as wearing apparel. Here, too, the native rice contractors have their stores, which are of no small importance in a country where the soil is cultivated only for the production of luxury for exportation, and the food of the laborer is an imported article. We notice also in this busy native town long rows of sheds and stations for the hundreds of Slumped bulls that do the work of transport. Loads of tea, and, in the tobacco districts, tobacco are always to be seen in course of transit to the railway station, drawn by these fine beasts. The process of tea-planting, curing, and exporting is a very arduous and complicated one that we can not THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEYLON 177 take up in detail here, interesting as it would be to do so. Notwithstanding the hard labor connected with it. the planter finds time to play just as hard as he works, if not a little harder. In the Agra district, and in many other districts, life is by no means all work, nor does it mean, as it used to do in the early coffee days, banishment from the amenities of social life. Each district has its sporting, social, and athletic clubs, and cricket, football, and hockey grounds, while some have also their race-courses. One of the most interesting agricultural industries is the paddy cultivation, or rice growing. This is to be seen at its best in the neighborhood of Kandy. The natural beauty of the Kandyan country is greatly en- hanced by the artifice of the paddy cultivator. No visitor can fail to observe how exquisite is the appear- ance of the hillsides that are terraced into shallow ledges upon which tiny lakelets are formed for the purpose of growing rice, or paddy as it is locally called, the latter term being applied to rice in the husk. The ingenuity displayed by the natives in the irrigation of steep mountain slopes is the most remark- able feature of Sinhalese agriculture. The cultivation of the paddy demands land that will retain water upon its surface, not only during the period of germination, but during a great portion of the time required for the maturity of the plant; indeed, the half-ripe paddy, which clothes the slopes of the hills with a mantle of the most radiant green, stands deep in water. Only 178 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON as the time for harvest approaches are the dams broken and the water allowed to escape. A great deal of religious superstition goes into the culture of the paddy terraces. The young plants are said to be saved from the ravages of insects by charms and the recital of various incantations. The charms include the scattering of sand or ashes around the bor- ders, accompanied by fasting and strict seclusion from society on the part of the performer of the rites. In- stances of the benign influence of the Lord Buddha in freeing the corn from pests are solemnly recited and the same influence invoked. Other gods and goddesses are appealed to for securing the departure of various grubs and flies, and in every case a strange ceremony is performed. Many of the invocations are couched in beautiful language, but the execution of the charms involves proceedings that to us appear somewhat strange ; as when "after dark a man steals three ekel brooms from three different houses. These he ties together with creeper and hangs them to his waist- string behind. Proceeding to the field he walks three times round it, buries the bundle in the main opening through the dam and returns home unobserved. The whole time, and, if possible, the next morning, he re- mains mute." Again, "the Yakdcssd should spend the previous night in a lonely spot, after having put on clean clothes and eaten 'milk-rice.' The following morn- ing, without communicating with any one, he should go to the field. Having caught a fly, he must hold it for awhile in rosin smoke, over which he has muttered THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEYLON 179 the following charm one hundred and eight times, and afterwards releases it in the field: ' O'nnamo! by the power of the Lord Buddha who came to dispel the pestilence of the great city Wisala, this very day all ye flower-flies, black flies, probiscus armed flies, and earth grubs of this field, away, away ; stay not.' " It would almost seem that charms are introduced chiefly to meet emergencies in which practical methods' are of no avail ; but when the Kandyan has to deal with the depredations of birds and the larger animals we find that he is not above supplementing supernat- ural agency by human means. A crop-watcher's hut is built of bamboo and roofed with painted cocoanut fronds ; and from this, lines of cord, made from cocoa- nut fiber, extend in all directions, communicating with ingeniously constructed rattles of an alarmingly dis- cordant nature. Thus the inhabitants of the hut are enabled effectively to scare both animals and birds that would otherwise rob them of the fruits of their labor. Just before the harvest the workers live in these huts night and day, and are armed with a bow and stones. The bow is the ordinary kind used to fly ar- rows, but with a second string that enables them to hurl stones. Finally the harvest comes, and as they all worked together through the seeding and the cultivating, so do they join in the harvest, all falling together on one man's terrace or field, and so on to the next man's until the whole harvest is gathered. And the custom is, during the reaping of one man's grain he finds the 180 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON meals for all. The women's work in the harvest is to follow after the reapers and gather the sheaves to- gether into one place. It is not wealth that induces the Kandvan to grow rice, for there are other crops that would be of more value and he could import what rice he uses. The whole motive in paddy culture among the Kandyans is that they may preserve ancient cus- toms. It can be seen in the harvest operations how true this is. The priests, astrologers, doctors, and devil-dancers are now agreed as to the auspicious moment for put- ting in the sickle ; the band of tom-tom players as- sembles ; spectators also arrive upon the scene ; every one wears a look of gladness. The introductory sym- phony is played by the drums of strange make and tuned to intervals unfamiliar to Western ears, and song bursts forth from the reapers as they spring for- ward from the shallow embankments with their keen sickles to fell the standing grain. The spectators are in the foreground, the tom-tom players are on the bund, or dam, stimulating the reapers with weird mu- sic. The vivacity of the scene is striking; it is the natural introduction of native sentiment into agricul- ture, and in strange contrast with heaviness of such labor in the Western world, where the operations of the laborers are often as heavy as their boots. The work .of carrying the sheaves to the thresh- ing-floor is allotted to the women, who may be seen in picturesque procession walking along the dam with the sheaves on their heads. The threshing-floor is in THE DEVELOPMENT OF CEYLOX 181 the open field upon high ground in the most convenient place that can be found near the irrigated land. It is usually circular in shape and from twenty-five to forty feet in diameter. The ceremony that here takes place is exceedingly picturesque. In the middle several con- centric circles are traced with ashes, the outer one being bordered by various ornamental signs. The cir- cles are bisected by straight lines ; and in the divisions or segments thus formed various representations are drawn, such as agricultural implements, brooms, Bud- dha's foot, a scraper, a flail and a measure. And in the circle is placed a stone and a conch shell, the lat- ter filled with various ingredients, which remind one of the contents of the pot of the witches in Macbeth. The preliminaries being now completed and the lucky moment ascertained, that husbandman whom the gods have most consistently favored with good fortune is chosen to cast down the first sheaf. With this upon his head he walks with grave and solemn step thrice around the traced figure, bowing towards the conch shell as he reaches each point from which the bisecting lines are drawn ; then, being careful to face the direc- tion fixed by the astrologer, he casts down the sheaf upon the conch shell and. prostrating himself, with joined hands he profoundly salutes it three times, rising to his knees after each salutation. He then retires and three women approach the conch shell, and after walk- ing around it three times in solemn and silent proces- sion they cast down their sheaves upon that already placed there and retire. The rest of the grain is de- 182 ORIENTAL LIFE— CEYLON posited on the floor without further ceremony. The fee to the three women for casting their sheaves is as much grain as lies on the flat stone which was depos- ited near the conch shell. At eventide, the auspicious moment being first as- certained, teams of buffaloes, as innocent of the muzzle as if they were subject to the Mosaic law, are brought to the floor to tread out the grain. All the tinpe this is being done, homage is paid to the charmed conch shell, the men bowing reverently to it each time they go forward to sweep the half-trodden grain from the edge to the center of the floor. At length' the paddy is found to be trodden out, and the animals are allowed to return to the swamps, in which they delight to wallow, until the time when they shall be needed for some work. The winnowing of the grain is attended by various ceremonies that we can not stop to describe. But this love of ceremony is carried by the Kandyans into every duty of the day, and forms a part of the official duties in the govern- ment of the rural districts. It accompanies every meal, and there are ceremonies for their retiring to rest and arising to the work of the day. There are enough interesting things in the life of the people of Ceylon to make a large volume, and no more delightful study could be taken up than a careful investigation of its resources, its ruined cities, its his- tory, its religions, and its manners and customs. With this description of agricultural ceremonials, however, we must take leave of the enchanted island of Ceylon." KOREA CHAPTER XV THE HERMIT NATION AND HER PEOPLE THE Korean Peninsula extends from the central part of the Asiatic continent in a southeasterly direction, separating the Japan and China Seas. It has been likened in shape to a rabbit, caught by the ear and held by Russia at Vladivostock, but to Orien- tal fancy it appears like a dagger pointing at the heart of Japan. It extends through nine degrees of latitude (34° to 43 X.) and is estimated to be six hundred miles in length, one hundred and thirty-five miles in width, and contains approximately eighty-five thousand square miles, making it about the size of Utah. Fusan. the southern port, is about in the same latitude as Atlanta, Georgia, and Los Angeles, California. Seoul and Pyeng, in Central Korea, correspond to Richmond, Virginia, and San Francisco, California, and Kyeng- heung, the, northernmost city, is in about the same lati- tude as Portland, Maine. The climate of Korea is pleasant and healthful dur- ing the greater part of the year, and is like that of the Ohio Valley. The extremes of temperature range from nine degrees below zero to ninety-eight degrees above. During the winter ice forms on the rivers and snow 183 184 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA falls in limited quantities. There is a rainy season accompanied by a heavy rainfall, the air being full of mc isture and mold forms everywhere — on walls, un- der carpets, matting, on the floor, on books, shoes, gloves. The relation of this rainy season to the na- tional prosperity may be seen in the fact that in 1901 only 4.1 inches of rain fell, leading to a drouth, fol- lowed by a famine because of the failure of crops. The people were driven in their distress to use the seeds of weeds, roots of grasses, and even the bark of trees for food. This unnatural diet brought about a pesti- lence, and the whole series of calamities resulted in great loss of life. There are no great plains in Korea, the country being mountainous and making of the people a race of mountaineers. The tip of the main system in the south is Halla-san, an extinct volcano, seven thousand feet high, on the Isle of Ouelpart, in the Japan Sea. As you go north the mountains increase in height, culmi- nating at the Manchurian frontier in Paik-tii-san (Mt. Whitehead), also an extinct volcano, nine thousand feet high, the crater of which contains a beautiful lake. This pretty lake feeds the superstitions of the Koreans. They look upon it as a mysterious body of water and believe that should they violate its sanctity by looking upon its face, some terrible calamity would overtake them. There are four principal rivers : the Amnok, or Yalu, which forms the boundary between Korea and China for one hundred and seventy-five miles ; the Tai-dong, on which is located Pyeng-Yang, the me- THE HERMIT NATION AND HER PEOPLE 185 tropolis of the north; the Han, which almost bisects the peninsula, rising within thirty miles of the Japan Sea and emptying into the Yellow Sea at Chemulpo. The environs of the Imperial Capital extend to the Han, and are only twenty-six miles from its mouth by rail. The fourth river is the Xak-dong, in the south, which is said to be navigable for one hundred and forty miles by vessels drawing not more than four and one- half feet. Until recent times, the chief modes of travel, aside from that which nature provides, were either by na- tive junk, or overland in chairs or on horseback. It was not until 1890 that small river steamers were in- troduced on the Han to ply between Chemulpo and the capital. American enterprise started the first railroad, which later was purchased and finished by the Japan- ese, connecting Chemulpo and Seoul, a distance of twenty-six miles. Seoul is now connected with Fusan, the southern port, by a railroad two hundred and eighty-seven miles long, and with Wiju, the frontier city on the Yalu, by another road three hundred and fifty miles long. A fourth road is projected between Seoul and Wonsan, the northeast port, which will prob- ably be one hundred and seventy-five miles long. All these railroads arc owned by the Japanese, There are two thousand one hundred and seventy-five miles of telegraph lines in Korea, and the empire is a member of the Postal Union. Korea is a fair rival of Japan in the beauty of her scenery. The bleak, barren shores of the west coast, 186 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA which confront the visitor on his way to the peninsula, are but a disguise to the hidden glories within. Mrs. Bird Bishop says that Seoul is one of the most beauti- fully situated cities in the world. Along the Korean shoreline of the Japan Sea is the Yongdong Ku-up, or the nine scenic regions, famous for centuries among the natives for their great natural beauty. The "Dia- mond" Mountains, near Wosan, derive their name from the dazzling beauties of their rocky peaks, and here is located the chief seat of the Korean Buddhist hierarchy. Along the Han and the Tai-dong Rivers may be found combinations of river and mountain scenery well worthy of a visit. Korea is a land of wonderfully clear and lucid atmosphere, rugged moun- tains at times glow with a blaze of wild flowers, varied with peaceful farming scenes, sleepy villages and rare sunsets. Korea is rich in natural resources. The chief prod- uct of the country is rice, which is the main dependence of the people for their livelihood and the chief article on the national menu. Barley, wheat, and buckwheat, and various vegetables such as onions, turnips, lettuce, potatoes, cucumbers, etc., are also grown in abundance. The chief native fruits are melons, persimmons, pears, peaches, apricots, crab-apples, and cherries, in fact, all the fruits and berries that are common to the United States. An inferior grade of cotton is raised, but with proper seed there are great pos- sibilities for its culture in Korea, and already plans are on foot for an extensive development of the THE HERMIT NATION AND HER PEOPLE 187 cotton industry. Tobacco and silks are also pro- duced, and the peninsula is the home of the great medic- inal root, ginseng, the marketing of which is a govern- ment monopoly. Korea is also rich in minerals. Con- cessions for gold mining have been obtained by capi- talists from the United States and other foreign coun- tries, the American concession in Pyeng-an Province covering eight hundred square miles, with five mines opened and with five mills operating, and two hundred stamps at work. Fifty thousand dollars' worth of cop- per has been exported from native mines in one year. The seas also bring a large amount of wealth to Korea, as they teem with fish. Along the eighteen hundred miles of shore, and about the ten thousand isles of which the Korean Empire is lord, may be found halibut, cod, salmon, the Tai (a species of carp), her- rings, sardines, sharks, whales, and shrimps. Oysters of immense size and clams are plentiful, and are much appreciated by the people. One Japanese fishing com- pany is said to have caught fish to the.value of $500,000 in one year. The pearl oyster abounds in the south, and valuable pearls, pink, white, and black, are found. The origin of the Korean people is still an un- solved problem, though the concensus of opinion is that several races united to form the present people of the peninsula. They have the same general features as the Chinese and Japanese, favoring somewhat their neighbors of the "Sunrise Kingdom." They have the dark, almond-shaped, oblique eyes, the high check bones, and long, straight, coarse, black hair of the 188 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA Mongoloid races. The men average about five feet five inches in height, have a very erect carriage, due to their habit of sitting on the floor instead of on chairs, and move as a rule with considerable grace. They are great pedestrians and perform prodigious journeys' over their native mountains. The women average about five feet two inches, having a great deal of ex- pression in their faces ; among the upper classes they never appear in public. The costume of the men is generally white in color, and is designed on a plan to consume large quantities of cloth. In the old days, when clothing was made out of the narrow goods of native manufacture, it was not unusual to use a hundred yards or more of cotton, silk, and linen in making a man's winter costume. A gentleman dressed in this fashion passing along the road on a breezy day made an impressive sight. He reminded the observer of a full-rigged ship under sail. The Koreans until recently wore their hair long, the males not cutting the hair at all. In boyhood it is worn down the back, in a long luxuriant braid, and after the boy has grown to manhood, the braid is wrapped up and confined on the top of the head by a tortoise-shell comb. This custom gave rise to the industry of th^ manufacture of these combs, and some of the finest that are bought to-day for the coiffures of the fash- ionable American or European lady come from Korea, principally from Seoul. The investiture of the male Korean with a hat is a very important part of the mar- riage ceremony. The prospective bridegroom is placed THE HERMIT NATION AND HER PEOPLE 189 in the center of a group of the elders of his clan, his long, black tresses gathered up over the head, a silken cord tied around the hair close to the crown, and then his hair is twisted and coiled until it is reduced to a small knot on the top«of the head. This is known as the top-knot, and like the scalp lock of the Indian and ancient Japanese, and the queue of the Chinese, forms a very convenient handle by which the natives can seize each other in times of animated discussion. To hold the hair on the top of the head, a band made of horsehair and linen thread goes around the fore- head, binding it very tightly. On top of this the hat is placed, which is of interesting construction and con- sists of a large brim with a top to it like an inverted flower-pot. The hats of to-day are very diminutive compared to the hats of years gone by, when the brims were so large that it is said no more than three Koreans could get into any ordinary sized room at the same time with their hats on. There are many varieties of hats, probably the most remarkable being the sak-kat of the north, which is made of a kind of reed, and which is so large that it admirably serves the purpose of an umbrella. The costume of the women is quite different from that of the men, being varied among the younger women with colors, and the most peculiar feature of which is that the waist line is placed just under the arm pits, giving them the appearance of overgrown children. This style is used to an extent in Europe and America, and is known as the Empire gown. The 190 ( HUENTAL LIFE— KOREA Korean costume is a very easy and comfortable one, having no buttons to it and being supported on the body by garters and girdles. In appearance the Ko- reans, in spite of the strange form of their interesting and remarkable costume, are a dignified and impressive people, and possessing as they do many of the graces and accomplishments which attend genuine hospitality and courtesy, they are a delightful people with whom to become acquainted. The population of Korea is estimated among the people themselves as twenty million, but this is a great exaggeration and twelve million would be a conserva- tive estimate. Next to the Imperial clan, in the social scale are the Yang-ban, or the nobility, who fill all the offices, enjoy special privileges and prerogatives, and are the absolute rulers of the land. With them are the literati, whose position is an honorable and respected one. Then come the middle class of men, who make- up the real bulk of the population, and are farmers or merchants, or occupy the clerical offices in the gov- ernment. At the bottom of the scale are the coolies cr laboring classes, consisting of several grades, the low- est being the butchers, and above them in rank the Buddhist priests, monks, and nuns, who in their turn are outranked by the serfs or household slaves. Actors are also regarded as in social disgrace, and classified somewhere between the butchers and monks. Labor cf all kinds is regarded as a badge of disgrace, and the fear of it rests like a nightmare upon Korean gentry who make any social pretensions. THE HERMIT NATION AND HER PEOPLE 191 The occupation of the nobility is either "running" the government, or being run by it — at least this was their occupation before Japan took a hand. There are two political parties in Korea, the Ins and the Outs. The Ins regard themselves as orthodox, and consider the Outs traitors. The literati as a class have high ideals, and have given to the entire range of Korean I'.fe a literary trend. It is no exaggeration to say that though the Koreans may not be a nation of scholars, they are certainly a nation of students. They are eager to learn, quick to comprehend, strong to retain, and it is a delight to be associated with them in the capacity of an instructor. They reverence their teachers as they do their parents and their officers. This devotion to literary studies and ambition to be educated is not confined to the literary classes, but among the lower classes the same intense desire for education manifests itself, and out from among them sometimes come men of great mental superiority. In study a Korean will not spare himself. A favorite motto is, "Tie your top- knot to the ridge pole." the Korean equivalent of "Burning the midnight oil." It is said of one of their most famous prime ministers that when, at the age of eighty, he retired from active life, he journeyed to the early home which he had not seen since his boy- hood. After visiting the house in which he was born, he went to the schoolroom in which he was educated, and taking the switch with which the boys are disci- plined, he set it against the wall and then gravely got 192 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA down on his knees and made three obeisances to it, saying, "The rod that made me a man." The Korean boy begins school at five years of age. Schools are, as a rule, private in character, there being one in nearly every village supported either by local funds or maintained by some wealthy resident. Some- times these local schools are endowed, the endowment usually consisting of rice lands or a bull. Education is through the medium of the Chinese classics, which are bawled out by the boys in the first years of their school life at the top of their voices. At first the boy learns only the sounds and meaning of the characters, and after he has acquired about two thousand of these, he is taught to explain them in their grammatical and textual sense. The course of study in these schools is on a religious foundation. The Korean scriptures — that is, the Confucian Classics — is the chief text-book, and though a Korean may come from these schools knowing very little of arithmetic, geography or his- tory, he does know the religious faith of his people, and how to conform to its requirements. One of the supreme objects of Korean education is to impress upon the boy that life without religion reduces him to the level of the birds and beasts. A Korean would regard with amazement the American debate on the advisability of teaching the Bible in the public schools. There are no schools for girls outside the mission schools, and never have been. The main occupation of the people is agriculture, the Koreans being a nation of farmers, with the s-pirit, THE HERMIT XATIOX AND HER PEOPLE 193 the good points, and the weaknesses of any farming people. They have strong physiques, and readily en- dure long hours of labor and exposure to the elements. Their power to carry loads is surprising. They have invented a rack, which they hang on their backs by straps over the shoulders, supporting it on the hips, and upon this rack a Korean has been known to carry a bale of cotton goods, weighing five hundred pounds, for a mile. They have only the crudest farming ap- pliances, and farms are limited largely to small hold- ings. As there are no native banks, the nobility and the wealthy men of the land usually invest their for- tunes in farm land, which is worked on shares by the farming classes. Renting for a cash stipend is un- known. An estate is made up of a large number of these small holdings, presided over by a steward rep- resenting the grand seigneur. Business is greatly handicapped by the lack of confi- dence, the native rates of interest ranging from two per cent to ten per cent a month. In Seoul there are wealthy and powerful guilds of various merchants who have stalls where they show their goods. Such a thing as a store, as understood in Western lands, is unknown in the native cities. Small shops may be found in some of the larger walled towns, and at the open ports, where native products, — wooden, brass, and iron ware, articles of apparel, household utensils, mixed with foreign importations such as piece goods, kerosene oil, cigarettes, umbrellas, and matches may be purchased. Often, however, the entire stock in trade 194 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA will not be worth more than fifteen or twenty dollars. In many of the smaller towns the shops open only once each five days, for shopping is done by the peo- ple usually on market days. These occur each fifth day, and are held at central points, to which hucksters resort with such goods as they can carry on their backs or on a pony. To these market places come the farm- ers with their products, including chickens, fruit, and bulls, and it is surprising to see the amount of business thus done. As many as twenty thousand people will be in attendance during the market days in some of the thickly populated regions. Native life in Korea is on a very simple and primi- tive basis, and far behind that of their neighbors in China and Japan. The manufacturers of Korea, like their natural resources, await development. The com- mercial outlook is certainly very good, for here we have a nation of twelve million people strong in phy- sique, sturdy in many of their characteristics, yet docile under sympathetic control, diligent by nature, quick to learn, and needing only instruction, the removal of an oppressive government, and the rise of a generation free from the hurtful views which prevail concerning the dignity of labor, to become one of the most pros- perous and progressive peoples in the Far East. CHAPTER XVI A VANISHING EMPIRE THE passing of one of the world's ancient empires can not but challenge our interests and sympathy. However much Korea may have merited her tragic fate, the way in which she has struggled against it is pathetic. Owing to her situation it was long Korea's part to act as a buffer state between China and Japan, and later between Russia and Japan. As a result of the conflict between the two last-mentioned powers she now lies a helpless prize of war. Unable effectively to defend herself and unable to secure a guaranteed neutrality from the powers, she has ceased to exist as one of the worlds independent nations. The foreign ministers have been withdrawn from Seoul, and all foreign matters are now handled from Tokyo. Diplo- matically, Korea is dead. It is inaccurate, strictly speaking, to think of Korea as having been a sovereign, independent nation. His- torically she was, until recent times, one of the depend- encies of the great Chinese Empire. In blood, in lan- guage, in religion, in social customs and political insti- tutions she shows her remote origin from the Celestial Empire, and only in local variations and minor pecu- liarities do we find anything distinctive. How different in results have been the seeds of civi- lization which she, in turn, passed on to Japan ! While 195 196 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA Korea, if she has not positively decayed and declined, has for centuries remained stagnant, seeking to exclude herself as completely as possible from all contact with the rest of the world and thus earning the title of the "Hermit Nation," the wonderful little Island Empire has developed one of the most interesting civilizations in the world. Lying thus between the mother empire on the west and the daughter empire on the east, Korea's nominal dependence upon China, and the attempt on the part of that country to make her suzerainty effective, led to the short and decisive struggle between China and Tapan in 1894. China was ignominiously beaten and lapan emerged for the first time as one of the world's fighting powers. As a result of this war China gave up all her claims and the treaty of Shimonoseki, in 1895, declared the "full and complete independence and autonomy of Korea."' Then, for the first time, Korea became really inde- pendent, though the inevitable result of the war was to increase tremendously the influence of Japan. It was as a protest against this growing power of the Tapanese that a movement was soon started against them, inspired, it seems, by the Korean Empress, whose watchword seems to have been ''Korea for the Ko- reans." This movement collapsed with the murder of the Empress in 1895, a murder that is very gen- erally attributed to the Japanese. In the meantime the growl of the Russian bear was becoming audible and threatening. Already Russia A VANISHING EMPIRE 197 had made her wonderful march to the sea and was fast overrunning Manchuria. She cast her eye over Korea. Its resources, its harbors, and the general usefulness of the peninsula in rounding out her do- mains made possession seem quite inevitable to the Russians. Furthermore, the acquisition looked as if it would be an easy matter, for the people were docile, the court weak and corrupt. The same tactics that had been so successfully used at Peking were therefore brought into play at Seoul. The Russian agents, boun- tifully supplied with gold, plied all the arts of friend- ship, cajolery, and corruption, and if these at times seemed insufficient, they did not hesitate to threaten to use the big stick. These successful advances of Russia at the Korean court filled Japan with alarm and hostility. Russia, believed to be one of the world's strongest powers, one that had just succeeded in wresting an important province from China, was now threatening to undo all that Japan had accomplished in the war of 1894, and even to oust her completely from the peninsula. And if she should succeed in doing this, why might she not reach across the narrow stretch of water and lay her heavy hand upon the Island Empire itself? At the same time the population of Japan threatened to increase beyond her ability to take care of it. If Korea should be lost, where could Japan send her surplus people? One of the Japanese statesmen ex- pressed the situation at the time as follows : "Korea is an important outpost in Japan's line of defense, and 198 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA Japan, consequently, considers Korea's independence absolutely essential to her own repose and safety." This being the situation, a tug of war at Seoul was inevitable. It was a thrilling struggle with an empire at stake, and involved bluffing, hoodwinking, bribery, chicanery, and finally an appeal to the sword. The steady, bold aggression of Russia was met by the dogged, determined opposition of Japan. In this state of things, America was the favored nation at the Korean court. Her citizens had large investments, her missionaries were numerous and non-meddlesome, her motives were not suspected, her minister (Dr. Allen) was highly respected and trusted, and her treaty contained a clause by which she agreed "to pro- tect Korea's independence and safeguard her rights." How little do treaties mean ! This being the situation, the Korean Emperor was between two fires, and his policy was to blow first hot and then cold. Lying, intrigue, and vacillation charac- terized the Korean diplomacy. Finally, when the bear squeezed too hard, Korea flew into the arms of Japan — from the frying pan into the fire ! This was the state of affairs which led up to the Russian- Japanese struggle for Korea. When Japan finally declared war early in 1904, it was for the avowed purpose of "preserving the independence of the Hermit Nation." Before the hostilities began, the Emperor of Korea declared that his country would remain neutral. Coolly disregarding this declaration of purpose, the Japanese soon occupied Seoul and im- A VANISHING EMPIRE 199 pressed a treaty of alliance upon Korea, by which Japan insured the "safety and repose" of the Korean imperial house, and guaranteed the independence and territorial integrity of the Korean Empire. Later in the same year (August, 1904), another treaty was en- tered into by which Korea agreed to employ a Japan- ese and to decide by his advice all financial, foreign, or diplomatic matters. This was a bold step at undermining the autonomy of Korea early in the war and while the outcome was problematical. The next step was taken in the treaty between Russia and Japan at the close of the war (August 23, 1905), the second article of which was in part as follows: "The imperial Russian government, acknowledging that Japan possesses in Korea para- mount political, military, and economic interests, en- gages neither to obstruct nor interfere with measures for the guidance, protection, and control which the im- perial government of Japan may find necessary to take in Korea." This treaty was followed by the so-called suzer- ainty protocol between Japan and Korea, of November 17, 1905, whose declaration of purpose was as follows: "The governments of Japan and Korea, desiring to strengthen the principle of solidarity which unites the two empires, have, with that object in view, agreed upon and concluded the following stipulations to serve until the moment arrives when it is recognized that Korea has attained national strength." It then goes on to provide that Japan is to have control and direc- 200 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA tion of the external relations and affairs of Korea ; that Korea should not make an international act except through Japan ; that the advice of the Japanese resi- dent-general is to be asked and followed upon all im- portant matters. In return for all these considerations on Korea's part, Japan undertook "to maintain the wel- fare and dignity of the Imperial House of Korea." This was a most extraordinary document. It amounted practically to a death-warrant of the nation, and was wrung from the Emperor and his cabinet only after a sweat-box pressure that drove more than one of the ministers to commit suicide. The Emperor, on January 29, 1906, issued a statement asserting that his signature to the protocol had been forged, and im- ploring the powers to establish a joint protectorate to preserve the independence of his country. It was like a voice crying in the wilderness — no notice was given it in the chancelleries of the powers. It is worth while to know that this statement of the Emperor's was given to a British newspaper man who would not trust to the local cable (operated by the Japanese), but car- ried it across to the China coast and thence made it, known to the world. At the close of the war there were three possible courses open to Japan in dealing with Korea. One was to place her in practically the same position she was before the war — an independent power— subject to pressure, and even control, from Peking, St. Peters- burg, or Tokyo. This course was clearly out of the question. A VANISHING EMPIRE 201 Another would have been to maintain her before the world as practically an autonomous nation, subject to her own emperor, who, however, should be guided by the advice of the Japanese resident-general. Such is the method many European nations use in dealing with their dependencies. And this was the method which was actually tried and which failed. It is an essential part of such a scheme that the emperor be contented with the appearance of power and of au- thority while the substance is completely in the hands of those behind the throne ; in other words, that he rule and they govern. This situation the Korean Emperor never fully accepted. He would agree, under pressure, to anything that was proposed and then im- mediately scheme, plot,, and intrigue to undo it. One of the most important provisions in the treaty of No- vember, 1905, was that whereby Korea agreed to sur- render all her dealings with foreign powers to Japan, and not to undertake any international act except through Japan. The sending of a delegation to The Hague in 1907 was in direct contravention to the treaty. The third possibility in the relation of the two countries would be for Korea to lose completely her identity as an independent power in annexation and absorption by Japan. And can any one who has fol- lowed carefully the trend of events for the past five years doubt for a moment that this is the course that was entered upon when, after sending the delegation to The Hague, the old emperor was forced to abdicate ? 202 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA The fate of the old ruler can not excite compas- sion in any one. He did nothing to justify his rule. The impression he gave one who saw him was that of weakness and sensuality. His policy was purely self- ish and unenlightened. He took upon himself none of the burdens of a responsible ruler. His kitchen coun- selors were often men who had forced themselves into power by their brutal and corrupt practices while in minor positions. The court was filled with sorcerers, soothsayers, conjurors, diviners, and other intriguers, who constantly played upon the emperor's fears and superstition, causing him to abandon a plan no sooner than he had formed it, and to withdraw a policy no sooner that he had announced it. Under this wretched rule, or misrule, the taxes were farmed out and the peasants plucked of every- thing but the barest necessities. In one of the recent budgets $1,751,634 was set aside for the emperor's personal and household expenses and $28,642 for pub- lic improvements! Little wonder if, under such con- ditions, the people are stolid and indifferent ; if the wretched barrenness and poverty of the country are so oppressive to the traveler. There is something thor- oughly depressing about a Korean village with its lit- tle one-room mud huts, thatched with straw, and gen- erally without window or chimney, no trees, grass, or flowers, the only animal visible a half-starved cur, and not a spire or steeple or aspiring structure of any kind in the whole enclosure. Yet the Oriental philosophy which accepts the situation, whatever it may be, and A VANISHING EMPIRE 203 makes the best of it, can be seen in the signs over the shop-doors in Seoul, one of which translated, informs us that "The People Enjoy Peace and Pleasure." While, therefore, one can have little sympathy with the deposed "Son of Heaven" in his exile and seclusion, one can sympathize greatly with the down-trodden people. Their relations with the Japanese have been far from pleasant, and their path is likely to be a thorny one, for the Jap is a stern master, and not easy- going and indulgent as we have been in the Philip- pines. It is a mistake, however, to suppose that this harshness is due entirely to "cockiness" which they are supposed to have acquired as a result of the war. Even before the war the same thing was true, though of course on a much smaller scale. It is due to the feel- ing of superiority which the one race has toward the other. The Koreans are dull and stolid, the Japanese quick and clever; the Koreans are densely ignorant. the Japanese well-informed; the Koreans are without hope or ambition, the Japanese are full of both; the Koreans are submissive and unwarlike, the Japanese full of pluck and spirit. This attitude on the part of the Japanese toward the Koreans has, of course, been greatly accentuated by the circumstances and the results of the war. Follow- ing the advent of the Japanese army into Korea came a swarm of camp followers. These adventurers, their numbers constantly augmented by new recruits, treated the Koreans with great harshness. The latter were often impressed into service whether they wanted to 204 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA work or not, and sometimes dismissed with a kick for pay. They were not infrequently robbed of their goods, driven off their lands, beaten and insulted. Is it any wonder that even the long-suffering Koreans chafed under this treatment, resented it bitterly, and that the foreigners resident in Korea sympathized with them almost to a man? With this background in mind we can readily un- derstand why there were mobs and rioting in Seoul when it became known that the Emperor had abdi- cated. The populace understood well enough that, due to pressure from one source or another, he had been forced out ; they saw their old empire and nation- ality slipping away from them. If the Koreans had been spirited people, if they had had any fighting quali- ties, these would have asserted themselves at such a crisis. That they did not do so in any serious way shows that the people are without aggressiveness or military resources, and that they realize fully the fu- tility of attempting to oppose their conquerors. Up to this date, the Japanese have not considered that the moment has arrived in which "Korea has attained national strength,'' though the Koreans are clamoring loudly to-day for their independence. It can not yet be said what the outcome will be. It is not to be concluded from what has been said that the Korean people will be any worse off under the Japanese than they have been under their own rulers. On the contrary, they could not be worse off, and the probabilities are that their condition will be A VANISHING EMPIRE 205 much improved. The Japanese are a wonderful peo- ple. They know how to develop and use the resources of a country to the utmost. It is to their interest to do so in Korea. In this development the Koreans will share, hut the mass of the people will he. as they always have been, hewers of wood and drawers of water. And it is to the interest of the Japanese, also, that the Koreans should be made contented, industrious, and prosperous. Korea has great resources, and their de- velopment has hardly yet begun, but there is great prospect for the trade of the future. In this future development of trade and general prosperity, the United States will have, relatively, a much smaller share than we had in old Korea. In old Korea we had important mining, street railway and electric light interests, and our exportation of ma- chinery, flour, oil, and cottons was growing apace. The Japanese have been supplying the most of these during the past live years, just as they have been supplying the wants of Manchuria. In whatever way the present agitation of matters Korean and Japanese may be settled, it can hut he hoped by those whose sympathies are ever with the weaker and the oppressed that "peace and pleasure" will be secured to the Koreans, and that they shall at last have, for the first time, something like a "square deal." So marvelous is the political sagacity of Japan and so successful has been her political policy in the past that it is believed only good can result for Korea and the enhancement of the international repu- 206 ORIENTAL LIFE— KOREA tation of Japan in the union of the destinies of these two nations so much alike. We should not close this chapter on the Passing of the Korean Empire without some reference to the religious life of the people that has furnished such a vast field for American mission work. No other coun- try has been so successful in carrying Christianity to a benighted race as has America in her winning of the Koreans to the precepts of the Nazarene. It is not necessary to go into details regarding this vast accom- plishment, but some of the features of their native religion may prove interesting as well as valuable in showing why Christianity has appealed so readily to the Koreans. The most universal belief among the Koreans is that of spirit worship, or Animism. The cky, thunder, trees, mountains, and the tiger are regarded as gods, and worshiped and feared by the heathen man because of their supposed relation to his own welfare. From the sky comes rain, upon which depends the success of his crops ; thunder is the voice of divine anger against him ; the trees afford him shelter, and the tiger is stronger than he. The name of these spirits is le- gion, and it has been well said that "there are more gods in Korea than people." To the Korean mind these spirits exist everywhere, in earth, in sky, in sea. They haunt the trees, they play in the ravines, they dance by every crystal spring, and perch on every mountain crest. On green hill-slopes, in peaceful agri- cultural valleys, in grassy dells, on wooded uplands, A VANISHING EMPIRE 207 by lake and stream, by road and river, in north, south, east and west, at the center they abound, making sport of human destiny and driving man mad with fear. They are on roof, ceiling, and fireplace. They are beside him, in front of him, over him, and beneath him. They touch him at every point of his life, pre- side at his birth, follow him to the grave and dance on it when he is buried. They are hard masters, punishing every slip that he makes with merciless severity, and are the cause of all good or ill-fortune and disease. In fact, some of the diseases have been deified, and in Korea smallpox is a god to be pro- pitiated. And so, believing as they do in the universal presence of spirits, it is not difficult for them to accept the doctrines of the spiritual nature of God. On the other hand, this vast cult is hard to overcome, inas- much as it is upheld by countless soothsayers and sorceresses who practice their magic rites and influ- ence not only on the common people, but even on royalty itself. The great religion, however, is Confucianism. Ko- rean Confucianism recognizes four domains subject to moral control. These are ( 1 ) the personal life of the individual; (2) the family; (3) the nation or state; f 4 ) the universe as far as man is related to it. The destiny and end of each of these is to be achieved by certain means. The individual will reach his destiny through sincerity, the family through filial piety, the nation through orderly administration, and the world through peace. Sincerity, filial piety, orderly admin- 208 ORIENTAL 1.1 PR— KOREA istration, and universal peace stand related in a vital progression. The Korean Confucianist argues that without sincerity in the individual there can be no filial piety in the family, and without filial piety in the fam- ily there can be no orderly administration, and with- out orderly administration there can be no universal peace : and so we see that this age-long insistence on the fact that man is a moral being and must obey moral laws, prepares them to sincerely exemplify Christian ethics in their lives. The very willingness of the Koreans to offer costly sacrifices and service to pagan gods, becomes transformed into a free, unre- served, full-hearted love to God and service to their fellow men. And yet in presenting the claims of the { Christian faith to them, the missionary needs great tact. Many of the tenderest relations of life, the deepest emotions of the human heart center about the Korean's religious life, and he who would play the tyrant among them, attempting to force the human soul against its cherished beliefs, would find himself tilting with a straw against a champion cased in adamant. The American missionaries as a body have been dis- tinguished for tact, courtesy, and kindly consideration in all their dealings with the religious life of the peo- ple, and to this must be attributed their success in Korea. There is no longer any independent Methodist missionary work in Korea. In 1904, foreseeing the union of Japan and Korea, the General Conference combined the two countries under one Episcopal juris- diction. A VANISHING EMPIRE 209 Thus briefly do we set forth the influences of West- ern civilization in the Orient, but it can not yet be determined how lasting these new conditions will be. There is a great contrast between American high press- ure and the "calm life of thought" in the Hast, and the sage may have spoken prophetically when he wrote : "The East bowed low in solemn thought, In silent, deep disdain She heard the legions tin nder past, Then plunged in thought again." Progress will naturally be slow in Asia because, as \V. T. Stead expresses it, "whole populations have learned the lesson that life is better spent in the. con- tented possession of a few things than in the mad rush after many." Mr. Stead further comments that 'There is a wealth which arises from the fewness of our wants, as well as a wealth that is measured by the amplitude of our resources." So perhaps, after alb we should not be so glad for the Orient that she has awakened to a recognition of her resources. As the author minted intimates; "The solemn inquiry still holds—' what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' " p AUTHORSHIP OF CHAPTERS a and b, Samuel K. Nweeya, M. D., in Persia, Land of the Magi. c, Compiled from articles in Review of Reviews. d, Samuel K. Nweeya, M. D. e, James Hunter. /, Review of Reviews. g, President Howard S. Bliss in National Geographic Magazine, and Airs. C. R. Miller in World To-day. h, G. E. White in World To-day. i and /, S. M. Zwemer in Arabia the Cradle of Islam. k, Walter Del Mar in The Romantic East. I, J. Nisbit in Westminster Review. m and n, From The Book 'of Ceylon. o, Heber Jones in Korea, Its People and Customs. p, Samuel McClintock in World To-day. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-50m-7, '54(5990)444 1 h - - . . -1 life UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 744 519 o 31.5