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MAJOR IIEHRERT II. AUSTIX
C.M.G., D.S.O., R.E., ETC.
VISCOUNT MASATAKE TERAUGIII
HIS IMPERIAL JAPANESE MAJESTYS UESIDENT-GENEUAL
Volume XIII
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CoPVRKiHl, IQIO
By J. B, MfLLKT CO.
THE • PLIMPTON • PRE3
[w no)
NOnWODD MVSS u . s
CONTENTS
CHAPTEB
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
PAGE
Introduction ix
Editorial Note . . . ' xv
Outline of History . 3
Land and Folk : . . . 15
A City of Peace 23
Costume, Manners, and Morals ... 30
Education and Crime 47
Korean Industries /5^
Korean Scenery 65
Mining and Hunting 73
Monks and Monasteries 83
Across Korea 97
Drought and Starvation . . ' . . . . 108
The Missionary Question 114
Travelling in Korea 123
Resting in Kang-Wha 137
The Sorrows of a Coveted Kingdom . 153
In The Land of Morning Calm 180
The Relations of Korea waTH Japan . 217
The Administration 233
The Judiciary 243
Trade Conditions To-day ^^53^'
Maritime Undertakings 265
Railroads, Telegraphs, and Telephones . 269
Public Works 278
Industrial Encouragement 285
Sanitation and Water Works .... 294
Education 302
A Glance at the Future 310
Index 323
V
5165
UBSETS
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
A View of the Harbour of Chemulpo .... Frontispiece
Native Korean Women Washing Clothes 32
Korean Natives Building Houses 64
Arch Erected to Commemorate the Subjugation of Korea
by China 160
Exterior of Reception Room, Queen's Apartments, East
Palace, Seoul 192
The Temple of Heaven where the Emperor Prayed for
Rain and the National Blessings 224
Vll
INTRODUCTION
CHOSUN, or "The Land of the Morning Calm," was,
at the time of which I write, a kingdom on the
extreme east of Asia, consisting of a large penin-
sula opposite Japan and of two lobes, a shorter one
to the south-east, the other a long slice of the Asiatic
seaboard north, resembling the peninsula reversed. In
shape the country so counterparted a butterfly in flight
as to impress its people's imagination to frequent allu-
sion to the fact in poetry and prose. It was my fortune
to visit this land once and to dwell there for a winter
as the guest of the Government at a time when to do so
savoured of romance. For nothing then could have been
more out of the world, more like a fairy tale come true,
than this secluded, cut off corner of it. In character
certainly it suggested anything but a butterfly, nor had
Japan then thought of capturing the country for its own
collection. Dormant it had been for centuries; sleeping
oblivious of the world without, in the long lethargic
trance of the chrysalis.
Of this its chrysalis state, gone now never to return, I
am about to speak by way of preface to this volume
written by others and treating of the Korea of to-day.
For a man to outlive a nation, to be able to look back
upon a portion of his own existence passed amid a setting
which has since crumbled away, gives him a sense of
unreality and persuades him of being preternaturally
old. What once he knew so well seems alien to its own
ix
INTRODUCTION
successor, and he stands convicted of intrusion now where
he Hved invited years ago. Yet as the boy is father to
the man, so may a ghmpse, albeit resurrected, of what
Korea was twenty-seven years since serve fittingly for
frontispiece in local colour to a story others are to tell.
It was a grey December morning in 1883 when my eyes
opened upon Chemulpo, the portal to the Land of the
Morning Calm. Very early morning it seemed it must
be; for the people of the country whom one could make
out moving about on shore looked all to be clad in their
night-clothes, long white cotton garments of the usual
non-committal nocturnal cut as to age, sex, or previous
condition of sleepitude. The general effect was height-
ened by a broad-brimmed, high-crowned, horsehair hat.
The hat turned out to be the badge of manhood; but
even prolonged acquaintance proved no easy preface for
distinguishing boys from girls.
To mark this panorama from the steamer's deck was
to have the curtain go up upon a bit of unreal life; to
go ashore subsequently like joining the exotic actors'
company in the out-of-keeping modern traveller part.
Miles of mud-flats — for the tide was out — glistened
for foot-lights to this taking to the stage. Perhaps noth-
ing can point the transition from one character to the
other better than by saying that the Japanese Consul
had us to dinner that evening, my Japanese secretary ^
and I, in order that both he and we might get a glimpse
of home. Indeed throughout my sojourn in the country
I was always addressed, when possible, in Japanese as
being in native eyes my stepmother tongue.
Of the palanquin ride that followed, from the coast to
the capitol Seoul, I have the most acute remembrances
* Since the well-known diplomat Miyaoka Tsenejiro.
X
INTRODUCTION
— it is not easy to be borne, though one be not the
bearer — as also of the hostelry, or farmhouse, where we
passed the night. For the going up was an all-day jour-
ney over those twenty-six miles of uneonveyanced land,
a day's march which the Koreans amplified to two.
Nobody of course ever walked except the happily cir-
cumstanced individuals whom poverty constrained. But
when in the afternoon of the second day the Koreans
unaccountably quickened their pace and on topping a rise
I saw before me the long crenellated wall of an old-time
city of the East with its parapets stretching in per-
spective into the distance, the romance of the situation
asserted itself. I discovered also the reason for the un-
seemly haste the Koreans had so suddenly manifested, at
the eleventh hour. Unless we reached the city gates before
sunset, it appeared, we should be shut out. We fortu-
nately managed this far-eastern feat, and I half expected
to see a fluttering handkerchief thrust through the iron
bars that shuttered the loophole w^indows of the houses
well-nigh brushed in passing, in recognition of the fact.
None waved, however; for it is only the unexpected that
happens and this was too fitting a fancy to be fulfilled.
Fate nevertheless could not alter the city nor prevent
its denizens from stopping and staring at us as we
passed, once threateningly, though she checked all
serious demonstration.
After thus threading the principal thoroughfares and
winding through others which would almost be dignified
by the name of alleys, we halted at the inconspicuous
portal of the compound designated for my reception.
It well deserved the appellation of compound from the
motley collection of buildings, connected and detached,
it contained and the party walls and gates that both
xi
INTRODUCTION
separated and joined them. Here the Foreign Office, im-
posing in its new-styled function, held its sittings.
It was a strangely secluded scholastic life I led; stroll-
ing about the city by day with a gaily uniformed escort
and studying out by night the mechanism of its exist-
ence, things we take at home for granted, but which here
assumed importance for being upside down. If there
was little to be seen, there was much to be seen through;
and if not deepening it was at least broadening to realise
how little in reality is matter of course in the ways
of men. It was like being born again and having to
acquire a totally new alphabet of human experience.
As the creature comforts were on the same level of sim-
plicity I cannot say that it was as delightful in the doing
as in reminiscence afterward. But one point about it
gave it a fillip second to none — it was virgin. That
meant much. For it was all an experience which can never
be repeated. It was not only living at one's antipodes,
but it was a going backward centuries into the past and
being one's self eye-witness of what but imperfectly gets
embalmed in books. An offshoot from human evolution,
its civilisation was both unique and atavistic. Self-
cut off practically for centuries it remained exclusive
by desire. To find one's self in it was more like having
voyaged to some other planet than to be still on earth.
It was certainly lonely enough at times, but it was a
loneliness heightened to grandeur to sit at night alone
in my improvised sitting-room and hear the great bell
of the city boom its sentinelling vigil across a sleeping
land. Two comets I remember appeared in the heavens
that winter which seemed almost companionable by
contrast on this the other side of our world where day
is night, and night, day.
xii
INTRODUCTION
Nature herself was in keeping, relatively virgin and
unique. Animals inhabited the country such as one
would never have dared conceive. Tigers and leopards
roamed the hills, cut-off cousins of their race long since
retreated south, as secluded now from their kind as the
people themselves. The larder, too, would have pleased an
epicure. On Christmas day I dined off a great bustard,
stuffed with a pheasant, itself stuffed with chestnuts.
On the other hand what we deem common necessities
in food: milk, cream, butter, cheese, no Korean thought
of as possible. No cow was ever milked even by
the poor and beef was eaten only by the rich. Ori-
ental grains made the staple of consumption and sesame
from a cryptic password sank into a simple article of
food. One walked, as it were, amid the setting of the
Arabian Nights.
Nevertheless, feasting was the great and only enter-
tainment of the land. A banquet constituted an all-day
affair. For it began on the appointed date as early as
the Koreans could get to work, some time after noon,
and was prolonged till the hues of sunset deepened into
night. The rosy tints of the dying day were held to be
poetically symbolic of the flush of wine and with orien-
tal regard for imagery were consecrate to such occasions.
Wine, woman, and song sped the day's departure, the last
two professional as in like entertainments in old Japan.
Then in the deepening dusk the palanquins were sum-
moned, the bearers, with their huge paper lamps, flitting
like fireflies about the courtyard. Amid a bustle which
the strange coloured costumes made into a picture by
itself, each retinue in turn drew out, swept through the
gateway and departed homeward and to rest.
But the romance had its realistic sub-stratum, too.
xiii
INTRODUCTION
If everything seemed lazily peaceful from without, it was
not so within. Intrigues and mysterious takings off were
the order of the day. Internal revolutions occurred with
regular irregularity and those in power on Monday by
Tuesday night have their heads cut off. Since the days
they feasted me almost all my Korean oflBcial friends have
met violent deaths. The men I knew are no more, and
now the country itself has been wiped from the map.
Even as I write, Korea has ceased to exist. It has
passed under the dominion of its neighbour and become a
department of the Empire of the Rising Sun. The land
of the Dawn has changed into the land of the Day. Its
sleeping calm has been rudely broken, not as with an
ordinary awakening, but with that severing meta-
morphosis by which the chrysalis passes utterly and
irrevocably into the butterfly — netted by Japan.
Percival Lowell.
XIV
EDITORIAL NOTE
NO one can read this volume without seeing the
Finger of Fate pointing constantly to the most
recent and the most important event in the his-
tory of Korea — an event which has come about as the
inevitable result of the course things had been taking
in the Far East for the previous quarter of a century — its
absorption into the Empire of Japan which took place
in August, 1910. This step was vitally necessary for
Japan if she is to work out her manifest destiny to
entrench herself on the mainland.
Korea has always been called *'The Hermit Country."
Before the war between Russia and Japan, much of
which was fought within the borders of Korea, this com-
paratively unknown land was seldom visited by travellers.
Its geographical position made the Russo-Japanese War
inevitable, for Korea extends as a peninsula from the
mainland, where Russia was in fortified possession;
she was so near to Japan in fact as to endanger its peace
if Korea were to remain in Russian hands. As a nation
Korea was altogether without means of self-defence;
consequently, in order to protect this country as well
as itself, Japan, with the consent of China, maintained
a protectorate over Korea. The war with Russia gave
Japan her opportunity to enforce this attitude of pro-
tection, and subsequent events as detailed in this volume
have led logically to this great final step.
With their typical foresight the Japanese have long
XV
EDITORIAL NOTE
been preparing for it and the progress they have already
made in re-estabhshing this seemingly hopeless country
on a sound basis is remarkable. Japan encouraged its
citizens to migrate to Korea in great numbers. Not less
than forty thousand Japanese agents are said to have
been at work surveying the country, settling among the
people, and preparing the way before the Russo-Japanese
struggle; but it is since the war that most of the work
has been done.
All the chief ports are now connected with a railroad as
well built, as comfortable as, and, it is said, more profitable
than most American roads. Imports and exports have
increased and the fisheries are being developed. A good
tramway, which the natives have been taught to conduct,
now runs through Seoul. Women have gained some free-
dom and some recognition from the law under Japanese
influence, and now, with the Japanese women as examples,
some of the Korean women venture forth ; they no longer
hesitate to appear before men not of their own families
and they begin to become personalities instead of the
nameless chattels — they were merely known as so and
so's wife, or mother, or sister — which they used to be.
American commerce in many important branches has
already obtained a firm foothold in Korea, and it would
appear from the statements made by the Japanese
Government that the opportunities for trade with
Chosen, as Korea is in future to be called, will increase
under the new regime.
Japan has made her choice; the party of peaceful but
powerful expansion has prevailed and upon her wise
administration of this new territory the future of the Far
East will largely depend.
Charles Welsh.
xvi
GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN KOREA
By Angus Hamilton
KOREA
CHAPTER I
OUTLINE OF HISTORY
DESPITE the survey work which has been
accompHshed in the past by the Japanese
upon the coasts of Korea, httle knowledge of
the numerous islands and archipelagoes, shoals and
reefs which make its shores the terror of all mariners,
exists at present. Until the voyage of the Alceste
and Lyra in 1816, the locality of these detached
groups of rocky islets was not marked on any of
the Japanese or Chinese maps of the period. In
the map of the empire prepared by the Jesuits at
Pekin in the seventeenth century, the space now
occupied by the Korean Archipelago was covered
with the drawing of an elephant — the conventional
sign of the ignorance of the cartographers of that time.
In the older native maps, the mainland embraced
groups of islands, the most imperfect knowledge of
the physical configuration of their own shores pre-
vailing among the Koreans. In quite recent days,
however, the Korean government has recognised
this fact, and in the early months of 1903 the Japa-
nese government was requested to draw up a com-
plete survey of the Hermit Kingdom. This work
3
KOREA
is now In process of execution, the plan of the coast-
line already having been completed.
The coast of Korea is remarkable for the number of
spacious harbours which distinguish it. Upon the
west and south, indications of the volcanic period,
through which the country has in part passed, are
shown by the frequency with which these island
groups occur. From a single peak upon one of the
small islands off the south-west coast, as many as
one hundred and thirty-five islets may be counted,
stretching to the north and to the south, the resort
of the sea-fowl; desolate and almost uninhabited.
Many of the more important islands have been cul-
tivated, and give refuge and a lonely home to small
communities of fishing-folk.
Navigation is peculiarly dangerous in these waters.
Many of the islands are submerged by the spring-
tides, and the direction of the channels, scoured by
the rush of the tide, becomes quite indefinite. In the
absence of charts and maps, these island-fringed
shores have been the scene of many shipwrecks;
Dutch, American, French, and British shipping
meeting in one grim and silent procession a common
end: captivity on shore or death in the sea. Some
of these unfortunate mariners survived their experi-
ences, leaving, after the fashion of Hendrik Hamel,
the supercargo of the Dutch frigate Sparwehr, which
went ashore off Quelpart in 1653, records and his-
tories of their adventures to an incredulous poster-
ity. Most of the islands lying off the coast are
well wooded. As they are very beautiful to look
4
OUTLINE OF HISTORY
upon and very dangerous to approach, they are
regarded with mingled sentiments of reverence and
superstition, differing Kttle, in their expression,
from the fear in which the ancients held the terrors
of Scylla and Charybdis. Their isolated position,
moreover, has made them the centre of much contra-
band trade between the Chinese and Koreans; their
defenceless state renders them an easy prey to any
pirates who care to ravage them.
The islands off the south-west coast are the sanc-
tuaries of many animals. Seals sport and play
unharmed among the rocks; the woody peaks are
rich in game: teal, crane, curlew, quail, and innumer-
able small birds make them their breeding-grounds.
The shores are happy hunting-grounds for natural-
ists, and a variety of marine food is found throughout
the archipelago. A number of well-marked species
of sponge may be gathered, and the coral beds dis-
play many violent tints and delicate shades, forming
in their beautiful colourings a sea garden of match-
less splendour. The flora of these islands is a no
less brilliant feature of the summer landscape.
Tiger-lilies showy and gigantic, daisies, asters,
many varieties of cactus, grow side by side with
curious ferns, palms and creepers, almost tropical
in their character and profusion, yet surviving the
cooler temperature of autumn and winter, to greet
each coming spring with freshened beauty. The
air vibrates with the singing and buzzing of insects,
the limpid day is bright with gaudy butterflies.
Snow-white herons stand in the shallows. Cor-
5
KOREA
morants, diving birds and ducks throng the reefs
to rise in clouds with many angry splutterings
when their haunts are invaded. In the deeper
waters there are myriads of fish; in passing from
group to group along the coast shoals of whales are
to be seen, blowing columns of spray aloft, or sleep-
ing idly upon the surface.
The coast of Korea is well sprinkled with the names
of foreign navigators, who, in previous centuries,
essayed to visit the Land of the Morning Radiance.
With rare exceptions, these visitors were turned
back. Some were captured and tortured; many
were ordered off at once, few were ever entertained.
None were invited to make any stay in the new land,
or permitted to inspect its wonders and curiosities.
Beyond the Japanese, those who succeeded in sapping
the wall of isolation which was so carefully built
around the country and so rigorously maintained,
were generally escorted inland as prisoners, the
unconscious victims of some successful stratagem.
In a manner, the fashion of their treatment is
revealed in the curious names with which these
pioneers of navigation have labelled the capes and
promontories, the islands and shoals, which they
were lucky enough to locate and whose dangers
they were fortunate enough to avoid. Many of
these names have ceased to be recognised. The
lapse of time has caused them to be obliterated by
European hydrographers from the maps and charts
of the country and seas, in which their originators
had risked so much. In many parts of the coast,
6
OUTLINE OF HISTORY
however, particularly upon the west, along the shores
of the Chyung-chyong Province, these original
names have been preserved. They form, to-day, a
tribute to the earnestness and intrepidity of these
early explorers. This meed of recognition is only
just, and is not to be denied to their undoubted
gallantry and enterprise.
It is not impossible to believe that an unusually
fickle fate followed in their footsteps, prompting
them to leave thus for the guidance of future genera-
tions, some hint of their own miscalculations. If
one may judge from the brief narratives which
these discoverers have left behind them, the result
of their work upon these inhospitable shores sur-
passed anything that they had foreseen. The visit
of these hardy spirits aroused the curiosity of the
Koreans, giving to them their first knowledge of
that outer world which they had spurned for cen-
turies. Despite the golden opportunities now pre-
sented to them, however, they continued to neglect
it. The memory of the black ships and the red
beards (Dutchmen) — as they dubbed the strange
craft and stranger devils, that had only to appear
off their shores to be shipwrecked — dwelt Ion;; in
their minds. Although they treated these strangers
with comparative generosity, they were careful to
preserve inviolate the secrets and sanctity of their
land. They rejected with contumacy the friendly
overtures of strangers who came in monster ships,
and who, forsooth, left behind nothing but a name.
It is scarcely astonishing, therefore, that there are
7
KOREA
many points upon the coast of Korea which bear
somewhat uncompHmentary names. Deception Bay,
Insult Island, and False River savour of certain
physical and mental discomforts which, too great
to be borne in silence, left an indelible impres-
sion upon the associations of the spot.
If the Dutch sailors of 1627 were among the
earliest to reach the forbidding shores of this king-
dom, the activities of British voyagers were most
prominent in the succeeding century. The work of
Captain W. R. Broughton, of the British sloop-o'-
war, of sixteen guns. Providence, is described to this
day by the bays and harbours into which he pene-
trated, and the capes and straits which this gallant
man christened, to the credit of the distant island
kingdom from which he hailed. Broughton in 1797,
Maxwell of the Alceste, with Basil Hall, commander
of the British sloop-o'-war, the Lyra, in 1816, deserve
the passing fame which is secured to them by the
waters and capes which have been named after
them. Their names figure as landmarks upon the
west, the east, and the south coasts. WTiile Max-
well and Hall preferred to devote their attention to
the discovery and examination of the Korean Archi-
pelago — of which, although Broughton does not
mention it, it seems impossible that the discoverer
of Broughton Strait can have been ignorant —
Broughton roughly charted and surveyed the west
coasts, coming to a temporary halt in Broughton
Bay, some six hundred miles to the north. Hall
left his name in Basil's Bay, where Gutzlaff landed
8
OUTLINE OF HISTORY
in 1832 to plant potatoes and to leave seeds and
books. A generation later, in 1866, the archipel-
ago to the north-west was named after the Prince
Imperial, who was to meet his death in Zululand in
1878. In 1867, Prince Jerome's Gulf, an inlet upon
the mainland of the Chyung-chyong Province, was
to be the scene of Oppert's famous attempt to remove
large deposits of buried treasure and venerated
relics from an imperial tomb. These names upon
the east and west coasts suggest nothing of the
romance which actually surrounds them. At most
they conjure up the shadowy silhouettes of the
redoubtable personages to whom they once belonged,
and with whose memory many journeys of discov-
ery in these seas are inseparably linked.
Englishmen were not the sole navigators who
were attracted by the unknown character of the land
and the surpassing dangers of the waters, around the
Island of Quelpart, where the Sea of Japan mingles
in tempestuous chaos with the Yellow Sea. Rus-
sian and French navigators also worked their way
through the dangerous shoals and quicksands, along
the tortuous and muddy rivers, into the harbours
and through the narrow straits which hold back
these islands from the mainland. The shores teem
with the distinguished names of men of science and
sons of the high seas. Following the curl and twist of
its configuration a host of buried names are revealed,
the last evidence of men who are dead and forgotten.
It is infinitely pathetic that even this one last rest-
ing-place should be denied to their reputations.
KOREA
Lazreli, who shares Brough ton's Bay; UnkofFsky,
who foundered in the waters of the bay which is de-
scribed by his name; the ill-fated La Perouse, who, in
June, 1787, discovered in the Sea of Japan an island
which now bears the name of the astronomer —
Dagelet, Durock, Pellisier, Schwartz, and the rest —
what echo do we find of them, their fates, and subse-
quent careers? Should not their names at least bear
witness to their pains and labours, to the difficulties
which they faced, to the small joy of something
attempted, something done, which was their sole
consolation for many hours of cheerless and empty
vigil? ,
Korea is a land of exceptional beauty. The cus-
toms, the literature, and the geographical nomen-
clature of the kingdom prove that the superb and
inspiring scenery of the peninsula is quite appreci-
ated by the people. In the same manner that the
coast-line of Korea bears evidence of the adven-
turous spirit of many western mariners, the names
given to the mountains and rivers of the country
by the inhabitants themselves reflect the simplic-
ity, the crudity, and the superstition of their ideas
and beliefs. All mountains are personified in Korea.
In the popular belief, they are usually associated
with dragons. Every village offers sacrifices to the
mountain-spirits. Shrines are erected by the way-
side and in the mountain passes, that travellers may
tender their offerings to the spirits and secure their
goodwill. The Koreans believe that the mountains
in some way exert a benign and protecting influ-
10
OUTLINE OF HISTORY
ence. The capital of Korea possesses its guardian-
mountain. Every town relies upon some preserving
power to maintain its existence. Graves, too, must
have their custodian peaks, or the family will not
prosper, and the impression prevails that people
are born in accordance with the conformation of
the hills upon which the tombs of their ancestors
are situated. Rough and rugged contours make for
warriors and militant males. Smooth surfaces and
gentle descents beget scholars; peaks of singular
charm and position are associated with beautiful
women. Like the mountain-ranges, lakes and pools,
rivers and streams exercise geomantic powers, and
they are the abodes of presiding shades, benevolent
or pernicious. In lakes, there are dragons and lesser
monsters. In mountain pools, however, no wraith
exists unless some one is drowned in the waters of
the pool. When this fatality occurs, the figure of
the dead haunts the pool until released by the ghost
of the next person who meets with this misfortune.
The serpent is almost synonymous wth the dragon.
Certain fish become in time fish-dragons; snakes
become elevated to the dignity, and imbued with
the ferocity, of dragons when they have spent one
thousand years in the captivity of the mountains,
and one thousand years in the water. All these
apparitions may be propitiated with sacrifices and
prayers.
In the province of Kang-won, through which the
ranges of the Diamond Mountains pass, there are
several peaks symbolical of this belief in the existence
11
KOREA
of supernatural monsters. One dizzy height is
named the Yellow Dragon, a second the Flying
PhcEnix, and a third, the Hidden Dragon, has refer-
ence to a demon who has not yet risen from the earth
before his ascent to the clouds. The names which
the Koreans give to their rivers, lakes and villages,
as also to their mountains, bear out their wish to
see the natural beauties of their land associated
with its more distinctive features. This idiosyn-
crasy, however, would seem to be exceptionally
pronounced in the case of mountains. The Moun-
tain fronting the Moon, the Mountain facing the
Sun, the Tranquil Sea, the Valley of Cool Shade,
and the Hill of White Clouds emphasise this desire.
Again, in Hamkyong, the most northern province
in the empire, the more conspicuous peaks receive
such designations as the Peak of Continuous Vir-
tue, the Peak of the Thousand Buddhas, the Last-
ing Peace, the Sword Mountain, Heaven Reaching
Peak, the Cloud Toucher. It is evident, therefore,
that appreciation of nature, no less than reverence
for the supernatural, underlies the system by which
they evolve names for the landmarks of their coun-
try. The peculiarities of their land afford great
scope for such a practice, and it is to be admitted
that they give ample vent to this peculiar trait in
their imagination.
From very early times until 1895 the king of
Korea was a vassal of China, but the complete
renunciation of the authority of the emperor of
China was proclaimed in January, 1895, by an
12
OUTLINE OF HISTORY
imperial decree. This was the fruit of the Chino-
Japanese war, and it was ratified by China under
the seal of the treaty of peace signed at Shimon-
osaki in May of the same year. The monarchy is
hereditary and the present dynasty has occupied
the throne of Korea in continuous entail since 1392.
Inhabited by a people whose traditions and history
extend over a period of five thousand years, and sub-
jected to kaleidoscopic changes whereby smaller
tribes were absorbed by larger, and weaker govern-
ments overthrown by stronger, Korea has gradually
evolved one kingdom, which, embracing all units
under her own protection, has presented to the
world through centuries a more or less composite
and stable authority. There can be no doubt that
the whilom vassal of China, in respect of which
China and Japan made war, has taken much greater
strides upon the path of progress than her ancient
neighbour and liege lord. There is no question of
the superiority of the conditions under which the
Koreans in Seoul live and those prevailing in Pekin,
when each city is regarded as the capital of its
country — the representative centre in which all
that is best and brightest congregates.
It was in 1876 that Korea made her first modern
treaty. It was not until three years later that any
exchange of envoys took place between the contract-
ing party and herself. Despite the treaty, Korea
showed no disposition to profit by the existence of
her new relations, until the opening of Chemulpo
to trade in the latter part of 1883 revealed to her
13
KOREA
the commercial advantages which she was now in a
position to enjoy. All this time China had been in
intercourse with foreigners. Legations had been
established in her capital; consuls were in charge
of the open ports; commercial treaties had been
arranged. She was already old and uncanny in
the wisdom which came to her by this dealing with
the people of Western nations. But, in a spirit of
perversity without parallel in constitutional his-
tory, China retired within herself to such a degree
that Japan, within one generation, has advanced to
the position of a great power, and even Korea has
become, within twenty years, the superior of her
former liege. In less than a decade Korea has pro-
moted works of an industrial or humanitarian char-
acter which China, at the present time, is bitterly
and fatally opposing. It is true that the liberal
tendencies of Korea have been stimulated by asso-
ciation w4th the Japanese. Without the guiding
hand of that energetic country the position which
she would enjoy to-day is infinitely problematical.
The contact has been wholly beneficial. Its con-
tinuation forms the strongest guarantee of the event-
ual development of the resources of the kingdom.
14
CHAPTER II
LAND AND FOLK
KOREA is an extremely mountainous country.
Islands, harbours, and mountains are its
most pronounced natural features, and
nearly the whole of the coast consists of the slopes of
the various mountain ranges which come down to
the sea. There are many patches upon the west,
where the approaches are less precipitous and rugged
than upon the east. The coast seems to follow the
contour of the mountains. It presents, particularly
from the east, that lofty and inaccessible barrier
of forest-clad country, which has won the admira-
tion of all navigators and struck terror into the
hearts of those who have met with disaster upon
its barren and rocky shores. From Paik-tu-san to
Wi-ju there is one mighty and natural panorama of
mountains with snow-clad, cloud-wrapped summits,
and beautiful valleys with rich crops and quaintly
placed, low-thatched hovels, through which rivers
course like angry silver. Everywhere in the north
the mountains predominate; monstrous in shape
and size. They are rich in minerals; they have
become sepulchres for the dead and mines for the
living — for in their keeping lies the wealth of the
ages, coal and iron and gold; upon their summits,
15
KOREA
resting beneath the sky or within some nook hewn
from their rugged slopes, are the graves of the dead.
Mining and agriculture are almost the only natural
resources of the kingdom. There are great possi-
bilities, however, in the awakening energies and
instincts of the people, which may lead them to
create markets of their own by growing more than
suffices for their immediate requirements. As yet,
notwithstanding the improvements which have been
inaugurated, and the industrial schemes which the
government has introduced, the' reform movement
lacks cohesion. Indeed, the nation is without ambi-
tion. But the prospect is hopeful. Already some-
thing has been accomplished in the right direction.
At present, however, Korea is in a state of transi-
tion. Everything is undefined and indetermined;
the past is in ruins, the present and the future are
in the rough. Reforms are scarce a decade old,
and, while many abuses have been redressed, the
reform movement suffers for lack of support,
comprehension, and toleration. The aspirations of
the few are extending but slowly to the nation.
Progress is gradual and the interval is tedious.
The commercial phase of the movement is full
of vitality, and the factories which have been estab-
lished show the evolution of enterprise from aspira-
tion. Foreigners are introducing education, while
the present commercial activities are attributable
to their suggestion and assistance. The small
response, which these efforts elicit, make the labour
of keeping the nation in the right direction very
16
LAND AND FOLK
difficult. The people can scarcely relapse into the
conservatism of ancient days, but they may col-
lapse altogether, owing to the unfortunate circum-
stances which are now making Korea an object of
ironical and interested observation among the West-
ern powers. She may be absorbed, annexed, or
divided; in endeavouring to remain independent,
she may wreck herself in the general anarchy that
may overtake her. She has given much promise.
She has constituted a Customs service, joined in
the Postal Union and opened her ports. She has
admitted railways and telegraphs, and shown kind-
ness, consideration, and hospitality to every condi-
tion of foreigner within her gates. Her confidence
has been that of a child and her faults are those of
the nursery. She is so old and yet so infinitely
young; and, by a curious fatality, she is now face
to face with a situation which again and again has
occurred in her past history.
The introduction of Western inventions to Korea
has gradually eliminated from contemporary Korean
life many customs which, associated with the people
and their traditions from time immemorial, imparted
much of the repose and picturesqueness which have
so far distinguished the little kingdom. Korea, in
the twentieth century, bears ample evidence of the
forward movement which is stimulating its people.
Once the least progressive of the countries of the
Far East, she now affords an exception almost as
noticeable as that shown by the prompt assimilation
of Western ideas and methods by Japan. Chemulpo,
17
KOREA
however, the centre in which an important foreign
settlement and open port have sprung up, does not
suggest in itself the completeness of the transforma-
tion which in a few years has taken place in the cap-
ital. It is twenty years since Chemulpo was opened
to foreign trade, and to-day it boasts a magnificent
bund, wide streets, imposing shops, and a train
service which connects with the capital. Its sky is
threaded with a maze of telephone and telegraph
wires, there are several hotels conducted upon West-
ern principles, and there is, also, an international
club.
At the threshold of the new century, the port
presents an interesting study. With the adjoining
Ha-do, a hamlet of military pretensions, it has
grown in the twenty years of its existence from a
cluster of fishermen's huts behind a hill along the
river at Man-sak-dong into a prosperous cosmo-
politan centre of twenty thousand people. Its
growth, since the first treaty was negotiated with the
West upon May 22, 1882, by the American Admiral
Shufeldt, has been extraordinary. Its earlier years
gave no promise of its rapid and significant advance.
Trade has flourished, and a boom in the trade of
the port has sent up the value of local properties.
There is now danger of a decline in this state of
affluence which may, in view of the chaos and
uncertainty of the future of the kingdom, retard the
settlement and disastrously affect its present pros-
perity. From small and uncertain beginnings four
well-built, well-lighted settlements have sprung up,
18
LAND AND FOLK
expanding into a general foreign, a Japanese, a
Chinese, and a Korean quarter. The Japanese
section is the best situated and the most promising.
The interests of this particular nation are also the
most prominent in the export and import trade of
the port, a position which is emphasised still further
by the important nature of its vested interests,
among which the railroad between Seoul, the cap-
ital, and Chemulpo, with the trunk extension to
Fusan, is paramount. The Japanese population
increased by nearly five hundred during 190L It
then numbered some four thousand six hundred,
of whom a few hundred were soldiers constituting
a temporary garrison for the settlement. How-
ever, since the modification by the Japanese govern-
ment of the emigration laws with reference to China
and Korea, under which, in the first weeks of 1902,
the necessity for travelling passports was abol-
ished in the case of these two countries, there has
been a great increase in the number of Japanese
residents at the treaty ports. The settlement at
Chemulpo now embraces one thousand two hundred
and eighty-two houses, and possesses a population
of five thousand nine hundred and seventy-three
adults. The census of the Chinese settlement fluc-
tuates with the season; considerable numbers of
farmers cross from Shan-tung to Korea during the
summer, returning to their native land in winter.
In the period of exodus from China, the Chinese
population exceeds twelve hundred. The complete
strength of the general foreign settlement is eighty-
19
KOREA
six, of which some twenty-nine are British. The one
British firm in Korea is estabhshed in Chemulpo.
There are many nationaHties in Chemulpo, and
the small community, excluding the Japanese and
Chinese, is made up as follows: British, twenty-nine
and one firm, the remaining twenty -eight being
attached to the Vice-Consulate, the Customs, and
a missionary society; American, eight and two firms;
French, six and one firm; German, sixteen and one
firm; Italian, seven and one firm; Russian, four and
two firms; Greek, two and one firm; Portuguese
seven, Hungarian five, and Dutch two, the last
three possessing no firms in the port.
A street full of Koreans aptly suggests, as Mr.
Henry Norman, M.P., once wrote, the orthodox
notion of the Resurrection. It cannot be denied
that the appearance of both men and women makes
the capital peculiarly attractive. The men are fine,
well-built, and peaceful fellows, dignified in their
bearing, polite and even considerate towards one
another. The type shows unmistakable evidences
of descent from the half savage and nomadic tribes
of Mongolia and Northern Asia and the Caucasian
peoples from Western Asia.
These two races, coming from the North in the
one case and drifting up from the South in the other,
at the time of the Ayran invasion of India, peopled
the north and south of Korea. Finally merging
among themselves, they gave to the world a compos-
ite nation, distinct in types, habits, and speech, and
amalgamated only by a rare train of circumstances
20
LAND AND FOLK
over which they could have had no control. It is
by the facial resemblances that the origin of the
Koreans may be traced to a Caucasian race. The
speech of the country, while closely akin to Chinese,
reproduces sounds and many verbal denominations
which are found in the languages of India. Korea
has submitted to the influence of Chinese arts and
literature for centuries, but there is little actual
agreement between the legends of the two countries.
The folk-lore of China is in radical disagreement
with the vague and shadowy traditions of the people
of Korea. There is a vast blank in the early his-
tory of Korea, at a period when China is repre-
sented by many unimpaired records. Research can
make no advance in face of it: surmise and logical
reflections from extraneous comparisons can alone
supply the requisite data. Posterity is thus pre-
sented with an unrecorded chapter of the world's
history which at best can be only faintly sketched.
If British interests are not materially represented
in Chemulpo, other nationalities are less backward.
By means of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the
journey from London to Chemulpo can now be
accomplished within twenty-one days. When the
Seoul-Fusan Railway is finished, communication
between the East and the West will be still
further facilitated. It is intended that less than
two days shall suffice for the connection between
Chemulpo and Tokio. Meanwhile the service of
the Chinese Eastern Railway Company's steamers
between Port Arthur, Dalny, and Chemulpo has
21
KOREA
been accelerated. In addition, also, imposing new
offices have been erected at the port. It is much
to be regretted that there is no regular service of
British steamers to the ports of Korea. In singular
contrast to the apathy of British steamship com-
panies is the action of the Hamburg-America
Company, which has now arranged for the periodic
visits of its steamers to Chemulpo. From a com-
mercial standpoint the port has become an impor-
tant distributing centre. Foreign trade with the
capital and its environs passes through it, and the
administrative officers of the more important gold-
mining concessions, of which there are now four,
American, Japanese, French, and British, have
settled there. A cigarette factory, supported by
the government, is now in operation in the port.
22
CHAPTER III
A CITY OF PEACE
THE situation in which Seoul lies is enchanting.
High hills and mountains rise close to the
city, their sides rough, rugged, and bleak,
save where black patches of bushes and trees
struggle for existence. The hollows within this
rampart of hills, and beyond the walls, are fresh and
verdant. Small rice-fields, with clusters of thatched
hovels in their midst, stretch between the capital
and the port at Chemulpo. The atmosphere is
clear; the air is sweet; the city is neat and orderly.
It is possible, moreover, to live with great comfort
in the three-storied brick structure, which, from
a pretty collection of Korean buildings, nestling
beneath the city wall, has been converted into the
Station Hotel.
There is but one wall round Seoul. It is neither
so high nor so massive as the wall of Pekin; yet the
situation of the city gains so much in beauty from
the enclosing mountains, that it seems to be much
the more picturesque. If the capital of Korea is
more charmingly situated than the capital of China,
the wall of Seoul is reminiscent of the walls of the
Nankow Pass in the superb disdain with which it
clings to the edges of the mountains, climbing the
23
KOREA
most outlandish places in the course of its almost
purposeless meanderings. It extends beyond the
lofty crests of Peuk-an and across the splendid and
isolated peak of Nan-sam, enclosing a forest in one
direction, a vacant and soulless plain in another,
dropping here into a ravine, to emerge again a
few hundred feet higher on the mountain slopes.
The wall is in good preservation. In places it is a
rampart of mud faced with masonry; more generally
it is a solid structure of stone, fourteen miles in
circumference, twenty-five to forty feet in height,
battlemented along its entire length and pierced by
eight arches of stone. The arches serve as gate-
ways; they are crowned with high tiled towers, the
gables of which curve in the fashion of China.
Within the radius of these stone walls, the city
spreads itself across a plain, or high on the moun-
tain side, within the snug shelter of some hollow,
enjoys a pleasant, cool, and comfortable seclusion.
Within its metropolitan area there are changes of
scenery which would delight the most weary sight-
seer. Beyond these limits, the appearance and
character of the country is refreshing, and is without
that monotonous dead-level stretch of plain, which,
reaching to the walls of Pekin, detracts so greatly
from the position of that capital. Within this
broader vista there are hills and wooded valleys.
Villages rest beneath the grey, cool shadows of the
bush. Upon the hills lie many stately tombs,
fringes of trees shielding them from the rush of the
winds. There are pretty walks or rides in every
24
A CITY OF PEACE
quarter, and there is no fear of molestation. Every-
where it is peaceful; foreigners pass unnoticed by
the peasants, who, lazily scratching the surface of
their fields, or ploughing in the water of their rice
plots with stately bulls, occupy their time with gentle
industry. It is more by reason of a bountiful
nature that has endowed their land with fertility,
than by careful management or expenditure of energy
that it serves their purpose.
A few years ago it was thought that the glory of
the ancient city had departed. Indeed, the extreme
state of neglect into which the capital had fallen
gave some justification for this opinion. Now,
however, the prospect is suggestive of prosperity.
The old order is giving way to the new. So quickly
has the population learned to appreciate the results
of foreign intercourse that, in a few more years,
it will be diflScult to find in Seoul any remaining
link with the capital of yore. The changes have
been somewhat radical. The introduction of teleg-
raphy has made it unnecessary to signal nightly the
safety of the kingdom by beacons from the crests
of the mountains. The gates are no longer closed
at night; no more does the evening bell clang sono-
rously throughout the city at sunset, and the runners
before the chairs of the officials have for some time
ceased to announce in strident voices the passing
of their masters. Improvements, which have been
wrought also in the conditions of the city — in its
streets and houses, in its sanitary measures and in
its methods of communication — have replaced these
25
KOREA
ancient customs. An excellent and rapid train runs
from Chemulpo; electric trams afford quick transit
within and beyond the capital; even electric lights
illuminate by night some parts of the chief city of
the Hermit Kingdom. Moreover, an aqueduct is
mentioned; the police force has been reorganised;
drains have come and evil odours have fled.
The period which has passed since the country was
opened to foreign trade has given the inhabitants
time to become accustomed to the peculiar differ-
ences which distinguish foreigners. It has afforded
Koreans countless opportunities to select for them-
selves such institutions as may be calculated to pro-
mote their own welfare, and to provide at the same
time compensating advantages for their departure
from tradition. Not only by the construction of
an electric tramway, the provision of long-distance
telephones and telegraphs, the installation of electric
light, a general renovation of its thoroughfares and
its buildings, and the improvement of its system of
drainage, does the capital of Korea give tokens of
the spirit which is at work amongst its inhabitants.
Reforms in education have also taken place; schools
and hospitals have been opened; banks, foreign
shops, and agencies have sprung up; a factory for
the manufacture of porcelain ware is in operation;
and the number and variety of the religions with
which foreign missionaries are wooing the people
are as amazing and complex as in China. There
will be no absence in the future of those soothing
conjectures from which the consolations of religion
26
A CITY OF PEACE
may be derived. The conduct of educational affairs
is arranged upon a basis which now gives every
facility for the study of foreign subjects. Special
schools for foreign languages, conducted by the
government under the supervision of foreign
teachers, have been instituted. Indeed, most strik-
ing changes have been made in the curriculum of
the common schools of the city. Mathematics,
geography, history, besides foreign languages, are
all subjects in the courses of these establishments,
and, only lately, a special School of Survey, under
foreign direction, has been opened. The enlighten-
ment which is thus spreading throughout the lower
classes cannot fail to secure some eventual modifi-
cation of the views and sentiments by which the
upper classes regard the progress of the country. As
a sign of the times, it is worthy to note that several
native newspapers have been started; while the
increase of business has created the necessity for
improved facilities in financial transactions, a devel-
opment which has appealed not only to the Dai
Ichi Ginko. The Russo-Chinese Bank is proposing
to contend with this Japanese financial house. The
establishment at Chemulpo of a branch of the Rus-
sian Bank is contemplated, from whence will come
an issue of rouble notes to compete with the various
denominations of the Japanese Bank. Moreover,
the government is preparing to erect a large building
in foreign style in the centre of the city, to be used
as the premises of the Central Bank of Korea. It
will be a three-storied building, and it is intended
27
KOREA
to establish branches in all the thirteen provinces
of the empire. Its chief aim is to facilitate the
transfer of government moneys, the transport of
which has always been a severe tax upon the gov-
ernment. It will, however, engage in general bank-
ing business, and for this purpose Yi Yong-ik, the
president of the Central Bank, is preparing at the
government mint one, five, ten, and one hundred
dollar bills for issue by it.
Old Seoul, with its festering alleys, its winter
accumulations of every species of filth, its plastering
mud and penetrating foulness, has almost totally
vanished from within the walls of the capital. The
streets are magnificent, spacious, clean, admirably
made and well drained. The narrow, dirty lanes
have been widened; gutters have been covered, and
roadways broadened; until, with its trains, its cars,
and its lights, its miles of telegraph lines, its Railway
Station Hotel, brick houses and glass windows,
Seoul is within measurable distance of becoming
the brightest, most interesting, and cleanest city in
the East. It is still not one whit Europeanised,
for the picturesqueness of the purely Korean prin-
ciples and standards of architecture has been relig-
iously maintained, and is to be observed in all
future improvements.
The shops still cling to the sides of the drains; the
jewellers' shops hang above one of the main sewers
of the city; the cabinet and table-makers occupy
both sides of an important thoroughfare, their pre-
cious furniture half in and half out of filthy gutters.
28
A CITY OF PEACE
A Korean cabinet is a thing of great beauty. It is
embossed with brass plates and studded with brass
nails, very massive, well dovetailed, altogether
superior in design and finish. The work of the
jewellers is crude and unattractive, although indi-
vidual pieces may reveal some artistic conception.
In the main the ornaments include silver bangles,
hairpins and earrings, with a variety of objects
suitable for the decoration of the hair. The grain
merchants and the vegetable dealers conduct their
business in the road. The native merchant loves
to encroach upon the public thoroughfares whenever
possible. Once off the main streets of the city, the
side alleys are completely blocked to traflSc because
of the predilection of the shopkeepers upon either
side of the little passages to push their wares promi-
nently into the roadway. The business of butcher-
ing is in Korea the most degraded of all trades. It
is beyond even the acceptance and recognition of the
most humble orders of the community. The meat
shops are unpleasantly near the main drains.
29
CHAPTER IV
COSTUME, MANNERS AND MORALS
THE distinction in the costumes of the different
classes is evinced perhaps by the difference
in their prices. The dress of a noble costs
several hundred dollars. It is made from the finest
silk lawn which can be woven upon the native
looms. It is exceedingly costly, of a very delicate
texture, and cream colour. It is ample in its dimen-
sions and sufficiently enveloping to suggest a bath
robe. It is held in place by two large amber
buttons placed well over upon the right breast. A
silken girdle of mauve cord encircles the body below
the arm-pits. The costume of any one individual
may comprise a succession of these silken coats of
cream silk lawn, or white silk lawn, in spotless con-
dition, with an outer garment of blue silk lawn. The
movement of a number of these people dressed in
similar style is like the rustle of a breeze in a forest
of leaves. The dress of the less exalted is no less
striking in its unblemished purity. It costs but a
few dollars. It is made from grass lawn of varying
degrees of texture or of plain stout calico. It is
first washed, then pounded with heavy sticks upon
stones, and, after being dried, beaten again upon a
stock until it has taken a brilliant polish. This
30
MANNERS AND MORALS
is the sole occupation of the women of the lower
classes, and through many hours of the day and
night the regular and rhythmic beating of these
laundry sticks may be heard.
The costume of the women is in some respects
peculiar to the capital. The upper garment con-
sists of an apology for a zouave jacket in white or
cream material, which may be of silk lawn, lawn or
calico. A few inches below this begins a white
petticoat, baggy as a sail, touching the ground upon
all sides, and attached to a broad band. Between
the two there is nothing except the bare skin, the
breasts being fully exposed. It is not an agreeable
spectacle, as the women seen abroad are usually
aged or infirm. At all times, as if to emphasise
their fading charms, they wear the chang-ot, a thin,
green silk cloak, almost peculiar to the capital and
used by the women to veil their faces in passing
through the public streets. Upon the sight of man,
they clutch it beneath the eyes. The neck of the
garment is pulled over the head of the wearer, and
the long wide sleeves fall from her ears. The
effect of the contrast between the hidden face and
the naked breast is exceptionally ludicrous. When
employed correctly only one eye, a suggestion of
the cheek, and a glimpse of the temple and forehead
are revealed. It is, however, almost unnecessary,
since in the case of the great majority of women,
their sole charm is the possible beauty that the
chang-ot may conceal. They wear no other head-
covering. For ordinary occasions they dress their
31
KOREA
hair quite simply at the nape of the neck, in a fashion
not unlike that which Mrs. Langtry introduced.
The head-dress of the men shows great variety,
much as their costume possesses a distinctive char-
acter. When they are in mourning, the first stage
demands a hat as large as a diminutive open clothes-
basket. It is four feet in circumference and com-
pletely conceals the face, which is hidden further
by a piece of coarse lawn stretched upon two sticks,
and held just below the eyes. In this stage noth-
ing whatever of the face may be seen. The second
stage is denoted by the removal of the screen. The
third period is manifested by the replacement of
the inverted basket by the customary head-gear,
made in straw colour. The ordinary head-covering
takes the shape of the high-crowned hat worn by
Welsh women, with a broad brim, made in black
gauze upon a bamboo frame. It is held in place
by a chain beneath the chin or a string of pieces
of bamboo, between each of which small amber
beads are inserted. There are a variety of indoor
and ceremonial caps and bandeaux which are worn
by the upper and middle classes.
The hair is dressed differently by single and mar-
ried men. If unmarried, they adopt the queue;
when married, they put up their hair and twist it
into a conical mass upon their heads, keeping it in
place by a woven horsehair band, which completely
encircles the forehead and base of the skull. A few,
influenced by Western manners, have cropped their
hair. This is specially noticeable among the sol-
32
MANNERS AND MORALS
diers on duty in the city, while, in compHance with
the orders of the emperor, all military and civil
officials in the capital have adopted the foreign
style. Boys and girls, the queerest and most dirty
little brats, are permitted up to a certain age to roam
about the streets, to play in the gutters, and about
the sewage pits in a state of complete nudity — a
form of economy which is common throughout the
Far East. The boys quickly drift into clothes and
occupations of a kind. The girls of the poorer
orders are sold as domestic slaves and become
attached to the households of the upper classes.
From their subsequent appearance in the street,
when they run beside the chairs of their mistresses,
it is quite evident that they are taught to be
clean and even dainty in their appearance. At
this youthful age they are quaint and healthy
looking children. The conditions under which they
live, however, soon produce premature exhaus-
tion.
Despite the introduction of certain reforms, there
is still much of the old world about Seoul, many
relics of the Hermit Kingdom. Women are still
most carefully secluded. The custom, which allows
those of the upper classes to take outdoor exercise
only at night, is observed. Men are, however, no
longer excluded from the streets at such hours.
The spectacle of these white spectres of the night,
flitting from point to point, their footsteps lighted
by the rays of the lantern which their girl-slaves
carry before them, is as remarkable as the appear-
33
K O R E A
ance of Seoul by daylight, with its moving masses
all garmented in white.
The inhabitants of the Hermit Kingdom are
peculiarly proficient in the art of doing nothing
gracefully. There is, therefore, infinite charm and
variety in the daily life of Korea. The natives take
their pleasures passively, and their constitutional
incapacity makes it appear as if there were little to
do but to indulge in a gentle stroll in the brilliant
sunshine, or to sit cross-legged within the shade
of their houses. Inaction becomes them; nothing
could be more unsuited to the character of their
peculiar costume than vigorous movement. The
stolid dignity of their appearance and their stately
demeanour adds vastly to the picturesqueness of the
street scenes. The w^hite-coated, w^hite-trousered,
white-socked, slowly striding population is irresist-
ibly fascinating to the eye. The women are no
less interesting than the men. The unique fashion
of their dress, and its general dissimilarity to any
other form of feminine garb the world has ever
known, renders it suflBciently characteristic of the
vagaries of the feminine mind to be attractive.
Women do not appear very much in the streets
during daylight. The degree of their seclusion
depends upon the position which they fill in society.
In a general way the social barriers which divide
everywhere the three classes are well defined here.
The yang-han or noble is, of course, the ruling class.
The upper-class w^oman lives rather like a woman
in a zenana; from the age of twelve she is visible
34
MANNERS AND MORALS
only to the people of her household and to her imme-
diate relatives. She is married young, and thence-
forth her acquaintances among men are restricted
solely to within the fifth degree of cousinship. She
may visit her friends, being usually carried by four
bearers in a screened chair. She seldom walks, but
should she do so her face is invariably veiled in the
folds of a chang-ot. Few restrictions are imposed
upon the women of the middle class as to their
appearance in the streets, nor are they so closely
secluded in the house as their aristocratic sisters;
their faces are, however, veiled. The chang-ot is
by no means so complete a medium of concealment
as the veil of Turkey. Moreover, it is often cast
aside in old age. The dancing-girls, slaves, nuns,
and prostitutes, all included in the lowest class,
are forbidden to wear the chang-ot. Women doc-
tors, too, dispense with it, though only women of
the highest birth are allowed to practise medicine.
In a general way, the chief occupation of the
Korean woman is motherhood. Much scandal arises
if a girl attains her twentieth year without having
married, while no better excuse exists for divorce
than sterility. In respect of marriage, however,
the wife is expected to supplement the fortune of
her husband and to contribute to the finances of
the household. \Mien women of the upper classes
wish to embark in business, certain careers, other
than that of medicine, are open to them. They may
cultivate the silk-worm, start an apiary, weave
straw shoes, conduct a wine-shop, or assume the
35
KOREA
position of a teacher. They may undertake neither
the manufacture of lace and cloth, nor the sale of
fruit and vegetables. A descent in the social scale
increases the number and variety of the callings which
are open to women. Those of the middle class may
engage in all the occupations of the upper classes,
with the exception of medicine and teaching. They
may become concubines, act as cooks, go out as
wet nurses, or fill posts in the palace. They may
keep any description of shop, tavern, or hotel; they
possess certain fishing privileges, which allow them
to take clams, cuttle-fish, and heches de mer. They
may make every kind of boot and shoe. They may
knit fishing-nets, and fashion tobacco-pouches.
If some little respect be accorded to women of the
middle classes, those of the lower status are held in
contempt. Of the occupations open to women of
the middle classes, there are two in which women
of humble origin cannot engage. They are ineli-
gible for any position in the palace: they may not
manufacture tobacco-pouches. They may become
sorceresses, jugglers, tumblers, contortionists, dan-
cing-girls and courtesans. There is wide distinction
between the members of the two oldest professions
which the world has ever known: the dancing-girl
usually closes her career by becoming the con-
cubine of some wealthy noble; the courtesan does
not close her career at all.
It is impossible not to admire the activity and
energy of the Korean woman. Despite the con-
tempt with which she is treated, she is the great
36
MANNERS AND MORALS
economic factor in the household and in the Kfe of
the nation. Force of circumstance has made her
the beast of burden. She works that her superior
lord and master may dwell in idleness, comparative
luxury, and peace. In spite of the depressing and
baneful effects of this absurd dogma of inferiority,
and in contradiction of centuries of theory and phi-
losophy, her diligent integrity is more evident in the
national life than her husband's industry. She is
exceptionally active, vigorous in character, resource-
ful in emergency, superstitious, persevering, indom-
itable, courageous, and devoted. Among the middle
and lower classes she is the tailor and the laundress
of the nation. She does the work of a man in the
household and of a beast in the fields; she cooks and
sews; she washes and irons; she organises and car-
ries on a business, or tills and cultivates a farm. In
the face of every adversity, and in those times of
trial and distress in which her liege and lazy lord
utterly and hopelessly collapses, it is she who holds
the wretched, ramshackle home together. Under the
previous dynasty, the sphere of the women of Korea
was less restricted. There was no law of seclusion;
the sex enjoyed greater public freedom. In its clos-
ing decades, however, the tone of society lowered,
and women became the special objects of violence.
Buddhist priests were guilty of widespread debauch-
ery; conjugal infidelity was a pastime; rape became
the fashion. The present dynasty endeavoured to
check these evils by ordaining and promoting the
isolation and greater subjection of the sex. Vice
37
K O R E A
and immorality had been so long and so promiscu-
ously practised, however, that already men had
begun to keep their women in seclusion of their
own accord. If they respected them to some extent,
they were wholly doubtful of one another. Distrust
and suspicion were thus the pre-eminent causes of
this immuring of the women, the system developing
of itself, as the male Koreans learnt to dread the
evil propensities of their own sex. It is possible
that the women find, in that protection which is
now accorded them, some little compensation for
the drudgery and interminable hard work that is
their portion.
The system of slavery among the Koreans is con-
fined, at present, to the possession of female slaves.
Up to the time of the great invasion of Korea by
the Japanese armies under Hideyoshi, in 1592, both
male and female slaves were permitted. The loss
of men in that war was so great that, upon its con-
clusion, a law was promulgated which forbade the
bondage of males. There is, however, the sang-no
(slave boy), who renders certain services only,
and receives his food and clothes in compensation.
The position of the sang-no is more humble than
that filled by the paid servant and superior to that
of the slave proper. He is bound by no agreement
and is free to leave.
The duties of a slave comprise the rough work of
the house. She attends to the washing — an exact-
ing and continuous labor in a Korean household;
carries water from the w^ell, assists with the cooking,
38
MANNERS AND MORALS
undertakes the marketing, and runs errands. She is
not allowed to participate in any duties of a superior
character; her place is in the kitchen or in the yard,
and she cannot become either a lady's maid or a
favoured servant of any degree. In the fulness of
time she may figure in the funeral procession of her
master.
There are four ways by which the Korean woman
may become a slave. She may give herself into
slavery, voluntarily, in exchange for food, clothes,
and shelter through her abject poverty. The woman
who becomes a slave in this way cannot buy back
her freedom. She has fewer rights than the slave
who is bought or who sells herself. The daughter of
any slave who dies in service continues in slavery.
In the event of the marriage of her mistress such a
slave ranks as a part of the matrimonial dot. A
woman may be reduced to slavery by the treason-
able misdemeanours of a relative. The family of a
man convicted of treason becomes the property of
the government, the women being allotted to high
officials. They are usually liberated. Again, a
woman may submit herself to the approval of a
prospective employer. If she is found satisfactory
and is well recommended, her services may realise
between forty, fifty, or one hundred thousand cash.
When payment has been made, she gives a deed of
her own person to her purchaser, imprinting the out-
line of her hand upon the document, in place of a
seal, and for the purpose of supplying easy means
of identification. Although this transaction does
39
KOREA
not receive the cognisance of the government, the
contract is binding.
As the law provides that the daughter of a slave
must take the place of her parent, should she die, it
is plainly in the interests of the owner to promote
the marriage of his slaves. Slaves who receive com-
pensation for their services are entitled to marry
whom they please; quarters are provided for the
couple. The master of the house, however, has no
claim upon the services of the husband. The slave
who voluntarily assigns herself to slavery and re-
ceives no price for her services may not marry with-
out consent. In these cases it is not an unusual
custom for the master to restore her liberty in the
course of a few years.
Hitherto, the position of the Korean woman has
been so humble that her education has been unneces-
sary. Save among those who belong to the less
reputable classes, the literary and artistic faculties
are left uncultivated. Among the courtesans, how-
ever, the mental abilities are trained and developed
with a view to making them brilliant and enter-
taining companions. The one sign of their profes-
sion is the culture, the charm, and the scope of their
attainments. These "leaves of sunlight," a feature
of public life in Korea, stand apart in a class of their
own. They are called gisaing, and correspond to
the geisha of Japan; the duties, environments, and
mode of existence of the two are almost identical.
Officially, they are attached to a department of
government and are controlled by a bureau of their
40
MANNERS AND MORALS
own, in common with the court musicians. They are
supported from the national treasury, and they are
in evidence at oflBcial dinners and all palace enter-
tainments. They read and recite; they dance and
sing; they become accomplished artists and musi-
cians. They dress with exceptional taste; they move
with exceeding grace; they are delicate in appear-
ance, very frail and very human, very tender,
sympathetic, and imaginative. By their artistic
and intellectual endowment, the dancing-girls, iron-
ically enough, are debarred from the positions for
which their talents so peculiarly fit them. They
may move through, and as a fact do live in, the high-
est society. They are met at the houses of the most
distinguished; they may be selected as the concu-
bines of the Emperor, become the Jemmes d'amour
of a prince, the puppets of the noble. A man of
breeding may not marry them, however, although
they typify everything that is brightest, liveliest,
and most beautiful. Amongst their own sex, their
reputation is in accordance with their standard
of morality, a distinction being made between those
whose careers are embellished with the quasi chastity
of a concubine, and those who are identified with
the more pretentious display of the mere prosti-
tute.
In the hope that their children may achieve that
success which will ensure their support in their old
age, parents, when stricken with poverty, dedicate
their daughters to the career of a gisaing, much as
they apprentice their sons to that of a eunuch. The
41
KOREA
girls are chosen for the perfect regularity of their
features. Their freedom from blemish, when first
selected, is essential. They are usually pretty,
elegant, and dainty. It is almost certain that they
are the prettiest women in Korea, and, although the
order is extensive and the class is gathered from all
over the kingdom, the most beautiful and accom-
plished gisaing come from Pyong-an. The arts
and graces in which they are so carefully educated,
procure their elevation to positions in the house-
holds of their protectors, superior to that which is
held by the legal wife. As a consequence, Korean
folk-lore abounds with stories of the strife and
wifely lamentations arising from the ardent and
prolonged devotion of husbands to girls whom fate
prevents their taking to a closer union. The women
are light of stature, with diminutive, pretty feet,
and graceful, shapely hands. They are quiet and
unassuming in their manner. Their smile is bright;
their deportment modest, their appearance winsome.
They wear upon state occasions voluminous, silk-
gauze skirts of variegated hues; a diaphanous silken
jacket, with long loose sleeves, extending beyond
the hands, protects the shoulders; jewelled girdles,
pressing their naked breasts, sustain their draperies.
An elaborate, heavy, and artificial head-dress of
black hair, twisted in plaits and decorated with
many silver ornaments, is worn. The music of
the dance is plaintive and the song of the dancer
somewhat melancholy. Many movements are exe-
cuted in stockinged feet; the dances are quite free
42
MANNERS AND MORALS
from indelicacy and suggestiveness. Indeed, sev-
eral are curiously pleasing.
Upon one occasion, Yi-cha-sun, the brother of the
Emperor, invited me to watch the dress rehearsal of
an approaching Palace festival. Although this ex-
ceptional consideration was shown me unsolicited,
I found it quite impossible to secure permission
to photograph the gliding, graceful figures of the
dancers. When my chair deposited me at the yamen
the dance was already in progress. The chairs
of the officials and chattering groups of the ser-
vants of the dancers filled the compound; soldiers
of the Imperial Guard kept watch before the gates.
The air w^as filled with the tremulous notes of the
pipes and viols, whose plaintive screaming was
punctuated with the booming of drums. Within a
building, the walls of which were open to the air,
the rows of dancers were visible as they swayed
slowly and almost imperceptibly with the music.
From the dais where my host was sitting the dance
was radiant with colour. There were eighteen per-
formers, grouped in three equal divisions, and, as
the streaming sunshine played upon the shimmering
surface of their dresses, the lithe and graceful fig-
ures of the dancers floated in the brilliant reflection
of a sea of sparkling light. The dance was almost
without motion so slowly were its fantastic figures
developed. Never once were their arms dropped
from their horizontal position, nor did the size and
weight of their head-dresses appear to fatigue the
little women. Very slowly, the seated band gave
43
KOREA
forth the air. Very slowly, the dancers moved in
the open space before us, their arms upraised, their
gauze and silken draperies clustering round them,
their hair piled high, and held in its curious
shape by many jewelled and enamelled pins, which
sparkled in the sunshine. The air was solemn; and,
as if the movement were ceremonial, their voices
rose and fell in a lingering harmony of passionate
expression. At times, the three sets came together,
the hues of the silken skirts blending in one vivid
blaze of barbaric splendour. Then, as another move-
ment succeeded, the eighteen figures broke apart
and, poised upon their toes, in stately and measured
unison circled round the floor, their arms rising and
falling, their bodies bending and swaying, in dreamy
undulation.
The dance epitomised the poetry and grace of
human motion. The dainty attitudes of the per-
formers had a gentle delicacy which was delightful.
The long silken robes revealed a singular grace of
deportment, and one looked upon dancers who were
clothed from head to foot, not naked, brazen, and
unashamed, like those of our own burlesque, with
infinite relief and infinite satisfaction. There was
power and purpose in their movements; artistic
subtlety in their poses. Their flowing robes empha-
sised the simplicity of their gestures; the pallor of
their faces w^as unconcealed; their glances were
timid; their manner modest. The strange eerie
notes of the curious instruments the fluctuating
cadence of the song, the gliding motion of the dan-
44
MANNERS AND MORALS
cers, the dazzling sheen of the silks, the vivid colours
of the skirts, the flush of flesh beneath the silken
shoulder-coats, appealed to one silently and signally,
stirring the emotions with an enthusiasm which
was irrepressible.
The fascinating figures approached softly, smoothly
sliding; and, as they glided slowly forward, the song
of the music welled into passionate lamentation.
The character of the dance changed. No longer
advancing, the dancers moved in time to the beating
of the drums; rotating circles of colour, their arms
swaying, their bodies swinging backwards and for-
wards, as their retreating footsteps took them from
us. The little figures seemed unconscious of their
art; the musicians ignorant of the qualities of their
wailing. Nevertheless, the masterly restraint of
the band, the conception, skill, and execution of the
dancers, made up a triumph of technique.
As the dance swept to its climax, nothing so
accentuated the admiration of the audience as their
perfect stillness. From the outer courts came for a
brief instant the clatter of servants and the screams
of angry stallions. Threatening glances quickly
hushed the slaves, nothing breaking the magnetism
of the dance for long. The dance ended, it became
the turn of others to rehearse their individual con-
tributions, while those who were now free sat chatting
with my host, eating sweets, some smoking cigarettes,
others cigars, and others the long native pipe. INIany ,
discarding their head-dresses, lay upon their sitting
mats, their eyes closed in momentary rest as their
45
KOREA
servants fanned them. His Highness apparently
appreciated the famiHarity with which they treated
him. In the enjoyment and encouragement of
their little jokes he squeezed their cheeks and pinched
their arms, as he sat among them.
46
CHAPTER V
EDUCATION AND CRIME
UNTIL the introduction of foreign methods
of education, and the estabHshment of
schools upon modern Hues, no very prom-
ising manifestation of intellect distinguished the
Koreans. Even now, a vague knowledge of the
Chinese classics, which in rare instances only can be
considered a familiar acquaintanceship, sums up
the requirements of the cultured classes. The upper
classes of both sexes make some pretence of under-
standing the literature and language of China; but
it is very seldom that the middle classes are able to
read more than the mixed Chinese-Korean script
of the native Press — in which the grammatical
construction is purely Korean.
Despite the prevailing ignorance of Chinese, the
Mandarin dialect of China is considered the language
of polite society. It is the medium of official com-
munication at the Court: the majority of the for-
eigners in the service of the Government have also
mastered its intricacies. It has been estimated
by Professor Homer B. Hulbert, whose elaborate
researches in Korean and Chinese philology make
him a distinguished authority, that only one per
cent, of the women of the upper class, who study
47
KOREA
Chinese, have any practical knowledge of it. Women
of the middle and lower classes are ignorant of Chi-
nese. Again, the proportion of upper class women
who can read the Chinese classics is very small.
It is probable that, out of an unselected assembly of
Koreans, not more than five per cent, would be
found who could take up a Chinese work and read
it as glibly as a similar gathering of English might
be expected to read ordinary Latin prose.
In relation to the on-mun, the common script of
Korea, there is, however, no such ignorance; the
upper and middle classes study their native writing
with much intelligence. The language of Korea
is altogether different from that of China and Japan ;
it possesses an alphabet of its own, which at present
consists of some twenty-five letters. It has been
ascribed by certain Korean annals to the fifteenth
century, a.d. 1447, when the King of Korea, resolv-
ing to assert his independence by abandoning the
use of Chinese writing as the oflScial medium of
correspondence, invented an alphabet to suit the
special requirements of the vernacular. Conserva-
tism proved too strong, however, and the new script
was gradually relegated to the use of the lower
classes, and of women and children. There is an
extensive literature in the vernacular. It includes
translations from the Chinese and Japanese classics;
historical works on modern and mediaeval Korea,
books of travel and hunting, of poetry and corre-
spondence, and a range of fiction, dealing with those
phases of human nature that are common to mankind.
48
EDUCATION AND CRIME
Many of these books are regularly studied by
Korean women, ignorance of their contents being
regarded with disdain by the women of the upper
classes, and, in a less pronounced degree, by those
of the middle classes. The female attendants in
the Palace are the readiest students and scholars
of the vernacular, their positions at Court requiring
them to prepare on-mun copies of Government
orders, current news, and general gossip, for Imperial
use. Books in native script are readily purchased
by all conditions of Koreans, and taken out from
circulating libraries. Many of the works are writ-
ten in Chinese and in Korean upon alternate pages
for those who can read only one or the other; those
who are quite illiterate learning the more important
chapters by ear. A work, with which every woman
is supposed to be intimate, is entitled The Three
Principles of Conduct, the great divisions being (1)
The Treatment of Parents; (2) The Rearing of a
Family; (3) Housekeeping. Companion books with
this volume, and of equal importance to Korean
women, are the Five Rules of Conduct and the
Five Volumes of Primary Literature, which, in
spirit and contents, are almost identical. They
deal with the relations between (1) Parent and
Child; (2) King and Subject; (3) Husband and Wife;
(4) Old and Young; (5) Friend and Friend. They
contain also exhortations to virtue and learning.
Apart from the direction and scope of female
education in Korea, which I have now suggested,
the theoretical study of the domestic arts is an invari-
49
KOREA
able accompaniment of the more intricate studies.
It is supplemented with much actual experiment.
As a consequence, while the education of men of
certain rank is confined to the books to which they
are but indifferently attentive, a wide range of study
exists for women apart from the writings and teach-
ings of the accepted professors and classical author-
ities. Ornamental elegances, the tricks and traits
of our drawing-room minxes, are ignored by the
gentler classes, vocal music and dancing being the
accomplishments of dancing-girls and demi-mon-
daines. The arts of embroidery, dressmaking, sew-
ing, and weaving absorb their attention until they
have gone through the gamut of domestic economy.
Occasionally women of the upper class learn to
play the kumungo, an instrument some five feet
long and one foot wide, bearing a faint resemblance to
a zither and emitting a melancholy and discordant
wail. There is one other stringed weapon, the
nageum, but the awful screech of this unhappy viol
overwhelms me, even in recollection. The usual
and most simple amusement for the middle classes
is the gentle, aimless stroll, for the purpose of "look
see." Swinging, rope-games, dice, dominoes, and
dolls find some favour as distractions.
If some little improvement has become notice-
able in educational matters under the enlighten-
ing influence of the missionaries, great fault must be
found with the condition of the law. It is, of course,
not always possible to graft upon the legal proced-
50
EDUCATION AND CRIME
ure of one country a system of administration which
works well in another. Specific outbursts of vio-
lence, arising from identical causes, assume different
complexions when considered from the point of view
of those who are proceeding to institute reforms.
It may be submitted, further, that a certain element
of barbarism in punishment is rendered necessary
by the conditions of some countries, imposing a
restraint upon a population w^hich would scoff at
punishment of a more civilised description. If
exception may be taken to the penal code of Korea, it
must be remembered that in the Far East the qual-
ity of justice is not tempered with mercy. IVIany
punishments are still openly and frankly barbarous,
while others are distinguished by their excep-
tional severity. Decapitation, mutilation, strangula-
tion, or poisoning are less frequent than formerly.
Until within quite recent years it was the custom
of Korean law to make the family of the arch-
criminal suffer all his penalties with him. They are
now exempted, and with the reforms introduced
during the movement in 1895, some attempt was
made to abolish practices opposed to the spirit of
progress. The table, which I append, shows the
punishments dispensed for certain crimes.
Treason, Man. . . Decapitated, together with male relatives
to the fifth degree. Mother, wife,
and daughter poisoned or reduced to
slavery.
Treason, Woman. Poisoned.
Murder, Man. , . Decapitated. Wife poisoned.
51
KOREA
Murder, Woman. Strangled or poisoned.
Arson, Man .... Strangled or poisoned. Wife poisoned.
Arson, Woman . . Poisoned.
Theft, Man .... Strangled, decapitated, or banished. Wife
reduced to slavery, confiscation of all
property.
Desecrationof Decapitated, together with male relatives
graves to the fifth degree. Mother, wife, and
daughter poisoned.
Counterfeiting . . Strangulation or decapitation. Wife
poisoned.
Under the Korean law, no wife can obtain a legal
dissolution of her marriage. The privilege of divorce
rests with the man; among the upper classes it is
uncommon. The wife, however, may leave her hus-
band and accept the protection of some relative,
when, unless the husband can disprove her charges,
he has no redress. Should the wife fail to establish
her case against her husband, the cost of the mar-
riage ceremony, a large sum usually, is refunded by
her relatives. The law does not force a wife to
cohabit with her husband ; nor, so far as it affects the
woman, does it take any cognisance of the matter.
A man may divorce his wife, retaining the custody
of the children in every case, upon statutory grounds,
and upon the following additional counts: indolence,
neglect of the prescribed sacrifices, theft, and shrew-
ishness. There is no appeal against the charges of
the husband for women of the upper classes, domes-
tic disturbances being considered entirely repre-
hensible. Much greater latitude prevails among
the lower orders, irregular unions of a most benign
52
EDUCATION AND CRIME
elasticity being preferred. Concubinage is a recog-
nised institution, and one in which the lower, as
well as the higher, classes indulge.
The rights of the children of concubines vary
according to the moral laxity of the class in which
they are born. Among the upper classes they pos-
sess no claim against the estate of their progenitors;
entail ignores them, and they may not observe the
family sacrifices. In the absence of legitimate
issue, a son must be adopted for the purpose of inher-
iting the properties of the family and of attending
to the ancestral and funeral rites. Great stress is
laid by the upper classes upon purity of descent;
among the middle and lower orders there is more
indulgence. Save in the lowest classes, it is usual
to maintain a separate establishment for each concu-
bine. The fact that among the lower classes con-
cubine and wife share the same house is responsible
for much of the unhappiness of Korean family
life. In every case the position of the children of
concubines corresponds with the status of the
mother.
Within recent years, considerable changes have
taken place in the Government and in the adminis-
tration of the law. Under the old system the des-
potic thesis of divine right was associated with many
abuses. Justice was not tempered by mercy, and,
in the suppression of crime, it was not always the
guilty who suffered. The old system of government
was modelled upon the principles of the Ming rule
in China. The power of the sovereign was abso-
53
KOREA
lute in theory and in practice. He was assisted by
the three principal officers of State and six adminis-
trative boards, to whom, so soon as the country was
brought into contact with foreign nations, additional
bureaux were added. Modifications in the spirit,
or in the letter of the law have taken place from
time to time at the instance of reformers. Before
the ascendancy of the Japanese came about, the
principles and character of Korean law presented
no very marked deviation from that which had been
upheld in China through so many centuries. For a
long time the intense conservatism of China reigned
in Korea. The authority of the sovereign is more
restricted to-day; but in the hands of a less enlight-
ened monarch it would be just as effective as ever
against the interests of the country. Happily,
however, the era of progressive reform, which illus-
trated the inauguration of the Empire, continues.
54
CHAPTER VI
KOREAN INDUSTRIES
THE Koreans are an agricultural people, and
most of the national industries are con-
nected with agriculture. More than sev-
enty per cent, of the population are farmers; the
carpenter, the blacksmith, and the stonemason
spring directly from this class, combining a knowl-
edge of the forge or workshop with a life-long experi-
ence of husbandry. The schoolmaster is usually
the son of a yeoman-farmer; the fisherman owns a
small holding which his wife tills while he is fishing.
The farming classes participate in certain industries
of the country; the wives of the farmers raise the
cotton, silk, linen, and grass-cloth of the nation, and
they also convert the raw material into the finished
fabrics. The sandals, mats, osier and wooden wares,
which figure so prominently in Korean households,
are the work of the farming classes in their leisure
moments. The oflScials, the yamen runners, the
merchants, inn-keepers, miners, and junk-men are
not of this order, but they are often closely con-
nected with it. The Government exists on the
revenues raised from agriculture; the people live
upon the fruits of the soil; Korean officials gov-
ern whole communities given over to agricultural
55
KOREA
labour. The internal economy of the country has
been affiliated for centuries to the pursuits and prob-
lems of agriculture. Koreans are thus instinctively
and intuitively agriculturists, and it is necessarily
along these lines that the development of the coun-
try should in part progress.
It is impossible not to be impressed by a force
which works so laboriously, while it takes no rest
save that variety which comes in with the change of
season. The peaceable, plodding farmer of Korea
has his counterpart in his bull. The Korean peas-
ant and his weary bull are made for one another.
Without his ruminating partner, the work would
be impracticable. It drags the heavy plough through
the deep mud of the rice-fields, and over the rough
surface of the grain lands; it carries loads of brick
and wood to the market, and hauls the unwieldy
market cart along the country roads. The two make
a magnificent pair; each is a beast of burden. The
brutishness, lack of intelligence, and boorishness
of the agricultural labourer in England is not quite
reproduced in the Korean. The Korean farmer has
of necessity to force himself to be patient. He is
content to regard his sphere of utility in this world
as one in which man must labour after the fashion
of his animals, with no appreciable satisfaction to
himself.
Originally, if history speaks truly, the farmers of
Korea were inclined to be masterful and independent.
Indications of this earlier spirit are found nowadays
in periodical protests against the extortionate de-
56
KOREAN INDUSTRIES
mands of local officials. These disturbances are
isolated and infrequent, for, when once their spirits
were crushed, the farmers developed into the pres-
ent mild and inoffensive type. They submit to
oppression and to the cruelty of the Yamen; they
endure every form of illegal taxation, and they ruin
themselves to pay "squeezes," which exist only
through their own humility. They dread the as-
sumption of rank and the semblance of authority.
Their fear of a disturbance is so great that, although
they may murmur against the impositions of the
magistrate, they continue to meet his demands.
At the present day the farmer of Korea is the ideal
child of nature; superstitious, simple, patient, and
ignorant. He is the slave of his work, and he moves
no further from his village than the nearest market.
He has a terrified belief in the existence of demons,
spirits, and dragons, whose dirty and grotesque
counterfeits adorn his thatched hut. There are
other characteristic traits in this great section of
the national life. Their capacity for work is unlim-
ited; they are seldom idle, and, unlike the mass of
their countrymen, they have no sense of repose.
As farmers, they have by instinct and tradition
certain ideas and principles which are excellent in
themselves. To the wayfarer and stranger the
individual farmer is supremely and surprisingly
hospitable. A foreigner discussing the peculiar-
ities of their scenery, their lands, and the general
details of their life with them, is struck by their
profound reverence for everything beyond their
57
KOREA
own understanding, and their amazing sense of the
beautiful in nature. The simphcity of their appre-
ciation is dehghtful. It is easy to beheve that they
are more susceptible to the charms of flowers and
scenery than to that of woman.
At rare intervals the farmer indulges in a diver-
sion. Succumbing to the seductions of market day,
after the fashion of every other farmer the world
has ever known, he returns to the homestead a
physical and moral wreck, the drunk and disorderly
residuum of many months of dreary abstinence and
respectability. At these times he develops a phase
of unexpected assertiveness, and forcibly abducts
some neighbouring beauty, or beats in the head of
a friend by way of enforcing his argument. From
every possible point of view he reveals qualities
which proclaim him the simple, if not ideal, child
of nature.
During the many months of my stay in Korea I
spent some days at a wayside farmhouse, the sole
accommodation which could be obtained in a
mountain village. The slight insight into the mode
of life of the farming peasant which was thus gained
was replete with interest, charm, and novelty.
Knowing something of the vicissitudes of farm life,
I found the daily work of this small community
supremely instructive. Upon many occasions I
watched the farmer's family and his neighbours at
their work. The implements of these people are
rude and few, consisting of a plough, with a movable
iron shoe which turns the sods in the reverse direc-
58
KOREAN INDUSTRIES
tion to our own; furnished with ropes and dragged
by several men; bamboo flails and rakes, a spade,
and a small hoe, sharp and heavy, used as occasion
may require for reaping, chopping and hoeing, for
the rough work of the farm, or the lighter service of
the house.
During the harvest all available hands muster in
the fields. The women cut the crop, the men fasten
the sheaves, which the children load into rope pan-
niers, suspended upon wooden frames from the
backs of bulls. The harvest is threshed without
delay, the men emptying the laden baskets upon
the open road, and setting to with solemn and unin-
terrupted vigour. While the men threshed with
their flails, and the wind winnowed the grain, six,
and sometimes eight, women worked, with their
feet, a massive beam, from which an iron or granite
pestle hung over a deep granite mortar. This
rough and ready contrivance pulverises the grain
sufficiently for the coarse cakes which serve in lieu
of bread.
Beyond the bull and pig, there are few farm ani-
mals in the inland districts. The pony and the
donkey are not employed in agricultural work to
the same extent as the bull. This latter animal is
cared for more humanely than the unfortunate
pony, whose good nature is ruined by the execrable
harshness with which he is treated. The gross
cruelty of the Korean to his pony is the most loath-
some feature of the national life.
Irrigation is necessary only for the rice, which
59
KOREA
yields fairly abundant crops throughout Central
and Southern Korea. To the north, rice makes way
for millet, the great supplementary food of Korea.
Elsewhere paddy-fields abound, and the people
have become adepts in the principles of irrigation
and the art of conserving water. Rice is sown in
May, transplanted from the nurseries to the paddy-
fields in June, and gathered in October. In times
of drought, when it is necessary to tide over the
period of distress, the fields are used for barley,
oats, and rye which, ripening in May and cut in
June, allow a supplementary crop to be taken from
the fields. The fields are then prepared for the
rice. The land is inundated; the peasant and his
bull, knee-deep in water, plough the patches. Beans,
peas, and potatoes are planted between the furrows
of the cornfields, the land being made to produce to
its full capacity. The crops are usually excellent.
The fields differ from those in China, where
the farmers, preferring short furrows, grow their
crops in small sections. The long furrows of the
Korean fields recall Western methods, but here the
analogy ends. The spectacle of these well-ordered
acres is a revelation of the earnest way in which
these down-trodden people combat adversity. In
many ways, however, they need assistance and
advice. If it were prudent to accomplish it, I would
convert the mission centres of the inland districts
into experimental farm-stations, and attach a com-
petent demonstrator to each establishment.
The Koreans hold rice, their chief cereal, in pecul-
60
KOREAN INDUSTRIES
iar honour. They state that it originated in Ha-
ram, in China, at a period now involved in much
fable and mystery — 2838 B.C. to 2698 B.C. The
name, Syang-nong-si, itself means Marvellous Agri-
culture. The name was doubtless given at a later
time. The first rice was brought to Korea by Ki-ja
in 1122 B.C. together with barley and other cereals.
Before that time the only grain raised in Korea
was millet. There are three kinds of rice in
Korea, with a variety of sub-species. First, that
which is grown in the ordinary paddy-fields. This
is called specifically tap-kok, or paddy-field rice.
It is used almost exclusively to make tap, the ordi-
nary boiled rice. Then we have chun-koky or field-
rice. This is so-called upland rice. It is drier
than the paddy-field rice, and is used largely in
making rice flour and in brewing beer. The third
kind is grown exclusively on the slopes of moun-
tains, and is a wild rice. It is smaller and harder
than the other kinds; for this reason it is used to
provision garrisons. It will withstand the weather.
Under favourable circumstances, lowland rice will
keep five years, but the mountain rice will remain
perfectly sound for quite ten years.
Next in importance to rice come the different
kinds of pulse, under which heading is included all
the leguminous plants, the bean and the pea family.
That Korea is well provided with this valuable and
nutritious form of food will be seen from the fact
that there are thirteen species of round beans, two
kinds of long bean, and five varieties of mixed bean.
61
KOREA
Of all these numerous assortments, the "horse-
bean" is by far the most common. It is the bean
which forms such a large part of the exports of Korea.
It is supposed by Koreans to have originated in
North- Western China, and derives its name from
the fact that it is used very largely for fodder. One
variety only may be regarded as indigenous — the
black-bean — and it is found nowhere else in East-
ern Asia. Of the rest, the origin is doubtful. The
horse-bean grows in greatest abundance in Kyong-
syang Province and on the island of Quelpart,
though of course it is common all over the country.
The black-bean flourishes best in Chyol-la Prov-
ince. The green-bean, oil-bean, and white-cap bean
flourish in Kyong-keui Province. The yellow bean
is found in Hwang-hai Province; the South River
bean appears in Chyung-Chyong Province; the
grand-father-bean (so called because of its wrinkles)
grows anywhere, but not in large quantities. The
brown-bean and chestnut-bean come from Kang-won
Province.
It would be difficult to over-estimate the impor-
tance of these different species of pulse to the
Korean. They furnish the oily and nitrogenous ele-
ments which are lacking in rice. As a diet they are
strengthening, the nutritious properties of the soil
imparting a tone to the system. Preparations of
beans are as numerous as the dishes made from
flour; it is impossible to enumerate them. Upon
an average, the Koreans eat about one-sixth as
much pulse as rice. The price of beans is one-half
62
KOREAN INDUSTRIES
that of rice; the price of either article is liable to
variations. There are varieties which cost nearly
as much as rice.
The common name for barley is po-ri; in poetical
parlance the Koreans call barley The Fifth Moon of
Autumn, because it is then that it is harvested.
The value of barley to the Korean arises from the
fact that it is the first grain to germinate in the
spring. It carries the people on until the millet
and rice crops are ready. Barley and wheat are
extensively raised throughout Korea, for the pur-
pose of making wine and beer. In other ways,
however, they may be considered almost as important
as the different kinds of pulse. The uses of barley
are very numerous. Besides being used directly as
farinaceous food it becomes malt, medicine, candy,
syrup, and furnishes a number of side-dishes. Wheat
comes mostly from Pyong-an Province, only
small crops of it appearing in the other Prov-
inces. Barley yields spring and autumn crops, but
wheat yields only the winter crop. The poor accept
wheat as a substitute for rice, and brew a gruel
from it. It is used as a paste ; it figures in the native
pharmacopoeia, and in the sacrifices with which the
summer solstice is celebrated.
Oats, millet, and sorghum are other important
cereals in Korea. There are six varieties of millet;
the price of the finer qualities is the same as that
obtained for rice. One only of these six varieties
was found originally in the country. Sorghum is
grown principally in Kyong-syang Province. It
63
KOREA
grows freely, however, in the south; but is less
used than wheat, millet, or oats in Korea. A
curious distinction exists between the sorghum
imported from China and the native grain. In
China, sorghum is used in making sugar; when this
sugar-producing grain arrives in Korea it is found
impossible to extract the sugar. Two of the three
kinds of sorghum in Korea are native, the third
coming from Central China. Oats become a staple
food in the more mountainous regions, where rice is
never seen; it is dressed like rice. From the stalk
the Koreans make a famous paper, which is used in
the Palaces of the Emperor. It is cultivated in
Kang-won, Ham-kyong, and Pyong-an Provinces.
The Korean is omnivorous. Birds of the air,
beasts of the field, and fish from the sea, nothing
comes amiss to his palate. Dog-meat is in great
request at certain seasons; pork and beef with the
blood undrained from the carcase, fowls and game
— birds cooked with the lights, giblets, head, and
claws intact, fish, sun-dried and highly malodorous,
all are acceptable to him. Cooking is not always
necessary; a species of small fish is preferred raw,
dipped into some piquant sauce. Other dainties
are dried sea-weed, shrimps, vermicelli, made by
the women from buckwheat flour and white of egg,
pine seeds, lily bulbs, honey-water, wheat, barley,
millet, rice, maize, wild potatoes, and all vegetables
of Western and Eastern gardens; and this by no
means exhausts the list.
Their excesses make them martyrs to indigestion.
64
? ■/- '^^^^*'' " ^' :^Li^^''
!ii^^
.^ti
c.'.'j f
:r->;i
KOREAN NATIVES BUILDING HOUSES
CHAPTER VII
KOREAN SCENERY
THE world of politics in Seoul had become of
a sudden so profoundly dull, that, ignoring
the advice of the weather-wise inhabitants
of the capital, I packed my kit, and hiring ponies,
interpreters, and servants, moved from the chief
walled city of the Empire into the wild regions of
the interior. My journey lay towards Tong-ko-
kai, the German mines, several days' journey from
Seoul. Life, in the capital, is not destitute of that
monotony which characterises the Land of the Morn-
ing Radiance. But beyond the precincts of the
Imperial Palaces, out of sight and hearing of the
countless little coteries of Europeans, the contrast
between the moving, soft-robed, gentle masses of
people who congregate within her gates, and the
mountain reaches and valleys of the open country
is refreshing. For the moment the pleasure of such
an experience ranks high among the joys which life
holds.
Save in the first few li from the capital, we aban-
doned the beaten tracks, travelling along quiet
byways and mountain paths, turning aside at fancy
to climb a peak or to take a swim in the cool, deep
waters of some secluded pool at night and morn-
65
KOREA
ing, and at our noonday halt. In the pleasant
shades of these cool mountains and sunlit valleys
the people live in unrebuked simplicity. They
offered the loan of charcoal stoves or retailed eggs,
chickens, and rice to my servants. At the moment
of my bath, youths and youngsters gambolled with
me in the stream. It is said that the Koreans are
far from clean, a statement they belied upon many
occasions by the freedom and enjoyment with which
they indulged in these dips. Foreigners had not
travelled along the route which my friend and I
were following to the German mines, and even the
ubiquitous evangelist had not penetrated to these
peasant homes. The mountains and rivers had no
names; the settlements were small; inns did not
exist. Everywhere was contentment, peace, and
infinite repose. Nature stood revealed to us in
primaeval grandeur, and it was impossible not to
enjoy the calm of the valleys, the rugged beauty of
the mountain crests, the picturesque wildness of
the scenery.
As the days passed the general character of the
country remained unaltered. The manifold and
complex tints in the bush, the differing aspects of
each succeeding height, the alternating complexion
of the valleys, dissipated the monotony, engendered
by the never changing features of the picture —
the trees and mountains, hillside hamlets and moun-
tain torrents, precipitous passes and windy plateaux.
Moving thus slowly through the mountain passes,
a wonderful panorama silently disclosed itself. Hills
66
KOREAN SCENERY
were piled one upon another, gradually merging
into chains of mountains, the crests of which, two
and three thousand feet in height, stood out clearly-
defined against an azure sky, their rock-bound faces
covered with birch, beech, oak, and pine. The
valleys below these mountain chains were long and
narrow, cool and cultivated. A hillside torrent
dashed through them, tumbling noisily over massive
boulders, gradually fretting a new course for itself
in the lava strata. Countless insects buzzed in the
still air; frogs croaked in the marsh meadows; the
impudent magpie and the plebeian crow choked and
chattered indignantly among the branches of the
trees. Cock-pheasants started from the thick cover
of the low-lying hills, the dogs pointed the nests
of the sitting hens, and does called to their calves
among the young bushes. A calm and happy
nature revealed itself spontaneously in these fragrant
places, undisturbed, luxurious, and unrestrained.
The road was rough. Here and there, in keeping
with the wild and rugged beauty of the scene, it
became the narrow track of the Australasian "gacks,"
congested with bushes, broken by holes and stones,
almost impassable until the coolies made a way.
Across the clattering crystal of the gushing tor-
rent a rustic bridge was flung, the merest makeshift,
three feet in width, with a flooring of earth and bush,
which bent and swayed upon slender poles, beneath
the slightest burden. Some streams were unbridged,
and the diminutive ponies splashed through them,
gladly cooling their sweating flanks as their drivers
67
KOREA
waded or carried one another to the distant bank.
Wild ferns, butterflies, and flowers revelled in these
unkempt gardens. The red dog-lily and purple iris
glowed against the foliage of the shrubs and bushes,
(ligantic butterflies eclipsed the glories of the rain-
bow; their gorgeous tints blending into harmony
with the more subdued plumage of the cranes and
storks that floated lazily across the inundated spaces
of the paddy-fields. Other birds, w^ith dove-grey,
pink, or yellow breasts and black pinions, fished in
the streams with raucous cries. The most amazing
tints, recalling some of Turner's later pictures,
gladdened the eye in these delightful valleys. In
the depths of the valleys the mountain torrents
flowed more idly, and the stream meandered in a
thousand directions. Upon either bank, its vol-
ume w^as diverted to the needs of some adjacent
rice-field. In these paddy-patches green and ten-
der shoots were just sprouting above a few inches
of clear water. Here and there, fields of wheat
bordered these water-soaked stretches; oats, corn,
barley, tobacco, cotton, beans, and millet were
scattered about the sides and plains of the moun-
tain valleys in a fashion which proclaimed the fer-
tility of the soil.
Everything throve, however, and the industry
of the workers in the fields was manifested at every
turn of the road. Their ingenuity in making the
most of available land recalled the valleys which
run down to the fiords of Norway, where, as in Korea,
patches of cultivated ground are visible at the snow
68
KOREAN SCENERY
level. Here, in these beautiful valleys, perhaps a
thousand or fifteen hundred feet up the mountain
side, acres of golden crops will be growing in the
warm and happy seclusion of some sheltered hollow.
At the turn of the winding track, bordered by the
paddy-fields or acres of golden barley, oats, and
tobacco, lies a village. It is but a cluster of some
dozen straw-thatched hovels, dirty and unprepos-
sessing, but infinitely quaint and picturesque. The
walls of the houses are crumbling and stayed up
with beams and massive timbers; the latticed win-
dows are papered, the doorways low. A hole in
the wall serves the purposes of a chimney; a dog is
sleeping in the porch; a pig squeaks, secured with a
cord through the ears to a peg in the wall. Cocks
and hens are anywhere and everywhere, the family
latrine — an open trough, foul and nauseous, used
without disgust by all members of the family save
the older women-folk, stands upon the verandah.
Somewhere, near the outer limits of the small settle-
ment, an erection of poles and straw matting dis-
tinguishes the village cesspool, the contents of which
are spread over the fields in the proper season.
A glimpse into a house, as one rides through the
village, shows a man combing his long hair, a woman
beating her husband's clothes or ironing with a
bowl heated with charcoal; many naked children,
the progeny of child-wives, scarce out of their teens.
For the moment the village seems devoid of life.
As the clatter of the cavalcade resounds, a child,
feeding itself from a basin of rice, emerges from a
KOREA
window; a man tumbles to his feet yawning noisily.
Women, with infants hanging at their breasts or
bearing children strapped to their backs in dirty
clothes, the usual naked band of well-developed
breast and unwashed back showing, crowd into the
streets. All eye the newcomers with indifferent
curiosity, until we wish them a plenteous rain —
"May the rain come soon, good people." Then they
bend their heads respectfully at the salutation, and
instantly become bright and smiling. Winsome
children, muddy and naked, offer us flowers, and
bowls of water from the streams upon which their
elders have settled.
As the road threaded through the mountains,
long valleys, widely and richly cultivated, the yel-
low lustre of the golden crops blazing in the sun-
light, lay below. Granite peaks towered upwards,
their rugged faces scored by time and tempest,
their ragged outlines screened with firs and birch.
The still air was laden with the aromatic scent of
the pine-woods; the sky was clear and blue. In the
distance, snow-white clouds hung in diaphanous fes-
toons about a curve in the mountains. The rough
contour broke where the heights were bleakest and
most barren. A twist in the broad valley which
our road traversed limited the prospect, but the
direction lay beneath the shadows of those distant
peaks, and the perspective already compensated for
the precipitous climb.
Indeed, from a few li beyond Chyok-syong, a
magistracy of the fourth class, where the houses are
70
KOREAN SCENERY
roofed with thick slabs of slate supported by heavy
beams, where the streets are clean, and where road
and river alike make a detour^ the views by the
wayside became increasingly impressive. For mile
upon mile we saw no wayfarers. The villages were
widely distant; fertile valleys gave place to green-
black gorges, without cultivation, peaceful, grandly
beautiful, and uninhabitable. The perfect still-
ness and the wonderful magnificence of the pano-
rama held one spell-bound. There was no change
in the character of the scenery until, riding slowly
forward, the road dropped from the comfortable
shade of a mountain temple into the blazing sun-
shine of the plain. Pushing forward, the rice and
cornfields receded, giving place to the ranges, whose
lofty peaks, dressed with their mantling clouds,
had been already dimly discerned. Throughout the
journey of the next two days the road rose and fell,
winding in a steady gradient across the mountain
sides.
The march to Tong-ko-kai was laborious, and one
day, when within easy distance of the concession in
a tiny hamlet, the colour of the slate and granite
boulders, nestling among waving bushes, almost
unconscious of the outer world and hardly alive to
its own existence, an ideal spot in which to pitch the
evening camp was found. It was early in the after-
noon, but the road ahead looked rough and stony.
Our horses were fatigued, the ford had been trouble-
some, and we were wet, cold, and hungry. Within
the bush the shadows were deepening. No one
71
KOREA
knew the site of the next village nor the precise
direction in which we were moving, so we halted.
That night we snuggled down with our faces to the
cliffs. Our horses were tethered in a patch of corn,
and the kit, the servants, interpreters, and grooms
lay in one confused and hungry tangle round us.
Within sound of the deep roar of the river we slept
peacefully. Indeed, I am not certain that this one
hour when, invigorated by a swim in some moun-
tain pool, refreshed by a slight repast, we rocked in
our camp beds, smoking and chatting, looking into
the cool black depths of the canopy above us, was
not the best that the day held. There was some-
thing intensely restful in those long, silent watches.
The mighty stillness of the surrounding heights of
itself gave a repose, to which the night winds, the
murmurs of the running water, and our ow^n physical
fatigue insensibly added. It was pleasant to hear
the ponies eating; to watch the stars come out, the
moon rise; to listen to the bull-frog in the water
weeds and the echoes of the song of a peasant,
rising and falling among the peaks of the high
mountains, until, at length, all sounds had passed
away and the great world around us, above us, and
below, lay at peace.
72
CHAPTER VIII
MINING AND HUNTING
1% T ATURE has been active in these regions.
^ There is much limestone and slate forma-
-L ^ tion, some basaltic upheavals, lava boul-
ders, and chain upon chain of granite peaks. To
the west of Tong-ko-kai there is the crater of an
extinct volcano, but the lava strata in the vicinity
of the concession are almost completely eroded. The
basin of the concession is well watered, cultivated,
and populous in places. It is surrounded by ranges
three, four, and five thousand feet in height. Korea
is very mountainous in the north and hilly in the
south. The watershed between the Sea of Japan
and the Yellow Sea extends north and south, nearly
parallel to the east coast. In a sense this line of
mountain ranges is the backbone of the peninsula;
the eastern side of the main watershed is narrow and
abrupt, while the western is more extended and
contains low plains, favourable to agriculture. The
general altitude of the peaks varies between five and
six thousand feet. A few isolated points in the
extreme north are believed to be higher.
The principal mining districts are situated along
the courses of the main and the minor watersheds.
The famous mining districts of Kang-kyoi, Kap-san,
73
KOREA
and Tcli-cliang-chin, at present in the occupation
of native workmen, occur upon the plateau formed
by the junction of the range, which constitutes the
northern frontier of the province of Pyong-an, with
the main watershed of the country. The British
mines at Eun-san are situated in country pierced
by the north-western antilles of the main water-
shed. The position of the German mines bears a
similar relation to the great natural division of the
country, upon its eastern side. Many useful min-
erals are distributed over Korea — gold, silver,
lead, copper, iron, coal — but that which yields
the richest harvest is gold.
The presence of gold has been known from the
earliest times. Knochenhauer, a German geolo-
gist, has declared it to exist in every river in the
Kingdom. Hitherto, alluvial gold has been the
principal yield to native workers. The miners fol-
lowed the object of their search up the mountain
side until they struck veins and lodes, whence much
of the alluvial gold was derived. The chief aurif-
erous districts are in the northern half of the
country; in which sphere lie the American mine
at Un-san, the British mine at Eun-san, and the
German mine at Tong-ko-kai.
The original source of Korean gold may be found
'in the quartz vein, which, in the case of the American
mines, is alleged to give exceptionally rich returns.
The alluvial deposits, brought down from the veins
in the mountain-ridges, have been freely w^orked
by Koreans; and when more scientifically treated
74
MINING AND HUNTING
the yield is satisfactory. The schotter sediments,
in the case of the Tong-ko-kai mines, attained a
maximum of seventy-five feet in depth, a thickness
of sedimentary matter some fifty feet in excess of
the usual formation. The concession was granted
in 1898. Under it powers were given to a German
company to select a place twenty miles long and
thirteen miles wide, within two years from the date
of signing the contract, for the purpose of working
all minerals during a space of twenty-five years,
with an annual payment to the Korean Government
of twenty-five per cent, on the net profits. The
revenues received from these contracts belong to
the Imperial Household, passing directly into the
private purse of the Sovereign. In the case of the
English syndicate, the percentage was compounded
for a sum of $100,000 and an annual payment of a
further $10,000.
The site which the Germans selected for their
concession was, at the moment when they assumed
control over the areas, the centre of extensive allu-
vial workings. The native miners strongly objected
to the innovation, and prepared to resist the rights
of the German company by force. In the end,
however, their hostility was overcome by granting
them twelve months' additional occupation of the
works, and, when Herr Bauer assumed charge as
administrative engineer, opposition was already at
an end. The district is covered with the remains
of old workings in the schotter of the river-bed;
they are also to be found in a few places in the
75
KOREA
(luartz upon the mountain side. In the absence of
the requisite machinery, work upon the conces-
sion was necessarily disorganised. Eventually the
concession was abandoned, close investigation fail-
ing to disclose its possession of any very remu-
nerative quantities. At the time of its withdrawal,
the company employed nine Europeans, thirteen
Japanese and Chinese, and some three hundred
Koreans.
Korean mining is very elementary. The usual
methods are "placer" and "crushing" and a pro-
cess of treatment by fire. A vertical shaft is sunk,
with narrow steps cut into its sides, to the level of
the reef; the bottom of the shaft is then packed with
wood, which is ignited and kept burning for several
days. The heated rock becomes very friable and
yields readily to the crude implements of the miners.
There is great competition to secure the bottom
pitch in these shafts; the more intrepid rarely delay
their descent until the working has cooled. The
quartz is sometimes rubbed to powder and the gold
washed out, or it is crushed between huge boulders,
washed, re-crushed, and panned again. The gold
is then picked out. Until lately there were no places
where the gold was tested by other than the most
antiquated methods.
Such sanguine hopes have been raised as to the
results of the mining in Korea, that it would be as
well if the public accepted all statements in regard
to these investments with great caution. The
results of the development of the various mining
76
MINING AND HUNTING
concessions, now in progress, will be awaited with
much interest, and will, it is to be hoped, form a
reliable test of the mining possibilities of the coun-
try. The returns from the American mines encour-
age the belief that these possibilities have not been
over-estimated; but it has yet to be proved that
mining operations can be proiStably carried on with
Western methods and appliances. The deposits in
which gold is found in Korea are irregular, and by
no means continuous. To a Korean miner this is
of small importance. His outfit costs at the most a
few shillings, and his belongings are easily trans-
ported to any distance as circumstances demand.
A different order of things is essential to a successful
installation of Western machinery, and the public
require some proof that there is, within workable
distance, a sufficient quantity of ore to yield a fair
profit on their investments. This has yet to be
proved in the case of the British mine; in respect
of the German concession, the business resulted in a
fiasco. That these mining enterprises should be
successful is desirable in the interests of both natives
and foreigners. They afford steady employment at
a fair wage to thousands of Koreans, at least, part
of whose earnings is expended in the purchase o*
foreign goods. It is perhaps, however, not alto-
gether unfortunate that the Korean Government
is averse, at present, to grant further concessions.
During our halt at Tong-ko-kai, one day was
spent in climbing the mighty peaks to lofty
spots where, at a height of some thousands of feet,
77
KOREA
native prospectors were driving into the granite
facing of the mountain in an effort to strike the
main reef.
Another day was passed in a hunt across the crests
of the ranges after bear and deer. At daybreak,
a Httle after 4 a.m. upon the morning of this excur-
sion, Herr Bauer escorted us to a prospector's hut
in the damp recesses of a distant valley, where our
beaters, gun-carriers, and hunter-guides had been
ordered to rendezvous for a bear hunt. Alas! the
Korean cannot bestir himself! His late rising on
this occasion delayed our departure from the hut
two hours. The sun had risen when the expedition
moved off, a motley retinue of professional hunters
and beaters accompanying us to the gorge, wherein
lay the bear. Hunters and beaters attached them-
selves to each of us, and we proceeded across the
mountain, pursuing a narrow and broken track,
which cleft the bare summit of the highest ridges.
We climbed up and down and in and out of
many sheltered and well-timbered gorges, until the
hunters warned us that we were approaching our
stations.
The beaters disappeared, making a detour of some
li, to beat up the many crooked twists and turns
which the drive took. Hours passed while we,
hot, hungry, and athirst, lay hidden in the rank bush
awaiting a sight of the quarry. For the first hour
no sound broke the serenity of the valley; presently,
however, the cries of the beaters came to us, wafted
78
MINING AND HUNTING
from below, or floating lazily from the surrounding
heights. At first, only a distant moaning, like the
sobbing of a storm among the trees of a forest, broke
upon our ears. The strange sounds created much
restlessness among the wild wood-pigeons, the cooing
doves, and the cheery, chattering magpies. Red-
breasted storks rose with disdainful elegance from
the shallows of the trickling stream and soared
towards other pools. The mists of night rolled
away from the valley; the dew disappeared from the
matted undergrowth ; the sun mounted ; the day grew
warmer. The blood coursed through our veins as we
peered hither and thither, scanning the opposite face
of the valley with the keenest vigilance. The beaters
were ascending. The harsh cries of their raucous
voices broke upon the air. The air vibrated with
eerie noises; a spasmodic howling arose from the
depths of the valley, where an isolated beater lashed
himself into a fever of vociferous discord. Hoarse
shouts boomed above us, and echoed against the
crags of the gorge. On either side of us, the valley
resounded to the labours of the beaters, who, gain-
ing the extreme crests, had now descended, driving
everything before them. They approached rapidly,
joined by the native hunters, who had now taken up
positions upon the rocks which overlooked the place
where we were hiding. Our own moment had
arrived. Each man fingered his rifle, peering for-
ward as the concluding effort of the beaters burst
forth in a hurricane of clamour. We looked and
waited, until the conclusion was forced upon us
79
KOREA
that the bear had already long since broken through
the lines of his pursuers.
Hunting in general is considered a servile occupa-
tion by the Koreans, and the pursuit of the deer, the
bear, and the tiger is not a favourite sport among
the young bloods of the kingdom. Nobles, except
those who belong to a few impoverished families
in the extreme northern provinces, and who are
reduced to the pastime to supplement their resources,
never indulge in it. It is, nevertheless, free to all.
There are no game laws, no proscription of arms,
and few preserves. There is no interdicted season
in any part of the country. The one creature which
it is forbidden to destroy is the falcon, whose life is
protected by most stringent enactments. The hunt-
ing-grounds are almost solely confined to the moun-
tainous districts, and the hunters are a class apart
throughout the country. They shift their grounds
rapidly and constantly in search of game, living
at the expense of any village where they may tem-
porarily lodge in return for the protection from w^ild
animals which their prowess assures to the local
population. Their chief weapon is the flint-lock,
imported from Japan. The barrel is inlaid with
silver, and bound with thin silver bands or strips
of tin. This weapon is loaded with iron bullets,
similar in size to those contained in a seven-pound
shrapnel shell. The charge is ignited from a coil
of plaited straw-cord, which is kept alight during
the progress of the hunt. The stock is short and
light. When the gun is fired, the butt of this curi-
80
MINING AND HUNTING
ous and antique weapon rests against the cheek-
bone. The faces of many of the hunters, who
accompanied us, were scarred below the right eye.
Their dress is characteristic, and they are further
distinguished by their boldness, fearlessness, and
independent bearing. They adopt, as a uniform, a
blue canvas shirt, to which is added a blue or green
cotton turban, which is coiled twice through the
hair, the torn, frayed end hanging over the forehead.
Coloured beads are entwined in this head-dress,
and a necklace of similar beads encircles the throat.
Chains of seed-beans hang across the breast, to
which are fastened the many ingenious contrivances
of their calling. The hunters imitate the sounds of
various birds and animals very cleverly, particularly
those of a pheasant calling to his hen and a doe cry-
ing to her calves. The pheasant-call is made from
a disc of iron about the size of a sixpenny piece.
It resembles the stone of an apricot and is pierced.
The decoy used for deer is made from a split bamboo
stalk.
Bird-hunters never shoot their quarry upon the
wing. They disguise themselves in skins or feathers,
bringing down their game from some well-concealed
coign of vantage. Deer are hunted during June
and July. The hunters form into small parties, and
beat up the mountains for several days until their
prey is within gunshot. The horns are sold to
the native physicians, or exported to China and
Japan. When in pursuit of the bear, hunters
are more than usually careful to delay firing until
81
KOREA
the effect of their shot is certain. Good prices are
fetched by the various parts of a bear. In addition
to the proceeds from the pelt, the flesh, fat, sinews,
and gall of a bear, supposed to possess certain medic-
inal properties, sell for their weight in silver. The
one royal quadruped associated with Korea, as the
white elephant is with Siam, the dromedary with
Egypt, the bison with the United States, is the
tiger. Unlike the Indian species, that delights in
the tropical jungles, this animal is found in Korea
in the snow and forests of the north, and as far as
the fiftieth parallel. In the mind of the Korean,
the tiger is the symbol of fierceness, an emblem of
martial pomp and glory. The tiger hunters affect
to despise their noble game, and upon occasions they
even attack them single-handed with a lance or
short sword, assisted by trained dogs. Tigers are
sometimes caught in pits, covered with earth and
bushes, and filled with stakes. In this condition
it is easy to kill them. The hunters eat the meat,
selling the skin and bones.
Tiger hunters are exceptionally courageous. Their
services are requisitioned by their Government upon
occasion in the defence of the Empire. Armed with
matchlock, spear and sword, they defeated the
French, under Admiral Roze, in 1866, and heroically
resisted the advance of the Americans in 1871. In
1901 they were assembled to protect the northern
frontier from the incursions of Manchurian bandits.
82
CHAPTER IX
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
GAME abounds in the region between the
German mines and the Diamond Moun-
tains, and as we moved slowly forward to
the famous Monastery of Chang-an, many short
halts were made in search of birds and deer. Unfor-
tunately, the deer evaded us and it became impos-
sible to put up the pheasants out of the dense growth
in the bushes in which they found cover. We
had, however, some sport among the wood-pigeon.
Korean hunters accompanied us some little dis-
tance upon our journey, leaving our caravan when
our ways diverged. Beyond the Hai-yong River
their track lay to the west into the heart of the
mountains; our own continued north-east.
The hardships, experienced in travelling through
Korea, were exemplified by the diflSculties of our
progress. They were intensified, however, by our
ignorance of the precise trail, which it was neces-
sary to follow across the heights from Tong-ko-kai
to the mountain retreat of the pious monks. The
inhabitants of the village of To-chi-dol warned our
grooms of the dificulty of taking horses across the
Tan-bal-yang Pass, the one barrier, which remained
unsurmounted, between the outside world and the
83
KOREA
quiet repose of the first monastery in the Keum-
kang-san. Until we enforced our orders with sticks
the mampus were inclined to give up the enter-
prise. Their opposition was momentary; the transi-
tion from a somewhat angry mood into their usual
condition of unruffled composure and high spirits
was ■ instantaneous. With untiring energy and
patience they encouraged their diminutive ponies
to climb the boulders; to twist and wriggle between
the clumps of tangled bushes and masses of rock
which beset the path, and to scramble across the
steeps. We followed a dried-up water course at
the level of the valley, making the ascent gradually.
The climb was severe, and became so steep that the
pack-saddles slipped off the backs of the ponies.
It occupied our eight animals some four hours, test-
ing the endurance of pony and groom, alike the
product of the hills, stout of limb and strong of
wind.
The descent from the spirit shrine, in a gap on
the crest of the range, was less toilsome. The
grooms plaited ropes of green creepers, plucked
from the bush, and strung them round the packs.
Walking behind the ponies, they held to these cords,
thus supporting the animals and preventing the
loads and clumsy saddles from reversing the process
of the previous scramble. Nevertheless, our path
was littered with fragments of our baggage. The
contrivance was successful, however, and in the
main the little steeds picked their way with an easy
accuracy through the cool green woods. The moun-
84
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
tain side was fragrant with innumerable plants, the
bush a tangle of magnificent ferns, trees, and shrubs.
Oaks, hawthorn, chestnut, birch, and pines grew in
crowded splendour; the wild rose, the freckled lily,
and a purple orchid embroidered the moss. Beyond
the hollows of the hilly woodlands, the crumpled
backs of the jagged mountains reared themselves
skyward, their proud crests lost in the clouds, soar-
ing silently to a height of five thousand feet. Below
in the valley, a wall of granite mountains set up an
impenetrable barrier before a noisy river, which
until the advent of the rainy season becomes the
merest trickle of silver in a lone expanse of river-bed.
Our way led across the river-bed and thence into
the centre of the mountains, a journey of one more
day, to The Temple of Eternal Rest. After cross-
ing the Tan-bal-yang Pass we delayed, resting at
Kal-kan-i. Starting at daybreak, upon the next
morning we moved through the Kak-pi Pass, as the
sun touched the tops of the mountains, which shut
in the narrow valley, across which lay the last stage
of the journey. We were nearing the last home of
many distressed pilgrims. In a cleft among the
mountains the deep curved roofs of many temples
might be seen. The air was tremulous with the
pleasant jangling of bells, and from a wayside shrine
the sweet fumes of incense mingled with the scent
of the pines. The calm and seclusion of this spir-
itual retreat was in itself soothing; as one passed
beneath the red gate, that indicates royal patron-
age, the placid gentleness of the scene was an allure-
85
KOREA
merit to the consolation and protection offered by
this Buddhistic asylum.
There are thirty-four monasteries and monastic
shrines in the Keum-kang-san, and they are tended
by three hundred monks and sixty nuns. Chang-an
is the oldest, and has been in existence for some gen-
erations. In 515 A.D., during the reign of Po-
pheung, a king of Silla, it was restored by two
monks, Yul-sa and Chin-kyo. Other monasteries, akin
to this in their romantic setting and picturesque se-
clusion, are Pyo-un, which, together with Chang-an
is situated upon the western slopes, Yu-chom and
Sin-ga upon the eastern slopes. These, with thirty
others of less importance, excite the most profound
interest and enthusiasm among the Koreans, many of
whom repeatedly brave the difficulties and fatigues
of travel in the Diamond Mountains to visit them.
The four chief monasteries are served by one hun-
dred and seventy monks and thirty nuns. The
main temple of Chang-an is a large building, forty-
eight feet in height, of the type to which travellers
in the East soon become accustomed. The wooden
structure is rectangular, with two roofs, deep,
curved, and richly carved eaves, the heavy tiled
roofs being supported upon teak pillars three feet
in circumference. The diamond-cut panels of the
doors, which serve as windows, are ornamented
with gold, and the lofty ceiling is carved and wrought
in rich designs, lavishly gilded and highly coloured
in blue, red, green, and gold. Granite steps give
access to the temples; the main beams and supports
86
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
of the whole edifice resting upon huge circular
slabs of this stone.
On the inner walls of this building there are scenes
from the life of Gautama, the apostle of the Buddhis-
tic creed. A gilded image figures as the centre of
a golden group of seven past and future godheads,
incarnations of the One and sublime Sakya-muni,
whose future reappearance is anticipated by the
faithful. Brass incense-burners, candlesticks, and
a manuscript book of masses in Chinese and Korean
characters, resting upon a faded cover of soiled and
dusty brocade, furnish the front of the altar. Before
this high altar, wonderfully impressive and inspir-
ing in the dim religious light of the vast interior, a
priest spends certain hours of the day and night in
profound obeisance, intoning, chanting, and gabbling
monotonously and with constant genuflections, the
words Na-mu Ami Tabul. This expression is a
phonetic rendering of certain Thibetan w^ords, the
meaning of which the Abbot himself was unable to
explain; when transcribed in Chinese characters it
appears equally unintelligible.
Other temples in this particular monastery are
dedicated to The Abode of Virtue, The Four Sages,
and The Ten Judges. Within these edifices Sakya-
muni and his disciples sit in different attitudes of
ineffable abstraction, contemplating gruesome pic-
tures of demons, animals, and the torments awarded
in after-life to the wicked. Many of the buildings
of Chang-an have been restored within recent years.
The work has been completed long since, and the
87
KOREA
spacious courtyards are now well kept. The temples
are clean and spotless, the whole monastery bearing
witness to the care with which it is maintained.
Besides the more important temples, there are
many smaller shrines, set within some forest nook;
a stage for the more important religious observances,
bell and tablet houses, stables for the ponies of the
numerous visitors, a nunnery, and a refectory for
the Abbot and monks. There are, in addition, cells
for the priests and quarters for the servants. Accom-
modation is found for the widows, orphans, and the
destitute; for the lame, the halt, and the bhnd; for
the aged and forlorn, to whom the monks grant shel-
ter and protection. Besides the Abbot, there were
in the monastery some twenty other men, monks,
priests, and neophytes, and ten nuns of various
ages, ranging from girlhood to wrinkled wisdom.
The establishment derives its revenues from the
rent and proceeds of the Church lands, donations
from pilgrims and guests, occasional benefactions
from the wealthy, and the collections made by the
mendicant monks. These latter chant the litanies
of Buddha from house to house, and travel through-
out the Empire, finding food and lodging by the way-
side, to collect the scanty contributions which their
solicitations evoke. The four great monasteries are
presided over by a member of the community, who
is elected annually to the ofiice. Unless his conduct
gives rise to dissatisfaction, he is maintained in
authority, usually until his death, or transference to
some other centre of Buddhistic activity. The
88
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
practices and observances, in these monasteries of
the Diamond Mountains, conform to the principles
of the rehgion of Buddha, as nearly as do the
customs and manners of our own Church to the
varied tenets of Christianity throughout the world.
I confess myself sorely puzzled to discover any
substratum of truth in the charges of gross profli-
gacy and irreverence which the agent of an American
Missionary Society brings against the monasteries
of the Keum-kang-san. Personally, after spend-
ing many weeks in the calm seclusion of this
monastic region, I prefer to recall the kindliness of
the monks — their real Christian charity — to the
poor and afflicted, to the hungry and sore dis-
tressed, as to all who come to them in times of
misery and evil. If many of them learn the lit-
anies of their liturgy by heart, if they lack scholar-
ship, if they do not know the meaning of much upon
which they spend so many weary hours of their lives,
are not these slight things when w^eighed against
their profound humanity, their gentleness to every-
thing which breathes, their benevolence to the old
and destitute, their exceeding humility, their won-
derful toleration, the quietness and extreme sim-
plicity of their lives, and the humanitarian nature
of their interests?
The Monastery of Yu-chom is all peace and quie-
tude. It lies, shut off from all contact with the outer
world, within a deep, tree-clad valley of the eastern
ranges. It is self-contained, and its whole exist-
ence is wrapped up in the mysteries of that faith to
89
KOREA
whose services it is dedicated. There is no booming
torrent, such as that which vibrates and thunders
through the Chang-an-sa gorge; a subdued babble
alone rises from the water, which wells from some
rocks deep in the recesses of the prevailing bush.
Its appearance is strangely solemn, and it exerts
over the daily lives of the coterie of monks, assembled
within its walls, an influence that conduces to their
extreme asceticism. The atmosphere of repose and
seclusion, in which a soul distressed finds so much
comfort, broods over the whole community.
The most imposing of the thirty-four Buddhist
retreats within the Diamond Mountains is Yu-
chom-sa. It may be approached from the western
side of the Keum-kang-san by climbing the rocky
path of the Chang-an-sa gorge, and crossing the
watershed through the An-man-chai Pass, 4215 feet
in height. The descent is made by a rough and
picturesque track through deep woods to the clus-
ter of temples upon the eastern face of the range.
Another way, which, after a short detour from Chang-
an-sa, is an easier route, lies over the Pu-ti-chong
Pass, 3700 feet in height; after winding through
some miles of forest, it drops directly upon a track,
which leads to the gates of the monastery. Each
road starts from Chang-an-sa, and the crossing of
the mountains must be undertaken by all who wish
to visit the monasteries upon the eastern slopes.
The journey in either direction can be accomplished
within eight hours; the difficulties of the bed of
the Chang-an-sa torrent render this route impass-
90
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
able to horses, etc. Lightly-loaded ponies can be
taken across the Pu-ti-chong. The hire of coolies is
recommended and one Korean dollar for each man
is the tariff.
The temples of Yu-chom-sa are very similar to
those at Chang-an-sa. They are, however, more
numerous and more richly endowed. Before the
steps of the main temple there is a small granite
pagoda, whose graceful proportions give an element
of dignity to the spacious courtyard upon which
the principal temples of the monastery abut. The
altar of this temple is adorned by a singular piece
of wood-carving. Upon the roots of an upturned
tree sit or stand fifty-three diminutive figures of
Buddha. The monks tell an old-world legend of
this strange structure. Many centuries ago, fifty-
three priests, who had journeyed from India to
Korea to introduce the precepts of Buddha into this
ancient land, sat down by a well beneath a spread-
ing tree. Three dragons presently emerged from
the depths of the well and attacked the fifty-three,
calling to their aid the wind-dragon, who thereupon
uprooted the tree. As the fight proceeded, the
priests managed to place an image of Buddha upon
each root of the tree, converting the whole into an
altar, under whose influence the dragons were forced
back into their cavernous depths, when huge rocks
were piled into the well to shut them up. The
monks then founded the monastery, building the
main temple above the remains of the vanquished
dragons. Upon each side of the fantastic altar-
91
KOREA
piece there is a carved design of lotus leaves several
feet in width and height; at the feet of an immense
image of the divine Buddha, golden and bejewelled,
which graces the centre of the shrine, are several
magnificent bronze bowls of vast size, weight, and
antiquity. Blue and red silk-gauze draperies, serv-
ing the purpose of a screen, hang from the massive
beams in the roof.
The figures seen in Korean temples are reproduced
in Buddhist temples throughout Asia, the supreme
and central form being that of Sakya-muni or
Buddha. In the sculpture and artistic development
of this, the central figure of their pantheon, there is
little, if any, deviation from the conventional tra-
ditions of India, Siam, Thibet, and Mongolia. The
sage is crouching on his knees with the soles of his
feet turned upward to the face; the palms and fingers
of his hands pressed together; the eyes are slightly
oblique, and the lobes of the ears somewhat bul-
bous. The throne consists of the open calyx of a
lotus flower, the symbol of eternity. The splen-
dour of the figures in the Temple of the Tree of
Buddha is noticeable; and the lustre of the heavy
gilding gleams from about the altar into the dimness
and uncertain light of the vast chamber like the rays
of some spiritual fire. Devotional exercises never
cease in this House of the Ever-Supreme Lord, the
services and constant offering of prayer being taken
in turn by the officiating priests. At these moments,
when the lonely figure of the priest is seen pleading
with the Ever-Supreme Lord, in his most sacred
92
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
Temple and before his most sacred shrine, for the
grace of forgiveness, the scene is one of the most
extraordinary solemnity. As the chant rises and
falls in the great spaces of the hall and the swaying
figure rocks in the despair of his passionate self-
abandonment, the sympathies and emotions are
strangely stirred. The stages of the services are
marked by blows upon a bell which the priest holds
before him, the while he casts himself upon his
face and kneels before the resplendent Buddha.
The chief celebrations of the day and night in
Yu-chom-sa are accompanied by the booming of
the great bronze bell — an elaborate casting of the
fourteenth century — and by the beating of a large
circular drum many feet in circumference. Both
instruments stand in their own towers in the court-
yard. During the minor services, the genuflections
of the priests are accompanied by the jarring notes
of the small brass bells, which they strike repeatedly
with deer-horns. A magnificent figure of Buddha
sits in the Temple of the Lotus Blossom, in an atti-
tude of impassive benignity behind a screen of
glass, looking solemnly upon the devotions and pious
exercises of his faithful attendants. This altar is
recessed, the entire shrine being protected by plates
of glass, and the offerings of rice, which are presented
to the altar for benediction, stand without the screen.
Among other temples and shrines at Yu-chom-sa
there are the House of Everlasting Life, the Temple
of the Water Month, the Temple of People who
come from the West. There are fifty monks in
93
KOREA
Yu-chom-sa, twelve nuns, and eight boys who have
not yet been admitted to the order. Many of the
boys in these monasteries are quite young. Some
have been handed over by their parents in extreme
infancy, while others have been received out of the
wide charity of the Buddhists, and dedicated to
the service of the monasteries. These boys appear
intelligent. They are taught little beyond the
different chants and litanies, with the words of which
they soon become familiar. The boys are clean and
well fed; but the monks, if equally clean, are more
sparing in their diet. Their frugal repast consists
of rice and varieties of minced vegetables, cakes of
pine nuts glued together with honey, and other cakes
of popped rice and honey. The extreme richness
of the dishes soon palls upon the palate. While
managing to exist, signs of emaciation are notice-
able in their bodies and faces. Among the nuns
who are attracted to these different monasteries,
there are many who have entered the cloister from
religious motives, and a few who, alone in the world,
find it a convenient spot in which to pass their lives.
Neither class, however, encroaches upon the relig-
ious and devotional functions of the monks, but lives
entirely apart, existing altogether in a world of their
own making.
The forms of religion which prevail in Korea
to-day are Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shaman-
ism. Statements of ancient Chinese and Japanese
writers, and the early Jesuit missionaries, tend to
prove that the worship of spirits and demons has
94
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
been the basis of national belief since the earliest
times. The god of the hills is even now the most
popular deity. Worship of the spirits of heaven
and earth, of the invisible powers of the air, of nature,
of the morning star, of the guardian genii of the hills
and rivers, and of the soil and grain, has been so
long practised that, in spite of the influences of
Confucianism, and the many centuries in which
Buddhism has existed in the land, the actual wor-
ship of the great mass of the people has undergone
little material alteration. However widespread this
leaning of the lower classes towards demonolatry
may be, the philosophy of Confucius has been from
the fifteenth century the ofiicial and fashionable cult
in Korea. In its middle period, it attained to that
point when a religion, which at first was fostered
by the few and has spread gradually until it became
absorbed by the people, feels itself firmly established,
and emphasises its ascendency by the bigotry of
its assertions, its tolerance, and, crowning triumph
of all usurping tenets, by the virulence of its perse-
cution. Confucianism now overspreads the whole
peninsula. From the fourth to the fourteenth cen-
tury, when the religion of the Enlightened One pre-
vailed, it was studied and practised only by the
learned classes. Buddhism predominated through-
out the southern half of the peninsula, and only
partially leavened the northern division of the
Empire, where it was unable to combat the teachings
of Confucius. Throughout its development, how-
ever, Buddhism has exercised a potent influence in
95
KOREA
Korean affairs, which continued until the close of
the last dynasty. The power of the bonzes at
one time controlled the Court and nullified the
decrees of the monarch. During its pristine suprem-
acy it became the strongest and most formidable
factor in the education of the country. It wielded
unlimited and unrestricted power, while it guided
the political and social revolutions of the period.
Great respect is still shown to the tenets of Budd-
hism in Korea. New monasteries and temples are in
process of construction — the Buddhist priests of
Japan and Korea making common cause against the
activities of Western missionaries. All things con-
sidered, Buddhism has left such a mark upon the
history of the little kingdom that, although the
purely ethical character of the teachings of Con-
fucius be acknowledged, Korea must be classed
among the Buddhist countries of the earth.
96
CHAPTER X
ACROSS KOREA
THE peace, piety, and sublime earnestness of
the monks of the monasteries of Yu-chom
and Chang-an is in startling contrast to
the state of things at Shin-ki-sa. The magnificence
of Yu-chom-sa, and the charitable benevolence of
Chang-an-sa, engender a mood of sympathetic appre-
ciation and toleration towards those, whose lives
are dedicated to the service of Buddha, in these
isolated retreats of the Diamond Mountains. The
spectacle presented by the monastery at the north-
eastern base of the Keum-kang-san, however, reveals
the existence of certain evils which happily do not
disfigure the more important Buddhist centres in
this region. It is not time which alone has brought
about the disorder; nor would the material decay
be so lamentable if the dignity and charm of a pic-
turesque ruin were not lacking. The tone of the
monks here is totally different. Everything is
neglected, and every one is indifferent to the needs
of the temples. A litter of broken tiles lies about
the buildings; dirt and dust, the natural conse-
quences of carelessness and neglect, disgrace them
within. The spirit of reverence is wanting. The
scene is changed.
97
KOREA
Shin-ki is a small monastery. Perhaps its temples
have never been comparable with the shrines of
Yu-chom-sa in grace and beauty. Nothing, how-
ever, can excuse the disorder and neglect of its
courtyards, and the slovenliness of the temple
service. There seems to be nothing in common
between this and those other monasteries, which
rest within the heart of the ranges. One looks in
vain for the courtly dignity of the aged Abbot of
Yu-chom-sa, whose humanitarian spirit was so
impressive. The principles of consideration, polite-
ness, and devotion that govern his conduct are sadly
lacking in the Abbot, the priests, and monks attached
to Shin-ki-sa. The contrast is indeed great. The
most painful emotions are excited by the decline
which has taken place in the prosperity of the
temples. Anger and sorrow fill the soul. As one
gazes beyond the temples into the peace and beauty
of the valle}^ below, it is as if one were looking across
from a place of abomination into another and a
better world. The colourless skeleton of the past
alone remains, and one longs for the powder to restore
the fabric to its former self.
In its setting the monastery has caught something
of the spirit of nature. If there is any compensa-
ting element in its decadence, it is found in the wild
beauty of the rugged mountains, which tower above
it from across the valley. Beyond their granite
faces lie the trials and tribulations of the outer
world; once enclosed within their grey embrace the
little ironies of life disappear. The hours are cool
98
ACROSS KOREA
and undisturbed. Primeval forests adorn the deep
gullies of the ranges; a flood of colour comes from
the open spaces where wild flowers are growing
and the tints of the woodland foliage disclose an
endless variety of green. In the centre of a patch,
cleared of its undergrowth and approached by a
path winding through deep woods, is Mum-sa-am.
This retreat is given over to the twenty nuns who
are associated with Shin-ki-sa. I know nothing
of their lives, but from the state of their temples,
and the roughness and disorder of their surroundings,
it does not appear to me that they, any more than
the sixty priests, monks, and boys of the lower mon-
astery, find the tenets of Buddha very elevating,
or derive much satisfaction from the surrounding
scenery.
The history of our days in the more important
monasteries of the Diamond Mountains was unevent-
ful. The anxious care and solicitude of the monks
for the welfare of their guests was hourly mani-
fested, and some kindly attention was shown to us
at every possible opportunity. Cool and lofty
quarters were allotted for our entertainment; the
resources of the monastery were placed at our dis-
posal. The Abbot of Chang-an-sa prepared draughts
of honey-water and cakes of pine-seeds for our
refreshment. Every morning supplies of honey,
rice, and flour, and small bundles of fresh vegetables
were brought to the table; throughout the day
nothing was left undone, which, in the minds of
these simple men, would be conducive to our com-
99
KOREA
fort. A deep pool in the tumbling mountain-
stream was reserved for our use, and when, in the
fresh air of the morning, and again when the cool
winds of the evening had tempered the heat of the
day, we went to bathe, the Abbot, upon his own
initiative, arranged that we should be left in undis-
turbed possession of the water-hole.
The Temple, which we occupied during our stay
at Chang-an-sa, contained The Altar of the Three
Buddhas. The building was spacious and impres-
sive. A wide verandah surrounded it, teak pillars
supported a massive roof; scrolls and allegorical
pictures, illustrating incidents in the life of Buddha,
decorated the wall. Layers of oiled paper carpeted
the floor; an altar cloth of silk, richly embroidered,
small mats, bronze incense bowls and brass cande-
labra, embellished the altar, in the centre of which
was a large gilt image of the Three Buddhas. Every
evening at sunset, the monks who officiated in this
Temple placed bowls of rice, honey, and pine-seed
cakes upon the altar, and lighted the small lamps
and candles which illuminated it. Prayers were
not always said, nor were the services always the
same, the numbers of the monks varying nightly
according to the character of the special office.
When the services concluded, there were many who
found something to attract them in our small
encampment. They gathered round the kitchen;
they assisted the interpreter to cook, and tasted his
dishes. They handled with amazement the cook-
ing utensils of a camp-kitchen, the cutlery of a
100
ACROSS KOREA
traveller's table. Occasionally, as their increasing
familiarity brought about some small degree of
intimacy between us, the monks would display their
beads and alms-bowls for our inspection, requesting
our acceptance of copies of their books in return for
photographs of their temples. The intricacies of
a camera delighted them, the appearance of a sport-
ing rifle created consternation in their breasts, and
they were never tired of swinging in my camp-bed.
Before the camp at Chang-an-sa was shifted to
Yu-chom-sa, a fast friendship, engendered by many
kindly acts and the uninterrupted expression of a
thoughtful consideration for our needs, sprung up
between the monks and ourselves. They consulted
us about their ailments, which usually took the shape
of an acute attack of indigestion or a form of inter-
mittent dysentery. My medicines were limited to
some quinine pills, and a bottle of fruit salts; they
accepted either prescription with gratitude and
much melancholy philosophy. But although they
remained always the same well-disposed visitors to
our camp, I noted that they did not frequently
present themselves as candidates for treatment
again. When the moment came for our departure,
many small gifts were pressed upon us. For a long
time, too, it seemed as if it would be impossible
to obtain an account of our indebtedness to the
monastery. In the end the persuasion of the inter-
preter prevailed. When we added to the reckoning
a few dollars for the funds of the monastery, the
expressions of gratitude and appreciation, to which
101
KOREA
our little gift gave rise, made it almost possible to
believe that the kindness and hospitality shown
had been all on our side.
Our quarters at Yu-chom-sa were in no sense
inferior, and none the less delightful in their situa-
tion, to those which we left behind at Chang-an-sa.
The guest-house in Yu-chom-sa affords views of
the mountain torrent as it dashes through the boul-
der-strewn, tree-clad slopes of the valley. At Chang-
an-sa we camped beneath the protecting eaves of
the spacious verandah which surrounds the Temple
of The Three Buddhas, avoiding whenever possible
any general use of the sacred edifice. In the case
of Yu-chom-sa, this diffidence was unnecessary; the
building placed at our disposal being that usually
set aside for the requirements of those persons of
official position who might be visiting the monastery.
The apartments were clean, comfortable, and bright.
They were hung with tablets, upon which had been
inscribed the names and dignities of previous vis-
itors. High walls enclosed the buildings, and mas-
sive gates preserved the compound from unexpected
intrusion. The life in these encampments is one of
ideal peace and happiness. It was possible to w^ork
undisturbed and unprovoked by any harrowing
influences. Indeed, there w^as no suggestion of
any other existence. We lived in the seclusion of
a sanctuary, where mortal misgivings had not pene-
trated, and where the tribulations, which oppress
mankind, were unknown.
Beyond Shin-ki-sa, a journey of fifteen Zi, a well-
102
ACROSS KOREA
made road leads east north-east to the coast, which it
touches at Syong-chik. The sight and scent of the
sea, after the exhausting discomforts of Shin-ki-sa,
was pecuHarly welcome. Between Yu-chom-sa and
Shin-ki-sa the country is intersected with marshes
and rice-fields. The difficulties of marching through
these bogs and mud-holes greatly impeded the horses.
The road by the coast, if rough and stony in places,
is at least free from these obstacles, affording a
tortuous, but none the less pleasant, course. Wend-
ing across basaltic slopes, ascending their smooth
surfaces by a series of roughly-hewn steps, it drops
to a level of burnished sand. A sweep inland to
the west and south-west avoids the rugged spurs of
a neighbouring range. The sea licks the white sand
with gentle murmurs and the slight breeze scarcely
ripples the blue surface, the constant variations,
which the golden sands and glittering sea, the open
valleys and green hills present, adding to the charm
and freshness of the journey. The feeling of iso-
lation, inseparable from travel in regions where the
sense of freedom is shut out by a world of enclosing
mountains, is at once lost in contact with the ocean
and the ships that go down to it. Far out, in the
great expanse of the peaceful sea, were fishing-boats,
grey junks, hull down upon the horizon, their brown
sails bellying spasmodically in the fitful gusts of
the breeze. In the shallows off-shore men, brown
and naked, dragged for herring and sprat while
their children gathered crabs, diving after their
victims in the deep pools with screams of delight.
103
KOREA
Around the hovels, in all these clusters of small
villages by the waves, men slept in the blazing
sunshine. While their lords reposed, the women
mended the rents in the nets, or busied themselves
in constructing crude traps, with the aid of which
their husbands contrived to catch fish. The aspect
of these villages upon the beach was not inviting;
and they did not compare favourably with any of
the inland villages through which we had passed.
They were dirty, tumble-down, and untidy; the
appearance of the people suggested great personal
uncleanliness. The air was laden with the smell of
fish drying in the sun — of itself a pleasant perfume,
smacking of the salt of the sea — but here so mingled
with the odours of decaying offal, piles of rubbish,
and varieties of fish and seaweed in different stages
of decomposition that the condensed effluvium was
sickening. The people, however, were neither curious
nor unkindly; for the great part they were indif-
ferent, offering baskets of fresh eggs, fish, and chick-
ens readily for sale. The beach by these villages was
black with rows of fish, drying, upon the white sand,
in the most primitive fashion. The art of smoking
fish is unknown, and the careless manner in which
the curing is done proves that the treatment has
neither principle nor system. Dogs lay upon these
rows of fish, fowls fed undisturbed off them, and, in
many places, men slept peacefully with a number of
them heaped together, to serve as pillows for their
weary heads. Where such neglect prevails, it is
perhaps not unnatural that much of the disease
104
ACROSS KOREA
among the Koreans should be attributed to the
dried fish which they eat so greedily.
The trade in salted and sun-dried fish is extensive
and finds its way all over the kingdom; an overland
traffic of considerable importance exists with the
capital. Strings or stacks of dried fish are to be
seen in every village. Pack ponies, and coolies
laden with loads of dried fish, are met upon every
road in the kingdom. The pedestrian who "humps
his own swag" almost always carries a small stock
with him. The parallel industry to the business
of curing fish is the operation of making salt from
sea water, a pursuit which is conducted in a manner
equally rough and casual. In both of these indus-
tries there is a crying need for simple technical
instruction, as well as for capital, the lack of which
hinders the work from achieving any particular
success. There is so much fish in the sea along the
coast, that, if the catches were properly treated, the
beginning of a prosperous export trade could be
readily laid. At the present only a bare sufficiency
is secured, the days of prosperity not yet having
begun to dawn. The industry is completely para-
lysed by the exactions of the officials; the fishermen,
like the peasants, knowing only too well that an
immunity from the demands of the Yamen is found
only in a condition of extreme poverty.
Many fishing villages were passed through in
the journey from the Diamond Mountains. Each
seemed to reflect the other, the sole difference
between them lying in their size, the number of
105
KOREA
fishing-boats drawn up on the beach, the strength
and density of their smells. The poverty and
squalor of these hamlets was astonishing. The
people seemed without spirit, content to live an
idle, slatternly existence in sleeping, yawning, and
eating by turns. Despite offers of payment, it
was impossible to secure their services in a day's
fishing, although they generally admitted that the
boats, nets, and lines were not otherwise engaged.
As the outcome of this spirit of indifference among
the natives, Japanese fishermen are rapidly secur-
ing for themselves the fishing-grounds off the coast.
Unless these dreary, meditative, and dirty people
arouse themselves soon, the business of fishing in
their own waters will have passed altogether from
their hands. The Japanese catch fish at all sea-
sons; the Koreans at one only — w^hen it suits
them. They have consequently a diminishing influ-
ence in a trade so exceedingly profitable that some
ten thousand Japanese fishing-boats subsist by it.
The filthy condition of the villages renders any
stay in them perilous. It is wiser to camp beyond
them in the open. It was my misfortune to stay in
several, but in the village of WTia-ding, seventy -five
li from Won-san, the virulence and variety of insects
surpassed all my experience in Australia, America,
Africa, or Asia. Fleas w^ere everywhere; they floated
through the atmosphere, much as the north-west
winds of New Zealand and the hot w^inds of Africa
drive particles of fine sand through the air. In
this case, however, nothing remained without its
106
ACROSS KOREA
thin penetrating covering of fleas. One night in
Wha-ding stands out as the most awful of these
experiences. It was impossible to stand; it was
impossible to sit; sleep was out of the question.
We shook our clothes; we bathed and washed and
powdered. Every effort was a torture, and each
precaution increased the ironies of the situation.
To add to the plagues of this accursed place, we were
deafened by the ear-splitting incantations of a
sorcerer, who had been hired by the proprietor
of the village inn to exorcise a devil that had
bewitched him. We wondered, afterwards, whether
this accounted for the damnable activity among the
vermin. After a futile attempt to come to terms
with the magician by bribery and corruption through
the medium of my interpreter, it was arranged that
one of the grooms should represent the evil spirit.
He passed out into the desolation of the night and
howled plaintively, while we, having collected the
elders and the necromancer, solemnly fired our revol-
vers into the darkness at the departing spirit. Unfor-
tunately, we did not convince the wizard that the
devil had been expelled. It was not until, losing my
temper and my reason together, I dropped his gongs
and cymbals down a well, depositing him in it
after them, that we were rid of the agonies of this
additional nuisance.
107
CHAPTER XI
DROUGHT AND STARVATION
IT is diflScult for us to understand how far-
reaching may be the evils, resulting from the
complete failure of the rainfall, in countries
where the population relies upon it for their daily
bread. A brief mention, in the Press, of the lateness
of the monsoon gives no sign of the anxiety with
which many millions of people are regarding the
approaching harvest. Water means life to the rice-
fields, and a drought implies, not alone the failure
of a staple crop, but famine, with disorder and star-
vation, disease and death, as its accompaniments.
A drought in the rice-fields makes a holocaust of
the people in the winter. The forces of law and order
at the disposal of the Government of India place
some restraint upon the populace. In the Far East,
where the civil administration is incompetent to
deal with the exigencies of the situation, and the
systematic dispensation of relief is unknown, the
decimation of the population and the complete
upheaval of the social fabric follows closely upon
the break-down in nature. Indirectly, too, the
consequences of famine in India prove this.
An even more emphatic evidence of the effects of
a drought, where the population live upon the rice
108
DROUGHT AND STARVATION
crop, is afforded by the appalling loss of life and the
grave eruption of disorder, which took place in
Korea as the consequence of the famine in 1901.
Widespread ruin overtook the country; the inland
districts were thronged with mobs of desperate
people. Persons, normally peace-loving and law-
abiding, banded together to harass the country-side,
in the hope of extorting sufficient food to keep their
families and themselves from starvation. Hunger
drove whole communities from the villages to the
towns, where no provision for their welfare existed.
Anarchy prevailed throughout the country, the dire
needs of the population goading them to despera-
tion. A horde of beggars invaded the capital.
Deeds of violence made the streets of Seoul unsafe
after darkness fell, and bandits carried on their
depredations openly in the Metropolitan Province.
From a peaceful and happy land of sunshine
and repose, Korea was transformed, in a few
months, into a wilderness of misery, poverty, and
unrest.
The measures for relief were quite inadequate,
and although rice was imported, large numbers of
the people, lacking the money with which to buy
it, starved to death. The absence of an efficient
organisation in the face of this further disaster
increased the confusion. Before any arrangements
could be made for their relief, several thousands
had died. More than 20,000 destitute people were
discovered in Seoul, out of a population of rather
less than 200,000. Reports from the provincial
109
KOREA
centres disclosed a relapse into a state of absolute
savagery in many rural districts. Famine, pesti-
lence, and death stalked abroad in Korea for months,
and many, who escaped starvation, lost their lives
subsequently in the great wave of disease which
swept over the land.
It is impossible to believe that the famine would
have assumed its late proportions had the Govern-
ment of Korea maintained its embargo against the
exportation of cereals from the country. There can
be no doubt that the withdrawal of this prohibition
contributed to the scarceness of the food-stuffs which
were procurable by the people, when their straits
were most severe. Mortality returns from the
areas devastated by the famine prove that the wel-
fare of more than one million persons was affected.
The action of Japan, therefore, in insisting upon the
suspension of the prohibition in order that the inter-
ests of some half-dozen Japanese rice merchants
might not suffer, deserves the utmost condemnation.
The primary responsibility for this great loss of life
rests entirely with the Japanese Government. In
terrorising the Government of Korea into an act,
the consequences of which brought death to one
million people, the Japanese Government committed
themselves to a policy which traversed alike the
dictates of reason and common sense, and outraged
every principle of humanity. The impartial observer
must hold Korea guiltless in this matter. It is,
indeed, deplorable that the vehement opposition
of the Korean Government was not respected.
110
DROUGHT AND STARVATION
Nevertheless, the incident is valuable, as an illus-
tration of the objectionable attitude which at one
time distinguished the Government of Japan in its
relations with Korea.
At the beginning of the drought the inhabitants
of Seoul believed that the Rain God was incensed.
The Emperor and his Court offered expiatory sac-
rifices upon three occasions. As the rains were
still withheld a period of penance was proclaimed,
in which prayers and fastings were ordained, the
populace ceasing from every form of labour and
relapsing into a condition of supreme idleness.
Unhappily, while the great mass of the people
refrained from work, the Emperor continued to
employ many hundreds of labourers upon the con-
struction of the new Palace buildings. This pro-
ceeding was held by the superstitious subjects of
His Majesty to account for the singular inclemency
of the Rain Demon, and some anxiety was felt in
the capital lest the usual calm of the city should be
broken by riots. These horrors were spared to
Seoul, however, by the fortuitous visitation of a
passing shower. Men and women resumed their
toil, rejoicing in the belief that the evil influences
had been overcome. It was, however, but a brief
respite only that was granted. In a short time the
drought prevailed throughout the land, drying up
the rice-fields, scorching the pastures, and wither-
ing the crops. Under this baneful visitation, the
circumstances of the people became very straitened.
Hundreds were reduced to feeding on the wild roots
111
KOREA
and grass of the wayside, and isolated cases of
cannibalism were reported.
In a rice-growing country such as this is, it is
essential that an adequate supply of rain should fall
during the three summer months to allow of the
seed-rice being transplanted and to ensure the matur-
ing of the grain. In 1901, owing to the lack of water,
the bulk of the seed-rice was never transplanted at
all. It simply withered away.
It is, of course, inevitable that one of the immediate
results of famine should be a general increase of
mortality throughout the country. The impover-
ished condition, to which so many thousands of
Koreans were reduced, weakened their constitu-
tions so seriously that, in many cases, even those
who were fortunate enough to escape starvation
found their powers fatally impaired. There were
many whose inanition and general debility, result-
ing from their deprivations, had rendered them
peculiarly susceptible to disease. More particularly
was this the case in the inland districts.
Under normal conditions, malaria is, perhaps, the
most common disease in Korea. It prevails in all
parts of the country, but it is specifically localised in
sections where there are numerous rice-fields. Small-
pox is nearly always present, breaking out in epi-
demic form every few years. Nearly all adults,
and most children over ten years, will be found to
have had it. Leprosy is fairly prevalent in the
southern provinces, but it spreads very slowly.
While this disease presents all the characteristics
112
DROUGHT AND STARVATION
described in the text-books, the almost impercept-
ible increase, which distinguishes its existence in
Korea, is strong presumptive evidence that it is
non-infectious.
The great enemy of health is the tubercle bacillus.
The want of ventilation, the absence of sanitation,
and the smallness of the houses, foster this little
germ. Tubercular and joint diseases are common;
also fistula, hare-lip, diseases of the eye, throat, and
ear. The most common disease of the eye is cat-
aract; of the ear, suppuration of the middle drum,
in the great majority of cases the result of small-pox
in childhood. Cases of nasal polypi are also very
numerous. Hysteria is fairly common, while epi-
lepsy and paralysis are among other nervous dis-
orders which are encountered. Indigestion is almost
a national curse, the habit of eating rapidly large
quantities of boiled rice and raw fish promoting
this scourge. Toothache is less frequent than in
other countries; diphtheria and typhoid are very
rare, and scarlet fever scarcely exists. Typhus,
malarial remittent fever, and relapsing fever are not
uncommon. Venereal disease is about as general
as it used to be in England.
In short, there is a preponderance of diseases
which result from filthy habits, as also of those pro-
duced by the indifferent qualities of the food, and
the small and overcrowded houses. Most of the
diseases common to humanity present themselves
for treatment in Korea.
113
CHAPTER XII
THE MISSIONARY QUESTION
THE history of missionary enterprise in Korea
abounds in illustrations of the remarkable
manner in which French missionaries may be
relied upon to offer up their lives for their country.
It may be cynical to say so, yet there is much reason
to believe that the Roman Catholic priests in the
Far East of to-day are the agents provocateurs of
their Government. They promote anarchy and
outrage, even encompassing their own deaths, when-
ever the interests of their country demand it. From
the beginnings of Christianity in China they have
wooed the glory of martyrdom, and they have
repeated the process in Korea.
Christianity made its way into Korea about 1777,
by the chance arrival of a packet of translations in
Chinese of the works of the Jesuits in Pekin. From
this small beginning the ideas spread, until the
King's Preceptor was compelled to fulminate a
public document against this new belief. Finding
this insufficient, examples were made of prom-
inent enthusiasts. Many were tortured; and
others condemned to perpetual exile. Persecu-
tion continued until 1787; but the work of prose-
lytism proceeded, despite the injurious attentions
114
THE MISSIONARY QUESTION
which converts received from the public execu-
tioners.
The first attempt of a foreign missionary to enter
Korea was made in 1791. It was not until three
years later, however, that any Western evangelist
succeeded in evading the vigilance of the border
sentinels. WTiere one came others naturally fol-
lowed, undeterred by the violent deaths which so
many of these intrepid Christians had suffered.
While the French missionaries were prosecuting
their perilous labours, in the face of the undisguised
hostility of the great proportion of the people, and
losing their lives as the price of this work, the walls
of isolation which Korea had built around herself
w^ere gradually sapped. Ships from France, Russia,
and Great Britain touched her shores during their
explorations and trading ventures in the Yellow
Sea. Under the association of ideas which sprang
from the appearance of these strange ships, the
Koreans grew accustomed to the notion that their
world was not limited by the resources of their own
country and the more distant territories of China.
However, judging the sailors who fell into their hands
by the standards of the French priests, who had
set every law in the land at defiance, they at once
killed them. This practice continued until 1866,
when word reached the Admiral of a French squad-
ron at Tientsin of the slaughter of his compatriots
in Korea. Upon the receipt of the news, an expedi-
tion was prepared, of itself an early manifestation
of that policy by which the French Government is
115
KOREA
inspired in its dealings with missionaries and mis-
sionary questions in countries, the development of
whose geographical or industrial peculiarities may
be turned to advantage.
For many centuries the land was without
any accepted religious doctrine. Buddhism, which
existed for one thousand years before the present
dynasty came to the throne, had fallen into dis-
favour; the tenets of Confucius did not completely
satisfy the minds of the upper classes, and Shaman-
ism was the worship of the more primitive masses.
The moment was ripe for the introduction of a more
practical philosophy, and in time, as the gospel of
Christianity spread, opposition to the great creed
of humanitarianism lessened. Toleration of the
many phases of Western belief is now general, the
Korean finding in the profession of Christianity an
easy means of evading the exactions of the officials.
Nevertheless, the diffusion of Christianity is not
unattended wdth bloodshed and disaster. Apart
from this drawback to the propagation of Christian
beliefs in Korea, it may be doubted whether the
methods of the various missionary bodies bear the
impress of that spirit of charity which should illus-
trate their teaching. Without impugning the indi-
vidual attainments of any of the many missionary
groups who administer to the needs of the Koreans,
I find it difficult to affirm that the principles of self-
abnegation so manifest in the lives of the Roman
Catholic priests and the workers of the Church of
England Mission are equally in evidence in the
116
THE MISSIONARY QUESTION
comfortable existence which is led by the well-
paid attaches of the American Mission Boards. The
French priests live in abject poverty; striving to
identify themselves with the conditions of their flock,
they accept neither holiday nor reward as compen-
sation for their services. In this bare comparison of
the principles of ministration, I do not wish, at the
moment, to venture into the domain of controversy,
but merely to convey some impression of the com-
peting systems of procedure.
The Church of England Mission, which has become
known as the English Mission, under the direction
of Bishop Corfe has adopted a system of commu-
nism. The expenses of board, lodging, clothing,
laundry, and fuel are met from a common fund,
quarterly remitted from the Mission Treasurer to
the responsible head of each Mission House. In
proportion to the number of residents, the expendi-
ture is returnable upon a 'pro rata calculation of
about £70 per head per annum. This estimate
includes the cost of the male staff. The propor-
tionate rate of expenditure in respect of the lady
workers of the English Mission is one-third of this
annual disbursement less. The depots of the Mis-
sion are situated at Seoul, Chemulpo, Mok-po, and
Kang-wha; in addition to the stations in Korea, a
chaplaincy is maintained in New-chwang. The chief
centre of activity of this Mission is upon the island
of Kang-wha. The task of improving the con-
dition of the very poor, by means of education,
kindness, and patience, proceeds quietly at Che-
117
KOREA
mulpo and Seoul too, where particular attention is
given to the welfare of the sick. At one time, there
were important dispensary and hospital institutes
in these places; the medical establishment at
Chemulpo, however, is now abandoned.
The members of this Mission endure no little
privation in the primitive simplicity of their sur-
roundings. Their services, on the other hand,
display much unnecessary pomp; and the white,
full-skirted cassock with rough hempen girdle, which
they wear in public and private, emphasises their
ritualistic tendencies, and is, to my mind, somewhat
of an affectation. Nevertheless, in their daily prac-
tice, those associated with the Church of England
Mission in Korea set before themselves that standard
of idealism in missionary enterprise which is repre-
sented by the unnecessary sacrifices, the sublime
heroism, and fortitude distinguishing the priests of
the Roman Catholic Church, a standard, I am com-
pelled to admit, that other missions in the Far
East — American, English, Scotch, and Irish —
appear incapable of realising.
The American missionary in the Far East is a
curious creature. He represents a union of devices
which have made him a factor of considerable com-
mercial importance. American missionaries in Korea
were formerly closely associated with the more
important export houses in the leading industrial
centres of America. Owing to diplomatic represen-
tation this practical demonstration of Western
superiority is no longer openly indulged. In Seoul,
118
THE MISSIONARY QUESTION
however, an American missionary inconsiderately
receives paying guests, causing a manifest loss of
business to the Station Hotel; in Won-san, another
exploits his orchard. As a class they are neces-
sarily newspaper correspondents and professional
photographers ; upon rare occasions — and here
I refer especially to a small coterie of American
missionaries in Seoul — they are the scholarly
students of the history, manners, customs, and
language of the country in which they happen to
be placed.
The American missionary has a salary which
frequently exceeds £200 a year, and is invariably
pleasantly supplemented by additional allowances.
Houses and servants are provided free, or grants
are made for house rent; there is a provision for the
education of the children, and an annual capitation
payment is made for each child. As a class, Amer-
ican missionaries have large families, who live in
comparative idleness and luxury. In Korea, they
own the most attractive and commodious houses in
the foreign settlements, and appear to me to extract
from their surroundings the maximum of profit for
the minimum of labour. I do not know whether
it is with the permission of the executive officers
of the American Mission Boards that their repre-
sentatives combine commerce with their mission
to the heathen. When a missionary devotes no
little portion of his time to literary labours, to the
care of an insurance agency, to the needs of a fruit
farm, or to the manifold exigencies of casual com-
119
KOREA
merce, it seems to me that the interests of those
who sit in darkness must suffer.
American mission agents have made Korea their
pecuHar field. Converts, who prattle of Christian-
ity in a marked American accent, are among the
features of the capital in the twentieth century.
Mission centres, which have been created in a num-
ber of places, now show signs of prosperity. They
enlist no little practical sympathy and support from
the native population. The self-supporting char-
acter of much of the missionary work in Korea
bears out the spirit of toleration which distin-
guishes the attitude of the people towards the prop-
aganda. It is not to be supposed that the work of
the missionaries is agreeable to all shades of native
opinion. Riots and bloodshed disfigure the path
of proselytism, the credulity of the natives entailing
heavy sacrifices of life. The disturbances which
have thus marked the spread of Christianity in
Korea, notably in the anti-Christian rising in Quel-
part, a few years ago, are due to the jealousy with
which the heathen mass of the population regard
the protection from official capacity, enjoyed by
those who accept The Light.
In the case of Quelpart, this feeling of animosity,
and the immunity from taxation which the French
priests gave to their following, created an intoler-
able position. Anarchy swept over the island, and
some six hundred believers were summarily put to
death. Whatever may be the compensating advan-
tages of this martyrdom, the reckless and profligate
120
THE MISSIONARY QUESTION
sacrifice of life, which missionary indiscretion in the
Far East has promoted, is an outrage upon modern
civihsation. We have passed through one terrible
anti-Christian upheaval in China, and, if we wish to
avoid another such manifestation, it is necessary to
superintend all forms of missionary enterprise more
closely. This, however, can be done only by legis-
lative supervision, imposing restraint in the direction
which recent events have indicated. It is imper-
ative that certain measures should be adopted in
missionary work which will ensure the safety of
the individual zealot, and be agreeable to the general
comfort of the community. It is unfortunate, but
inevitable, that such reforms must be radical. The
violence of missionary enterprise during recent years
has been altogether unbridled. The great activity
of the different societies, resulting from their unre-
stricted liberty, has recoiled most fatally upon the
more indefatigable, as well as upon the heads of
many wholly innocent of any unwarrantable relig-
ious persecution. The time has come, therefore,
when vigorous restrictions should chasten this vig-
orous, polemical proselytism. The practice of scat-
tering missionaries broadcast over the interior of
these Far Eastern countries should not continue;
the assent of the local Consul and a representative
council of the Foreign Ministers should be required
in every case. Moreover, it would be wiser, if,
under no conceivable circumstances, single women
were permitted to proselytise beyond the carefully
prescribed treaty limits of the different settlements.
121
KOREA
Again, missionaries with families, as well as single
women, should not be allowed to live beyond the
areas of these neutral zones.
These restraints upon missionary labours will, of
course, be resented. If the total number of lives
which have been lost in Korea, China, and Japan, by
the interference of Western missionaries, were pub-
lished, their vast aggregate would reveal to the
unthinking masses of the public how urgent is the
need for strong action. Such restraint is morally
justifiable by the appalling massacres with which
the world is now familiar. The blind perseverance
of the missionary has frequently brought about the
simultaneous baptism and crucifixion of the convert.
What more does the fanatical enthusiast wish than
that some one should be thus doubly glorified by his
means .f^ The increasing death-roll among masters
and pupils supplies the only necessary argument
for immediate rectification of the entire system of
missionary enterprise.
m
CHAPTER XIII
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
TRAVELLING in the inland regions of Korea
is not the most comfortable pastime which
can be devised, although it has many attrac-
tions. The lively bustle of the roads gradually
gives place to the passing panorama of the scenery,
which presents in constant variation a landscape
of much natural beauty, with hills and meadows,
bush-clad mountains and rice-fields, rivers, lakes,
and raging torrents as prominent features. The
shifting camp soon leaves the outposts of civilisa-
tion behind. This slow passing into the wilderness
gives a subtle charm to the journey. Each turn of
the track emphasises the desolation of the ever-
changing scene. The wide expanse of plains and
valleys makes way for the depths of wild and gloomy
forests, where the ragged mountain-paths are slip-
pery and dangerous. The ozone of a new life per-
vades the air. There is no doubt that such moments
seem, for the time, the most perfect existence imag-
inable. Freedom is untrammelled by a care; the
world for the day is comprised within a space as
great as can be seen. Upon the morrow, its limita-
tion is only a little more remote. The birds of the
air, the beasts of the field, the game in the bushes,
123
KOREA
supply the provender of the camp. Villages pro-
vide rice, vegetables, and eggs, the hillside springs
give water, the rivers permit bathing. The air is
pure, and the whole aspect of life is beautiful and
joyous.
At the end of a trying day, one, perhaps, marred
by an accident to an animal, trouble with the native
servants, rain, fog, or the difficulties of the track,
there is the evening camp. Those hours of rest and
idleness, when the horses are fed and groomed,
packs unswung, the camp-beds slung beneath the
mosquito curtains, and the evening meal prepared
are full of a supreme sensation of contentment. I
have always loved these moments of peace, accept-
ing what they brought as the best that life held for
me at the time. At such an hour the refinements of
civilisation and the restrictions of convention seem
puerile enough. Moreover, there is much material
benefit to be derived from such an undertaking.
The trials and difficulties develop stability of charac-
ter; the risks and dangers promote resource and
self-reliance. There is much to be learnt from this
contact with a human nature differing so radically
from the prescribed types and patterns of the West-
ern standard. There is something new in every
phase of the experience. If it be only an impression,
such as I have endeavoured to trace in these few
lines, it is one which lingers in the mind long after
other memories have faded.
Preparation for an inland journey of any extent
takes a considerable time; ponies have to be hired,
124
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
servants engaged, and interpreters secured. It is
as well to personally examine the pack ponies which
are to carry the loads. Koreans treat their animals
shamefully, and the missionaries make no efforts
to lighten the lot of these unhappy beasts. In
consequence of the carelessness with which the ponies
are treated by their Korean masters, the poor little
brutes suffer from back-sores larger and more dread-
ful than anything I have seen in any other part of
the globe. If the Koreans could be taught the rudi-
ments of horse-mastering and a more humane prin-
ciple of loading and packing their rough saddles, as
well as some practical veterinary knowledge, the
lot of the unlucky little pony of the capital might
be softened. But the spectacle of broken knees,
raw necks, bleeding backs, and sore heels which
these poor animals present, as they pass in quick
succession along the streets of Seoul, is revolting.
The American missionaries boast so much of their
good deeds that it seems strange that they should
neglect such a crying evil as this. There is, I pre-
sume, no credit to be "gotten" from alleviating the
sufferings of a mere, broken-down, Korean pack
pony.
Large numbers of the pack ponies of Korea come
from Quelpart. They are diminutive in size, little
larger than the Shetland breed, and rather smaller
than the Welsh pony. They are usually stallions,
given to fighting and kicking amongst themselves,
and reputed savage. Their wildness is aggravated
through a daily irritation by the rough surfaces of
125
KOREA
their pack saddles of the inflamed swellings on their
backs. They endure longer marches and shorter
food allowances than almost any other species of
horse; they are quick in their gait, very strong and
willing, good feeders, and reveal extraordinary obsti-
nacy, tenacity, and patience. Much of the pleasure
in my travels in Korea, however, was entirely spoilt
by the abominable neglect with which the native
grooms treated their charges. Their dreadful con-
dition goaded one to fury, and almost daily I remon-
strated with one or other of the grooms for gross
cruelty. My remarks had not the smallest effect,
however, save that they wore me out, and in the
end I abandoned my expeditions to avoid the horrors
of such spectacles. The Korean is quite callous to
the sufferings of his animals. He will feed them
well, and he will willingly disturb himself at night to
prepare their food; but he will not allow ulcerated
and running wounds to interfere with the daily
work of the poor beasts. This is comprehensible;
but he will not, upon his own initiative, even endeav-
our to bridge the sore by the tricky placing of a pad.
However bad the gathering may be, on goes the load,
the agony of the poor pony manifesting itself in a
flourish of kicks, bites, and squeals.
In demonstration of this extreme callousness I
may mention this incident. Once, outside Won-
san, I saw a Korean seat himself upon the side of
a stone, and leisurely proceed to rain blows upon
the head of a dog which he was holding, until the
poor thing collapsed insensible. He then beat it
126
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
about the ribs, and put the body on the embers of
a fire. We were several hundred yards off when this
attracted my notice; but I chased the brute across
two paddy stretches, until the heavy going compelled
me to abandon it. At a later time I noticed that
the grooms were most careful to dress the backs of
the horses at our different halts, and also to endeav-
our to prevent the pack saddles from rubbing the
wounds, prompted, I have no doubt, to this most
desirable kindliness by the lesson which they had
read between the lines upon the occasion of the dog
incident.
The character of the native followers who accom-
pany these journeys is a matter of great importance
to the future welfare of the traveller. The propri-
etor of the Station Hotel, Seoul, secured me an excel-
lent boy. Shortly after entering my service, an
American missionary, who had been hankering after
the lad for some time before he was brought to me,
suborned him. He deserted me upon the eve of
my second expedition. This trick is seldom per-
petrated east of Suez between Europeans with native
servants; it is one of the few unwritten laws of the
East and observed everywhere. I reported the
matter to the American Minister, Dr. Allen, but
the missionary kept the boy. Servants, grooms, and
a coolie of a sort, are all necessary upon these expe-
ditions; one groom to each horse is a wise allowance.
Koreans like to send three horses to two men; how-
ever, my division is the better. Europeans require a
boy-servant, who will look after the personal effects
127
KOREA
of his master, and wait at table. An interpreter,
who can speak Chinese, and some European language,
either German, French, or English, is invaluable.
It is safer in each case to take men who are not con-
verts. A coolie is useful and gives a little variety
to the beasts of burden ; he carries the camera, water-
bottles, and small impedimenta of the hour. A
chef is not really necessary — my interpreter vol-
untarily served as cook. The interpreter in any
journey inland should be mounted; it saves consid-
erable friction if the personal servants be allowed
to ride on the baggage ponies. Interpreters receive
from thirty to forty dollars a month; personal ser-
vants from eight to twenty dollars a month; coolies
from eight to ten dollars a month. The hire for
the horses, with whom the grooms are included, is
a dollar a day, half the amount paid down in advance
upon the day of starting. All calculations are made
in Korean currency. The entire staff, except the
horses and grooms, is fed by the traveller. The
interpreter takes charge of the accounts. He will, if
ordered, take down the Chinese and Korean names
of the villages, streams, lakes, valleys, plains, moun-
tains, and roads which are passed. This is useful;
the map of Korea is most hopelessly out of date, and
by forwarding these names to the Geographical
Society some little good is accomplished. The inter-
preter will pay the coolies, grooms, and other ser-
vants in debased currency, and charge the account
in Mexican dollars, making a profit of seventy-five
per cent.; he is greedy and tenacious to the inter-
ims
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
ests of his pocket, and he will suggest that he requires
a servant. For this remark he should be flogged.
He will muddle his accounts whenever he can; he
will lose receipts if he can find no other way of squeez-
ing. He is apparently an innocent, transparently
honest, and devoted to the principles of sobriety
and virtue — unless there is an opportunity to go
the usual path. Under every condition he should
be watched.
The Korean does not approach the Chinaman as
a body-servant; he has neither the initiative nor the
capacity for the work, while he combines intemper-
ance, immorality, and laziness in varying degrees.
The master usually ends by waiting upon his man.
There is, however, an antidote to this state of things.
If suflScient point be put into the argument, and the
demonstration be further enforced by an occasional
kick, as circumstances may require, it is possible
to convert a first-class, sun-loving wastrel into a
willing, if unintelligent, servant. Under any condi-
tions, his dishonesty will be incorrigible.
It is never necessary to take any large stock of
provisions when travelling in Korea. Eggs, fowl,
fresh fish, fruit, matches, tobacco, vegetables, and
crushed rice flour can be procured at any village
in large quantities. The inhabitants will perhaps
declare that there are no such things in the village;
that they are miserably poor. The village usually
bears the stamp of its condition pretty plainly, and
I found that where this occurred the most effectual
remedy was to call up the oldest man visible, to
129
KOREA
offer him a cigarette, to calm him down, and then to
give the interpreter some money and to send off the
pair of them. Once this system failed in a flea-
infested hole on the west coast, where the village inn
had no stables, and I really thought there were no
fowls; of a sudden, as though satirising the expres-
sion of regret of several villagers, two fowls fluttered
over a wall into the road. The meeting broke up
in confusion. The grooms, the servants, and the
interpreter at once tackled the mob, laying about
them with their whips; little damage was done,
but considerable commotion ensued, and stables,
fowls, and eggs were at once forthcoming and as
promptly paid for. In regard to payments made to
the villagers, it is as well to make certain that the
grooms pay for the horses' accommodation; if they
can avoid it they will do so, and a memory of this
lingering in the mind of the inn-keeper makes him
shut his door when the next foreigner is passing.
But, in a general way, if everything is paid for,
anything is procurable — even crockery and char-
coal stoves, at a pinch, when the difficulties of the
precipitous track have played unusual havoc in the
china basket.
In the routine of the march, it is pleasant to camp
beyond the village for the noonday halt; near the
river, if the weather permits bathing. The food
can be prepared in the sunlight under some trees.
This picnic halt gives an agreeable change from the
native inn, over which the missionaries wail perpet-
ually; it is, indeed, always to be avoided. I was
130
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
several times in Korean inns, driven in by some
sudden and temporary downpour, which cut off my
retreat. The evening camp made me independent
of them in general; every evening the interpreter
found the cleanest-looking private house and bar-
gained with its proprietor to let two rooms for the
time of my visit. The arrangement was never
refused, nor was I ever subjected to rudeness or to
any insult upon these occasions. The family would
freely help my servants, and when the grooms had
removed themselves and their horses to the inn
stables, no one was disturbed. The boy prepared
breakfast in the morning. The space allotted to
us was always ample for my camp-bed, kit, and
mosquito curtains. It opened, as a rule, upon the
courtyard, around which the house is built. There
was plenty of air, as one side was open; the flooring
was of thick timbers, raised from the ground. If
the weather proved inclement the place afforded
warmth and shelter. Moreover, this system has
much to commend it on the score of cleanliness;
the price paid by me, half a dollar, for the rooms was
of course usually double the price which had been
arranged. Occasionally while travelling, when these
private houses were unprocurable, other makeshifts
had to be adopted, an open encampment or the
official quarters at the Yamen. This latter place
was inconvenient, and we always accepted anything
of a private nature rather than venture into the
Yamen or the inn. Many nights were passed upon
the verandahs of these houses, with a private room
131
KOREA
leading from it at the back, in case it became neces-
sary. Our beds were pitched as much in the open
as possible, the silent beauty of the night hours
quite justifying the measure. Many nights I
undressed upon the edge of the street, my camp-bed
pitched beneath a verandah, a peaceful and inoffen-
sive crowd of Koreans smoking and watching me
a few feet off. I would get into my sleeping-suit,
roll into my camp-bed, and close the mosquito cur-
tains, upon which the crowd would quietly disperse.
As publicity was unavoidable, and it was useless
to object, it was easier to accept the situation than
to struggle with the curiosity of the spectators.
It is always well to dispense with everything which
can be discarded. A camp-bed well off the ground,
and more strongly made than those of the usual
American pattern, is essential; a field-kit canvas
valise, the Wolseley pattern, containing a pocket at
either end, with a cork mattress, is also indispensable.
It will carry all personal effects. Flannel shirts,
towels, socks, and the like, including a book or
two, writing materials, mackintosh sheets, mosquito
curtains, and insect-powder are all which need to
be included. Fresh mint is useful against fleas if
thrown about near the sleeping things in little heaps.
It is an invaluable remedy and usually effective,
though, by the way, I found the fleas and bugs in
the houses of New York and Philadelphia infinitely
less amenable to such treatment than any I came
across in Korea during my stay there. A camera,
a colonial saddle, Zeiss glasses, a shot-gun, a sporting-
132
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
rifle, a revolver, a hunting-knife, and a large vulcan-
ite water-bottle are necessary A supply of sparklets
is to be recommended; these articles, with a coil
of rope, balls of string, jam, cocoa, tea, sugar,
alcohol, potted meats, tinned fruits, and biscuits,
enamelled ware eating and cooking things, with a
few toilet accessories, completed my materials. It
is good policy to take a small hamper of wines and
luxuries, in case the opportunity occurs of extending
hospitality to an ofRcial or some other travelling
European. They are very serviceable among the offi-
cials. Native tobacco is light, mild, and easily smok-
able. I carried a pouch of it invariably. Canvas
valises of the service type are better than any
kind of a box. With this arrangement there are
no corners or sharp edges to hurt the horses, and
as a load, too, they do not make such hard, unyield-
ing objects against the side of a horse as any
leather, tin, or wooden contrivance. My bed and
field-kit just balanced upon one pony; my provisions
and servants' baggage fitted another. There was
one spare pony. The interpreter and myself rode;
the servants were mounted upon the baggage ani-
mals, the coolie walked.
At one time, when I was travelling with a German
friend, our retinue was exceedingly numerous; we
each had our personal establishment and a com-
bined staff for the expedition. This, however, is not
quite the way to rough it. It was, moreover, com-
paratively expensive and a bother, inasmuch that
so large a cavalcade required no little managing.
133
KOREA
There was, however, something luxurious and enjoy-
able in that procession across Korea, although it
is not the plan to be adopted in general.
There was little further to be accomplished by
me in Korea. My journey overland had taken me
from Fusan to Seoul and again from Seoul to Won-
san, my examination of the inland and coast centres
of mining and industry was concluded: the beauties
of the Diamond Mountains, with their Buddhist
monasteries, had been studied. At the end of these
labours, I was weary and ill at ease; moreover, the
time was approaching when my long journey over-
land from Seoul, the ancient capital of Korea, to
Vladivostock, the seat of Russian authority upon
the Pacific coast, would have to be begun. The heat
in Seoul had been most oppressive, when one day
Mr. Gubbins, the British Minister, suggested a
short spell of rest and recuperation upon an island a
few miles up the Han River. Before nightfall,
my staff and I were floating, with the turn of the
tide, up the estuary of the river. Sea breezes blew
over the mighty expanse of the smoothly gliding
waters, and the burden of weariness which had been
depressing me, lightened under the influence of these
gusty winds and the freshening air from the harbour.
The change from the hot and stuffy surroundings of
the capital, where the crowds had ceased to be attract-
ive and domestic bothers, arising from the prepara-
tion for my Vladivostock journey, had begun to
jar upon the nerves, was most entrancing. When
the moon burst out from behind a blackened can-
134
TRAVELLING IN KOREA
opy of cloud, as we sailed easily against the rapid
current of the river, the rugged outline of the cliffs
across the waters proved the reality of the trans-
formation. During the small hours of the night I
lay awake, playing with the bubbles and froth of
the water in sweet contentment. I resolved to
dally for a few days upon the small islands in the
stream, halting in the heat of the sun and moving
forward at night or in the twilight, when sea-birds
could be killed for the pot and fish dragged from
their cool depths for the breakfast dish. How
delightful were the plunges into that swift current;
and how often they were taken in the cool shade
of some island backwater! Care and anxiety
dropped away in those days of idle frolic, giving the
mind, w^orn by the strain of many months of travel
and the hardship of two campaigns, opportunity
to recover its vigour. Then came some pleasant
weeks in the island monastery, where, from a Bud-
dhist haunt, perched high upon a lofty peak on
Kang-wha, mile upon mile of smiling scenery lay
open to inspection from my chamber window.
The salt water estuary of the Han is tempestu-
ous and deep, given over to much shipping and small
craft. The river itself does not begin for twenty
miles above the tide-water mouth, the intervening
stretch of water belonging more correctly to the sea.
Above Chemulpo, where the full force of the Han
current is hardly felt, the velocity of the stream is
quite five knots an hour. Where the breadth of
the river narrows the rapidity of the flow increases.
135
KOREA
At a point, where the river makes a sudden sweep
round some overhanging bluffs, which confront each
other from opposite banks, the heavy volume of
water thus tumbling down becomes a swirling, bois-
terous mill-race, as it twists and foams through its
tortuous channels into another tide-swollen reach.
The place of meeting between the sea and the river
current shows itself in a line of choppy w^ater, neither
rough nor smooth. The water is always bubbling
and always breaking at this point, in a manner
poetically suggestive of the spirits of the restless
deep. The Han River gives access to Seoul. In
the days before the railway, the choice of route to
the capital lay between spending a night aground
upon one of the many shifting sand-banks in the
river or the risks of a belated journey overland, with
pack ponies and the delights of a sand-bath in the
Little Sahara. There were many who found the
*'all land" way preferable to the "land and water
system," to which many groundings and much
wading reduced the experiment of travelling by
junk or steam-launch in those days. Now, however,
the iron horse rules the road.
136
CHAPTER XIV
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
KANG-WHA, the island to which I was sail-
ing in these easy stages, lies in the north-
east quarter of the gulf, formed by the
right angle which the coast makes before taking
that northerly sweep which carries it, with a curve,
to the mouth of the Yalu River. On the south and
south-west, Kang-wha is exposed to the open sea;
on the north, the island is separated from the main-
land by the Han estuary; and on the east a narrow
strait, scarce two hundred yards wide, through which
boats, journeying from Chemulpo to Seoul, must
travel, severs the island from the mainland.
The geographical features of the island include
four clearly defined ranges of mountains, with peaks
attaining an altitude of some two thousand feet.
Broad and fertile valleys, running from east to west,
separate these ranges, the agricultural industry of
the population being conducted in their open spaces.
The villages and farmsteads, in which the farming
population dwell, are folded away in little hollows
along the sides of the valleys, securing shelter and
protection from the severity of the winter. Many
hundred acres of the flats, which form the approaches
to these valleys from the coast, have been reclaimed
137
KOREA
from the sea during the last two centuries, the erec-
tion of sea dykes of considerable length and immense
strength having proceeded apace. But for these
heavy earthworks, what is now a flourishing agri-
cultural area would be nothing but a sea of mud
washed by every spring tide. The continuous
encroachment of the sea threatened at one time the
extinction of all the low-lying level land.
Kang-wha, with its curious monasteries and high
protecting battlements, now reduced to picturesque
decay, played a prominent part in the early history
of Korea. It has repelled invasion, and afforded
sanctuary to the Royal Family and the Government
in days of trouble; the boldness of its position has
made it the first outpost to be attacked and the most
important to be defended. Twice in the thirteenth
century the capital was removed to Kang-wha under
stress of foreign invasion. With the exception
of the terrible Japanese invasion under Hideyoshi
in 1592, and the Chino- Japanese War in 1894-95,
Kang-wha has felt the full force of nearly every
foreign expedition which has disturbed the peace
of the country during the past eight centuries,
notably those of the Mongols in the thirteenth, of the
Manchus in the seventeenth centuries, of the French
in 1866, and of the Americans in 1871. Further-
more, Kang-wha was the scene of the affair between
Koreans and Japanese which led to the conclusion
of the first treaty between Korea and Japan in 1876.
The actual signing of that instrument, the first of
the series which has thrown open Korea to the world,
138
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
took place in Kang-wha city. The predecessor of
the present Emperor of Korea was born in Kang-wha
in 1831, Hving in retirement in the capital city
until he was called to the throne in 1849. Upon
occasion, Kang-wha has been deemed a suitable
place of exile for dethroned monarchs, inconvenient
scions of Royalty, and disgraced Ministers.
At two points in the narrow strait upon the east
are ferries to carry passengers to the mainland.
Kang-song, where the stream makes an abrupt turn
between low cliffs, is the scene of the American
expedition of 1871; near the southern entrance of
the strait, and close to the ferry, are the forts which
repelled the American storming-party. The famous
rapids and whirlpool of Sondol-mok, whose evil
reputation is the terror of the coast, are close by.
There are numerous forts dotted round the coast
of the island, recalling the Martello towers of Great
Britain. They were not all erected at one time;
the majority of them date only from the close of the
seventeenth century, having been raised in the early
years of Suk-chong. The rampart upon the eastern
shore, which frowns down upon the straits and river
below, was erected in 1253. Ko-chong, of the Ko-
ryo dynasty, fled before the Mongol invasion of
that date, removing his Court and capital from
Song-do to Kang-wha. Kak-kot-chi, where there
is a second ferry, is a few miles beyond Kang-song.
At the point where the ferry plies, the hill of Mun-su
rises twelve hundred feet high from the water's
edge. From a junk a short distance from the shore
139
KOREA
it appears to block the straits, so closely do the cliffs
of Kang-wha gather to the mainland. This little
place became the headquarters of the French expe-
ditionary force in 1866.
The capital of the island, Kang-wha city, is a
battlemented citadel, with walls fifteen li in circum-
ference, and four pavilioned city gates. It is a
garrison town, beautiful in its combination of green
vistas and ancient, crumbling walls. The Chino-
Japanese War, so fatal to many of the old institu-
tions of Korea, diminished the ancient glory of
Kang-wha. For two hundred and sixty years prior
to this campaign, Kang-wha ranked with Song-do,
Kang-chyu, Syu-won, and Chyon-chyon as one of
the 0-to, or Five Citadels, upon which the safety
of the Empire depended. It controlled a garrison
of ten thousand troops; the various ofl5cials num-
bered nearly one thousand. The change in the des-
tiny of the kingdom brought a turn in the fortunes
of the island, and it is now administered by an official
of little importance. It is still, however, the seat of
government for a widely scattered region, and the
centre of trade and industry for some thirty thou-
sand people. Agriculture is the staple industry;
stone-quarrying and mat-making are other means
by which the population exists. At the water-side
there are salt-pans; a certain amount of fishing,
a little pottery-making, smelting, the weaving of
coarse linen, to which work the wives of the farmers
devote themselves, complete the occupation of the
inhabitants. One pursuit, horse-breeding, for which
140
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
Kang-wha was once famous, is now completely
abandoned.
There are nine monasteries under the government
of the island. Seven are situated upon the island;
the chief of these is the fortified monastery of Chung-
deung, the Temple of Histories, the sometime pil-
lar of defence of the Kingdom, thirty li south of
Kang-wha, famous as the scene of the reverse suf-
fered by the French troops in 1866. Mun-su-sa,
standing upon the mainland opposite, is included
in this little colony of Buddhistic retreats, as is
another, upon the island of Ma-eum-to, called Po-
mun-sa, famous for the wildness of its scenery and
for a natural rock temple in the side of the hill
upon which it stands. The monks of Chung-
deung-sa enjoyed military rank until quite recently.
They were regarded as soldiers in times of national
distress; they received Government allowances, food,
and arms, in order to maintain them in a state of
eflSciency. Buddhism has lost much of its hold
upon the islanders, although it existed before 1266.
There is a branch of the English Mission (Seoul) in
Kang-wha, under the administration of the Rev.
Mark Napier Trollope, whose notes upon this island
were presented in a paper which their author read
before the local branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
during my stay in Korea. They materially assisted
me to collect the interesting data from which these
few paragraphs have been compiled.
I stayed five weeks in Kang-wha monastery.
Having gone there for a week at the outside, I found
141
KOREA
the quiet and solitude of the spot such a sanctuary
from trouble, and such a calm to the nerves,
that I was loath to abandon it. After a few days in
the cramped confinement of the native junk which
had conveyed me from Chemulpo, delaying much
en route, it was pleasant to stretch my limbs again
upon the shore. Landing one morning at daybreak,
I fell upon the unsuspecting guardian of the English
Mission, Father Trollope, and moved off at a later
hour in the day across country to the monastery.
The monks were not at all disturbed by my intru-
sion. Although strangers are not such frequent
visitors to this monastery as to those in the Dia-
mond Mountains, their presence excites no comment,
and they are allowed to go their way with that
kindly indifference to their existence which is, under
the circumstances, the height of courtesy. The
Chief Abbot was informed of my arrival, and,
after a little explanation, ordered a very airy build-
ing to be prepared for my reception. It was well
raised from the ground, and, situated just below the
main courtyard, afforded a magnificent view of
the entire domain. In the distance I could see the
farm-lands of the island and the sparkle of the sun-
light upon the water; more within the picture, and
quite near to my new home, were two wells, a run-
ning stream, and a stretch of mountain slopes, cool,
fragrant, and overgrown with scrub and bush.
Temples revealed themselves in a sea of foliage,
through which the drifting breezes played soft music.
At one end of this Hall of Entertainment were placed
142
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
the cooking and eating paraphernalia, in the middle
my camp-bed, and, overlooking the landscape, an
improvised writing table with my books and papers.
There was no element of unrest in the setting of
my little camp. Every morning the Chief Abbot
welcomed me to the glories of another day; in the
evening we, through the medium of my interpreter,
talked together upon an amazing variety of sub-
jects — Buddha and Christ, this world and the next,
Paris, London, America. Duties in the monastery
would prevent these new friends from coming on
certain nights; but they always forewarned me of
their absence, never disturbing me at my work,
never taking me by surprise. The sense of consid-
eration and courtesy which their kindly hospital-
ity displayed was manifested in countless ways.
The small return which it was possible to make quite
shamed me before them. Frequently, at midnight,
when my lights were burning, the Abbot w^ould
walk across from his own apartments and force me
to bed with many smiles and much gentle pressure,
covering my manuscript with his hands and nodding
towards my camp-bed. There was no screen to
the front of my building, so it was always possible
for them to observe the stranger within their gates.
This inspection was most quietly carried on; indeed,
if I turned to the open courtyard, those who,
perhaps, had been noting the structure of my
camp-bed, or the contents of my valise, hanging
to air upon a stout rope, flitted away like ghosts.
I was left, as I wished, in peaceful contempla-
143
KOREA
tion of my work and the splendour of the scenery
around me.
Catering arrangements were quite simple during
my stay in this monastery. Rice and eggs and fowls
were procurable from the villages beyond the walls
of the temple, and rice-flour or vegetables could be
procured from the butterman of the monastery.
It was my plan to take breakfast about ten o'clock in
the morning, and to dine about six o'clock in the
evening. Between these hours was my time for
writing, and I was always fully occupied. Before
breakfast I walked abroad or prepared my notes
of the work for the day; after dinner I received my
callers, arranging anything of interest in my notes
when they were gone. Usually I witnessed the
midnight gathering of the monks, listening, wuth
pleasure, to the booming of the great bell of the
monastery and the accompanying peals of smaller
bells of less melodious volume and much shriller tone.
The vibration in the air, as these wonderful noises
broke upon it, filled the high woods with melody
and the deep valleys with haunted strains as of
spirit-music. After the midnight mass, when the
echoes had died away, the delight of the moment
was supreme. In utter weariness and most abso-
lute contentment I stretched myself to slumber
beneath the protecting draperies of the mosquito
curtains, within the vaulted spaciousness of my Hall
of Entertainment.
Visitors to Chung-deung-sa were frequent during
my stay, some attracted by the reported presence
144
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
of a foreigner, others by their very genuine wish to
sacrifice to the All-Blessed-One. Two Korean ladies
of position arrived in the course of one morning to
plead for the intercession of Buddha in their burden
of domestic misery and unhappiness. Presenting the
Korean equivalent for ten shillings to the funds
of the monastery, they arranged with the Abbot for
the celebration of a nocturnal mass in the Temple
of the Great Heroes. During the afternoon the
priests prepared the temple in which the celebration
was to be held; elaborate screens of Korean pictorial
design were carried into the temple from the cells
of the Chief Abbot; large quantities of the finest
rice were boiled. High, conical piles of sweetmeats
and sacrificial cakes were placed in large copper
dishes before the main altar, where the three figures
of Buddha sat in their usual attitude of divine medi-
tation. In front of each figure stood a carved,
gilded tablet, twelve inches high, exactly opposite
to which the food was placed, with bowls of burning
incense at intervals between the dishes. Lighted
candles, in long sticks, were placed at either end of
the altar; above it, in the centre, serving as a lamp
and hanging from a long gilded chain, was suspended
a bowl of white jade, in which lay the smoking end
of a lighted wick. Numerous side altars were sim-
ilarly decorated. The furniture of the temple com-
prised a big drum, a heavy, cracked bell, cast in the
thirteenth century, and a pair of cymbals. There
were five monks; the two women sat, mute, upon
the left of the Abbot. The four priests arranged
145
KOREA
themselves upon the right — one to the bell, one
to the drum, and two to the pair of cymbals, in the
playing of which they took turns. Upon each side of
the temple, recessed right and left of the main altar,
were mural representations of the Ten Judges.
Save for the altar illuminations, the effect of which
was to render the interior even gloomier and more
eerie than usual, the building w^as in darkness.
The service began with the customary calling for
Buddha. The Abbot tapped upon a bamboo cane;
every one leant forward, their faces pressed down,
and their foreheads resting upon the floor. The
palms of their hands were extended beyond their
heads in an attitude of reverence and humility.
This prostration was accompanied by the intoning
of a Thibetan chant, to the accompaniment of a
brass gong, struck with a horn handle by the Abbot
himself. Further prostrations followed upon the
part of the entire assemblage, the women joining
in this part of the service. For the most part they
squatted silently and reverently in their corner
of the temple. As the different services concluded
the Abbot shifted the offerings before the main
altar to their appointed stations before the smaller
shrines, when the prayers proceeded afresh. Pro-
tracted overtures were made to the pictures of the
Ten Judges, before which the service apparently
became fully choral. One priest danced amazing
grotesque steps, strangely reminiscent of a Kaffir and
war-dance, the sole of one foot striking the floor
to the accompaniment of a clash of cymbals as the
146
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
other leapt into the air. Another priest played
upon the cracked bell, and a third kept up a dull,
monotonous thumping on the drum. The sole idea
of the priests, as conveyed to my mind by their
celebration, seemed to be the breaking up of the
solemn silence of the night by the most amazing
medley of noises. At intervals, in the course of the
unmusical colloquy between the drums, the cymbals,
and the big bell, the monks chanted their dirges,
which were, in turn, punctuated by the dislocated
tapping of the Abbot's brass bell and wooden
knocker.
It was deafening, the most penetrating discord of
which I have ever been the unfortunate auditor.
With the conclusion of the exercises upon the cym-
bals, which were beaten together in a wide, circular
sweep of the arms, then tossed aloft, caught, and
clanged together after the fashion of the South
African native with his spear and shield, the perform-
ing priest returned to the companion who relieved
him. His more immediate activities over, he stood
aside laughing and talking with his colleagues in
a voice which quite drowned the chants in which his
companions were engaged. Then, panting with his
late exertions, he proceeded to fan himself with the
most perfect unconcern, finally examining the hem
of his jacket for lice; his search repaying him, he
returned to his seat upon the floor and lifted up
his voice with the others. After the sacrifices and
prayers had been offered before the main altar and
those upon the right and left, extra tables of fruit,
147
KOREA
apples, dates, nuts, cakes, and incense, together
with the previous dishes of rice, cakes, incense, and
bread, were spread before a small shrine placed in
front of the screen. Rice was piled into a bowl,
and, while the other monks were laughing and chat-
tering among themselves in the temple itself dur-
ing the progress of the sacrifice, the two women
approached the shrine and made obeisance three
times, then touching each dish with their fingers,
bowed again and retired to their corner. At the
same time three priests, breaking from the group
that were talking by the doors of the building, sat
down in the centre of the temple upon their praying-
mats, seven or eight feet from the shrine. While
one chanted Korean prayers from a roll of paper,
another struck and rang the brass bell repeatedly,
and the third hammered the gong. Throughout
this part of the service the others chatted volubly,
until they, too, joined in a chorus and paean of
thanksgiving, breaking off from that to chant, in
low, suppressed tones, a not unimpressive litany.
Repetitions of the services I have described con-
tinued all night. Sometimes there was more noise,
sometimes less, occasionally there was none, the
tired, quavering voices of the sleepy priests tremu-
lously chanting the requisite number of litanies. The
women, who sat with wide-opened eyes, watched with
interest and were satisfied. The priests seemed
bored. Personally I was tired, dazed, and stunned
by the uproar. During the progress of this strange
service, I was struck by the utter absence of that
148
RESTING IN KANG-WHA
devotional fervour which was so characteristic of
the priests in the principal monasteries of the Dia-
mond Mountains.
The ceremony presently shifted from the Temple
of the Great Heroes to the spacious courtyard in
front of it. Here, when numerous fires had been
lighted, the Abbot and three priests, together with
the two Korean women, moved in procession.
Their march was accompanied by the striking of
many gongs and bells. The monks offered praj-ers
round heaps of pine branches, which had been thrown
together and lighted at the different spots. Chants
and prayers were repeated, and the same clashing
of instruments went on as before. It was not until
a heavy rain descended that the worshippers returned
to the seclusion of the temple. I felt, somehow,
quite grateful to that shower of rain. In the morning,
my interpreter told me that this progress in the
courtyard formed a part of services which accom-
panied the offering of special prayers for rain. It
would be a curious coincidence if this were so.
Next day, at the hour of my breakfast, there was
some desire to continue the celebration. My head
was still aching with the jarring discord of the bells,
gongs, and cymbals of the previous entertainment,
and at the sight of the preparations my appetite
vanished. Breakfast became impossible; I relin-
quished it to pray for peace. Happily this bless-
ing was granted me; and it was decided to hold
no further service — the rain, I presume, having
appeared — and to devour the sacrifices. All that
149
KOREA
day the monks and their two guests ate the offerings.
It was therefore a day of undisturbed quiet, and as
my prayer also had been granted, each was satis-
fied, and we were a happy family.
150
A SCAMPER THROUGH KOREA
By Major Herbert H. Austin
CHAPTER XV
THE SORROWS OF A COVETED KINGDOM
FROM the remotest times Korea has been
subjected to the invasion of the foreigner,
the most terrible of those earhest recorded
consisting of a series of incursions by the Chinese,
which ultimately resulted about a.d. 700 in the
greater part of Korea being conquered, and submit-
ting to the suzerainty of China.
Korea was also invaded by Japan, according to
Japanese tradition, about a.d. 202, when the Amazon
Empress Jingu subdued the King of Shinra of the
south-eastern part of the peninsula, and on the
strength of this legend the Japanese claim to a suze-
rainty over Korea was not oflBcially relinquished
until 1876. In course of time this led to hostility
between China and Japan, and in the seventh cen-
tury Japan assisted one of the small Korean states
against China unsuccessfully. In the thirteenth
century China and Korea were forced to aid the
famous Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan when that
monarch set out with a great armada to invade
Japan, which met with precisely the same fate as
that despatched by King Philip of Spain against
England. In revenge for China's participation in
this expedition, for some three centuries Japanese
153
KOREA
pirates infested the coast of China. No place was
safe from their daring raids, and the losses inflicted
on the Chinese and their property during this period
were immense.
These were, however, the efforts of private adven-
turers, but towards the close of the fifteenth century
the Emperor Hideyoshi, who had risen from a lowly
state to the first position in Japan, began to formulate
gigantic schemes for the conquest of China. He
proposed to the King of Korea a joint invasion of
China, and this suggestion being rejected he decided
to subdue Korea first as a stepping-stone to the
greater project. With this object he is said to have
landed 150,000 men near Fusan, furnished w^ith a
goodly supply of firearms. The success of the enter-
prise was rapid, and in eighteen days the capital,
Seoul, had fallen into the hands of the Japanese,
for the Koreans were quite unprepared for w^ar.
Their King fled into Liao-tung to implore the assist-
ance of China; but three weeks later the Japanese
had captured Ping-yang, the fall of this ancient
capital of the kingdom spreading terror throughout
Korea. Beyond this point the Japanese w^ere unable
to advance without the co-operation of their fleet
lying at Fusan. It was ordered to sail round the
western coast to the river Ta-tong to render assist-
ance, but was attacked with great vigour by Korean
seamen, and forced to return. A small army sent
by the Chinese from Liao-tung, in answer to the
appeals of the Korean King, was routed, and China
entered into negotiations w^ith Japan in order to
154
A COVETED KINGDOM
gain time. A larger army was meanwhile collected,
and advancing on Ping-yang compelled the Japanese
to retreat. Following up their success, the Chinese,
supported by ill-armed Korean peasants, attacked
the Japanese at Seoul, but were repulsed after a
sanguinary battle, and fell back on Ping-yang.
The Japanese, tired of the war and hard pressed
for food, again consented to listen to terms of
peace, and pending the discussion, evacuated Seoul
and retired to the coast. Negotiations, however,
fell through, and a second invasion of Korea was
planned; but this time the Koreans were prepared,
and although the Japanese gained victories and occu-
pied the capital, want of supplies compelled them
to retire to the coast near Japan, and during this
march south they sacked and burnt all the towns.
On reaching Urusan they took up a position to ward
off the attacks of an immense army of avenging
Chinese and Koreans, by which they were followed,
and were besieged throughout the whole winter,
-undergoing fearful hardships from lack of food,
water, and the rigours of the climate. When almost
reduced by famine they were relieved by an army
marching to their succour from Fusan, which defeated
the besiegers after a desperate struggle. On the
death of Hideyoshi, this war, which had lasted for
six years, from 1592 to 1598, and the only practical
result of which was the retention of Fusan by the
Japanese, came to an end.
After their terrible experiences of Japanese inva-
sions, the Koreans adopted every means to prevent
155
KOREA
foreigners entering their country in the future; but,
to avoid conflict with China and Japan, sent tribute
to Pekin and Yedo, or Tokio. Early in the seven-
teenth century they were forced by two invasions
to transfer their allegiance to the Manchus, who
were then threatening the dynasty of the Ming, and
shortly after became rulers of the Chinese Empire.
Korea now enjoyed immunity from foreign wars for
over two centuries, but within her borders became
split up into factions, which destroyed all tran-
quillity at home.
Although China and Japan had in the meanwhile
been opened to the commerce of the world, Korea
still retained an attitude of splendid isolation,
which gained for her the title of the "Hermit
Kingdom." At the end of the eighteenth century
Christianity had been introduced into the peninsula
through the conversion of some Koreans in Pekin;
but when at a later date some French missionaries
entered the country in disguise, and their missions
flourished, violent persecutions of the Christians
were commenced. Unable to obtain redress on
behalf of her proteges from the Chinese Govern-
ment, the French decided to coerce the Koreans
themselves in 1866 by despatching a force to that
country. At first they w^ere successful, defeating
the Koreans in several engagements; but on meeting
with a slight repulse in the attack on a fortified
monastery, the Admiral in command of the expedi-
tion ordered a retreat.
Attempts were also made to establish commercial
156
A COVETED KINGDOM
relations with Korea by France, Russia, England,
and America, but with ill-success. In 1871 America
endeavoured to open out Korea to trade, as she had
done in the case of Japan some eighteen years before,
by fitting out an expedition; but effected nothing
beyond capturing some five forts, and then retiring,
as the French had done.
In 1864 the Ni Dynasty had come to an end by
the sudden death of the King, and after a series of
intrigues the recently deposed King, then a boy,
was elected Emperor under the regency of his father,
who was strongly opposed to all foreign encroach-
ments. Japan had meanwhile — since the visit of
the American fleet in 1853 — broken entirely away
from her former traditions of isolation, and as the
result of an extraordinary revolution the Shogunate
fell, the Emperor was restored to absolute power,
and Japan herself began to follow Western methods.
She shortly after sent an invitation to Korea to
acknowledge her ancient suzerainty — a suggestion
that was insolently refused; but Japan was not yet
strong enough to go to war for the insult received,
so waited her time.
In 1877 China annexed the strip of country, some
forty miles in width, that had served for many years
as a neutral zone between her territory and that
of Korea, and which had remained uncultivated
and become the haunt of bandits, whom she had
cleared out in 1875 by sending troops across the
border, and a gunboat up the Ya-lu to destroy their
strongholds. China's frontier now extended to the
157
KOREA
Ya-lu, and became conterminous with that of Korea.
Towards the end of the same year, 1875, a party
of Japanese sailors landing for water had been fired
on by Koreans, and some thirty of them took repri-
sals by storming a fort and killing its defenders.
Japan decided to adopt strong measures in retalia-
tion for this outrage, and sent a naval expedition
to obtain redress, after securing China's neutrality.
Impressed by a display of its strength, the Koreans
agreed, on February 27, 1876, to sign a treaty open-
ing Fusan to Japanese trade. The lead given by
Japan was soon followed by other nations, and within
the next few years most of the European states had
also concluded treaties with Korea, and additional
ports were opened to trade. But the resources of
the country proved poor, and little trade passed
through the hands of Europeans. The Chinese and
Japanese, however, each retained their hold on
Korea, the former supporting Conservative methods,
whilst the latter encouraged a Progressive party
which had arisen, and which wished to introduce
into Korea foreign customs and learning.
This position of affairs was brought to a head in
1882 by the ex-Regent intriguing to drive the Jap-
anese out by violence. A Japanese oflficer, engaged
to drill Korean troops, and seven others were mur-
dered, whilst the Japanese Legation was sacked,
and the Minister and his guard of tw^enty-eight
Japanese were obliged to fight their way from Seoul
to the sea, where they were rescued by a British
gunboat.
158
A COVETED KINGDOM
The Chinese on this occasion assisted the Japanese
in obtaining redress for the outrage, and, after the
requisite satisfaction had been obtained by the
latter, captured the ex-Regent, and transported him
to China where he was detained for several years.
Two years later, however, a fresh outbreak occurred
and again the Japanese Legation was burnt and the
Japanese compelled to fight their way to the sea,
attacked this time by Chinese troops under Yuan-
shi-kai, as well as the Korean mob. Korea was once
more forced to apologise, to pay an indemnity, to
punish the murderers of a Japanese officer, and to
rebuild the Legation at her own expense. China
was dealt with separately. Both China and Japan
had sent naval and military forces to Korea to pro-
tect their interests, but collision was avoided, and
Li-hung-chang and Count Ito were deputed to rep-
resent their respective Governments in the negotia-
tions which followed. The Tientsin Convention,
signed in 1885, stipulated that both countries should
withdraw troops from Korea; that no more officers
from either country should be sent to drill the Korean
troops; and that if at any time either country should
find it necessary to despatch troops there, the other
should be informed. Peace was now secured in
Korea for the next nine years.
About the middle of the nineteenth century a
religious sect, known as the Tong-haks, had arisen,
which in course of time attracted many adherents,
who nurtured grievances against the Government
on account of their originator being executed during
159
KOREA
the persecutions of the Roman CathoHcs in 1865.
Some twenty-eight years later they demanded from
the King that their martyred leader should be declared
innocent, and accorded posthumous rank, and threat-
ened to drive out all the foreigners from the country
if their demand was not granted. Dissatisfied with
the result of their mission, they arose in rebellion,
which soon assumed most alarming proportions.
The Government forces despatched to suppress the
movement were defeated, and in their consternation
the Korean Government, in June, 1894, appealed to
China for assistance. In response, China sent a
small force of about 2,000 men to Asan, and the
moral effect of this landing, combined with some
small success by the Korean troops, checked the
progress of the rebellion for the time.
The Japanese Government had been informed that
the force was being sent from China, and at once
resolved to send troops also. Accordingly, men-of-
war were despatched to Chemulpo to escort the
Japanese Minister, Mr. Otori, from Japan to the
capital. He was accompanied from the coast to
Seoul by 400 marines as a preliminary measure,
whilst Japan prepared to send far larger forces,
which shortly followed, to protect her interests.
The presence of both Chinese and Japanese troops
in the country naturally produced a difficult situa-
tion, for whilst China continued to assert her suze-
rainty over Korea, Japan refused to acknowledge it.
Matters were still further complicated by Japan
proposing that reforms should be instituted for the
160
o ^
o ^
A COVETED KINGDOM
future better government of the country, and asking
China to assist her in enforcing them. China, not
wishing to interfere in the internal affairs of the
peninsula, refused to join in such measures; but
the Japanese were masters of the capital, whereas
the Chinese had only a small force in the country
at the coast, and Mr. Otori insisted that the reforms
should be carried out. A very grave situation arose,
as neither China nor Japan would yield and pros-
pects of peace became almost hopeless. Yuan-shi-
kai, the Chinese Minister at Seoul, returned to China
on July 19, and the following day Mr. Otori deliv-
ered an ultimatum to the Korean Government,
demanding that the Japanese reforms should be
accepted unconditionally within three days, and
that the Chinese troops should be ordered to with-
draw. On July 22 the Korean Government replied
that the Chinese troops had come at their request,
and would not leave until asked to do so.
Thereupon the Japanese decided to attack the
King's Palace next morning, and, after a short
engagement, drove out the Korean troops and cap-
tured the King. This accomplished, they proceeded
to remodel the Government, and placed the ex-
Regent, the persecutor of Christians, the hater of
foreigners, and the intriguer confined in China for
years because suspected of having instituted the
attack on the Japanese in 1882, in a position of
authority. He, however, soon resigned.
Meanwhile China and Japan both prepared to
reinforce their troops in Korea, and to enter upon
161
KOREA
the war which proved so disastrous for the former,
and revealed for the first time to the world the power
of the latter, who gained for herself a position amongst
the great civilised nations. To follow the course of
this struggle in detail is naturally beyond the scope
of this book. Both on sea and land Japan quickly
demonstrated her great superiority, and soon forced
her huge unwieldy opponent to sue for peace. It is
of interest to note, however the close similarity
between the Japanese strategy of this campaign
and that of the greater one ten years later when
opposed to a European Power.
Actual hostilities broke out some days before the
formal declaration of war (on August 1) by a naval
fight at Phung Island, on July 25, between three
Japanese and two Chinese ships, in which the latter
were rapidly disabled, and a transport carrying
1,200 Chinese was sunk. The Chinese troops already
in Korea were further routed, on July 29, in the
neighbourhood of Asan, but some 1,500 fugitives
managed to make their way north by devious routes
to Ping-yang.
On August 10 Admiral Ito, w^ith a fleet of twenty
Japanese war- vessels, made demonstrations before
Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei, the two naval ports
of China, in order to cover the movement of Japanese
transports conveying troops into Korea by way of
Chemulpo, Gensan, and Fusan. The Chinese armies
of the three Manchurian provinces were meanwhile
being marched south to Ping-yang and the Ya-lu,
near the mouth of which was the chief landing-place
162
A COVETED KINGDOM
for their troops which were being transported by
sea.
The next event of importance was the capture of
Ping-yang, a walled city, occupying a naturally
strong position on the Tatong River, which was held
by 13,000 Chinese, and had been greatly strength-
ened by fortifications erected in the neighbourhood.
Against this position the Japanese advanced from the
south with a total force of about 14,000 men under
command of Lieutenant-General Nodzu, and captured
it on September 15 with a loss of a little over 600 men,
whilst the Chinese, during their disorderly flight, are
said to have lost 1,500 n killed alone. This battle
practically ended the Korean part of the campaign,
for the Chinese retired north beyond the Ya-lu.
During a naval battle off Hai-yang Island on the
17th, the Chinese were heavily defeated, losing four
of their vessels, or nearly a third of their fighting-
force, whereas the Japanese lost none. This naval
victory contributed largely to the success of subse-
quent Japanese operations, as it placed the command
of the sea in their hands.
The troops about Ping-yang, consisting of the
3rd and 5th Divisions, were formed into the Japanese
First Army, under command of Marshal Yamagata,
and reached Wi-chu about October 20. A Second
Army, consisting of a division and a brigade, was
also formed under Marshal Oyama, and successfully
landed some thirty miles east of Pi-tzu-wo, on the
Manchurian coast, on October 24, and twelve sub-
sequent days. About the same time the First Army
163
KOREA
forced the passage of the Ya-lu exactly as they did
some ten years later, when opposed by Russian
troops, by demonstrating before Antung and cross-
ing and attacking about Chiu-lien-cheng. But the
battle in this instance only lasted four hours, the
Japanese loss being under 150 men in killed and
wounded, whilst about 500 Chinese who fell were
buried; and many guns, rifles, and large quantities
of ammunition became the spoil of the victors on
October 26. Feng-huang-cheng was occupied on
the 30th, and the Chinese army appears to have
dispersed. The 3rd Division further captured Ta-
ku-shan and Hsiu-yen, whilst the 5th reached the
neighbourhood of the Motien Ling.
The Second Army drove the Chinese out of Chin-
chou on November 5 and 6; and the Ta-lien-wan
forts, though modern and heavily armed, were
abandoned by the garrisons, who fired a few^ shots
and fled. The spoils captured were enormous,
including nearly 2,500,000 rounds of ammunition
for the guns, and nearly 34,000,000 rounds for small
arms, besides 129 guns, food, horses, etc.
The advance was now continued on Port Arthur,
which was reputed to be held by 13,000 Chinese,
strongly fortified, and armed with modern guns.
This formidable fortress fell in a single day — Novem-
ber 21 — with a loss to the Japanese of about 18
killed and 250 wounded! It is said that the docks,
machinery, and other spoils captured here repre-
sented a value of over six millions sterling; and their
defence had been despicable.
164
A COVETED KINGDOM
Towards the end of November the 5th Division
of the First Army were engaged about the Motien
Ling; and the Chinese Amur Army was defeated
before Feng-huang-cheng, and its persistent efforts
to recapture that place successfully repulsed. In
the meantime the 3rd Division, pushing forward
from Hsiu-yen, brushed aside Chinese forces opposed
to it, and captured Hai-cheng on December 13, and
here it successfully maintained itself in face of
Chinese armies located about Liao-yang, New-
chwang, and Ying-kou, which made several futile
attempts to drive the Japanese back.
After the fall of Port Arthur, the Japanese Second
Army appear to have rested on their laurels for
some weeks, and it was not until the end of Decem-
ber that any effort was made to co-operate with the
First Army by advancing north. Then Major-
General Nogi, with a mixed brigade of some 8,000
men, moved forward on Kai-ping, before which
place he arrived on January 9. The town was held
by some 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese, who occupied a
strong position on the north bank of the river; but
after three hours' fighting on the 10th the town fell
into the hands of the Japanese at a cost of a little
over 300 killed and wounded. Communications
between the two portions of the First and Second
Armies were now established, and a defensive line
taken up for a time.
Turning to operations in the south, the 2nd Divi-
sion had been sent out from Japan to join the Second
Army, and, leaving one brigade to guard Port Arthur
165
KOREA
and Ta-lien-wan, Marshal Oyama sailed from the
latter place on January 19 with one division and one
brigade, in fifty transports, to seize Wei-hai-wei.
The campaign proved short and decisive: the first
troops landed on January 20, and by February 16
the Japanese were in possession of the forts and ships.
Towards the middle of February the Chinese again
became active in the north, and made several feeble
attempts to recapture Hai-cheng before the Japanese
again assumed the offensive. The Japanese blows
were rapid, and the Chinese armies were dispersed,
and New-chwang and Ying-kou captured early in
March. These successes practically terminated the
war, as China was entirely at the mercy of the Jap-
anese, of whom some 100,000 troops were assembled
on Chinese soil, and ready to administer the coup
de grace. Li-hung-chang was now entrusted with the
mission to treat with Japan for peace, and reached
Shimonoseki on March 19. Negotiations were de-
layed for a time by an attempt on the part of a
Japanese fanatic to shoot him on the 24th, whereby
the aged statesman was wounded. Happily, he
soon recovered, and on April 17, 1895, the Treaty
of Shimonoseki was signed between China and
Japan. By the terms of the Treaty, China agreed
to recognise the complete independence of Korea;
to cede to Japan the island of Formosa, the Pesca-
dores group of islands, the Liao-tung Peninsula, and
other territory; and to pay an indemnity of over
$125,000,000.
A coalition formed by Russia, France, and Ger-
166
A COVETED KINGDOM
many, however, now stepped in, and advised Japan
to relinquish her claims on the Liao-tung Peninsula,
to which she consented; and, as subsequent history
showed, Russia was not slow to avail herself of this
concession, for three years later she concluded a
convention with China, by which Port Arthur and
Ta-lien-wan, and the adjacent waters, were leased
to her for twenty -five years.
But before that the Octopus of the north had been
stretching out her tentacles towards Korea. That
distressful country was soon after this war overrun
by undesirable emigrants from Japan, who created
a bad impression by their aggressive attitude, and
caused further friction between the two races. A
strong anti-Japanese party existed in Korea, headed
by the Queen, who soon became so powerful, and by
her political sagacity so frequently checkmated their
schemes for reform, that it was decided she should
be made away with. She was barbarously assas-
sinated on October 8, 1895, in her own palace, and
the King's father, the ex-Regent, practically assumed
the reins of government, whilst the King remained
virtually a prisoner.
Early in 1896 the guard of the Russian Minister
at Seoul had been largely increased, and much excite-
ment was caused throughout the country by the
escape of the King and Crown Prince from the
palace, and their taking refuge in the Russian Lega-
tion. From here the King issued a proclamation
calling on his subjects to protect him and avenge
the death of the Queen. Several of the Ministers
167
KOREA
were murdered; the Japanese lost their influence,
and for the moment the Russians were supreme.
Later, in answer to appeals from his people, the
King left the shelter of the Russian Legation, and,
assuming the title of Emperor, occupied a palace
in the heart of the city.
The Japanese accepted the situation, and entered
ato an arrangement with the Russians whereby
they agreed to retain only three companies of infantry
in the country to protect the Fusan-Seoul telegraph-
line, while companies not exceeding 200 men each
were to guard the Japanese settlements, two being
stationed at Seoul, one at Fusan, and another at
Gensan. Forces of similar strength were to be
maintained by Russia for the protection of her
Legation and consulates.
A monopoly was soon obtained by a Russian
merchant for the right of cutting timber on the
Ya-lu and Tumen rivers for a period of twenty -five
years; a Russo-Korean bank was formed, and Rus-
sian subjects began to purchase land, and received
mining and other concessions, and a Russian lan-
guage school was started by the Korean Govern-
ment. When, however, Russia attempted to depose
the Englishman who had for some time most ably
controlled the Korean Customs and Treasury, by
substituting a Russian in his place, the British fleet
appeared in Chemulpo, and the Russians gave way
on this point.
Early in 1898, as previously stated, Russia ob-
tained the lease of Port Arthur from the Chinese,
168
A COVETED KINGDOM
and entered into a fresh treaty with Japan regarding
Korea. Both Powers definitely recognised the inde-
pendence of Korea, and pledged themselves mutually
to abstain from all direct interference in the internal
afiFairs of that country. They further agreed to
take no measures regarding the appointment of
military instructors or provincial advisers, without
previous mutual understanding; and Russia also
consented not to hinder the development of com-
mercial and industrial relations between Japan and
Korea.
For some years Korea enjoyed comparative pros-
perity, and there were undoubted signs of progress.
Many foreigners were doing business in the country,
more schools were started, electric tramways were
introduced; the army was supplied with modern
weapons, and drilled on modern lines; native news-
papers flourished; and Korea entered the Postal
Union. Christianity also about this time appears
to have made great headway among the people, and
a number of the better educated and foreign-trained
Koreans were clearly desirous of genuine reform.
The struggle between Japan and Russia for pre-
dominance in Korea, still continued, however, and
claims and counter-claims were put forward by each
in turn, so that it soon became quite apparent that
Russia had no intention of adhering to her agree-
ment with Japan. Her aggressions had hitherto
been chiefly limited to Manchuria, but, taking
advantage of the timber concession granted to one
of her subjects, she proceeded to occupy Yong-am-po,
169
KOREA
in Korean territory — at the mouth of the Ya-lu —
with her troops, and to build up a Russian station
there.
With a footing once obtained in Korea, this
menace, if unchecked, meant the gradual absorp-
tion of the whole of that country under Russian
rule, and sounded the knell of the Japanese Empire
if successfully accomplished. The peninsula, as will
be seen, is thrust out in a southerly direction from
Manchuria for a distance of over 400 miles towards
Japan, from the mouth of the Ya-lu to Fusan in a
direct line. At its south-eastern extremity it is
separated from the coast of Japan by a narrow
channel barely 100 miles in width, in the midst of
which is set the island of Tsu-shima. With Korea
a Russian province the very existence of Japan as
an independent nation would be most seriously
threatened.
But Japan was not thus tamely going to submit
to the unwarranted aggressions of her great rival.
For years past she had been steadily building
up both her army and navy, and now felt strong
enough to speak. Into the details of the negotiations
that followed it is unnecessary to go, but finally, on
January 13, 1904, Japan replied for the last time,
accepting the Russian proposal that, with respect to
Russia's action in Manchuria (in her refusal to
withdraw from that country in the face of solemn
pledges to do so), Japan would consent to regard
that as a question exclusively between Russia
and China, on condition that Russia acknowledged
170
A COVETED KINGDOM
Korea to be outside her sphere of influence. An
early reply was asked for, and as none was forth-
coming diplomatic relations were broken off, and the
sanguinary conflict commenced, with the result that
is well known. Japan secured all the advantages
for which she had fought by the terms of the
Treaty of Portsmouth, except that only half the
island of Sakhalin was restored to her.
On the outbreak of war, the Japanese took pos-
session of Seoul, but behaved with great moderation
to the Koreans, and treated the people well by pay-
ing for all food requisitioned, and remunerating
handsomely the thousands of carriers pressed into
their services for transport purposes. Practically
the whole administration of the country was, how-
ever, taken over by the Japanese, and before long
martial law w^as rigidly enforced: her actions now
became so pronouncedly harsh that the sympathies
of the foreign element in Korea were gradually
entirely alienated from Japan when it could no
longer be doubted that she intended to destroy com-
pletely the independence of Korea. Events moved
quickly: Marquis (now Prince) Ito was appointed
Japanese Resident-General in Korea. The Emperor
abdicated under pressure in favour of his son on
July 19, 1907, and on the 31st a rescript was
issued in the name of the new Emperor disbanding
the Korean Army. This led to great excitement; the
troops mutinied, serious riots took place, and the
houses of the Cabinet Ministers were attacked and
burnt by the mob. Although the capital was over-
171
KOREA
awed by General Hasegawa and his troops, risings
took place in many of the districts against the
Japanese, and troops were hurried from Japan to
restore order.
The insurrection rapidly spread, and insurgent
bands roamed the hills, where they have been since
hunted down, and were still in January, 1909, being
harassed by numerous Japanese columns. In
November last Lieutenant-General Okasaki, lately
commanding the 13th Division in Korea, stated that
these insurgents were then merely bandits, but were
likely to give trouble for a long time to come. The
Division had been broken up into 270 detachments,
and they were being assisted by 4,000 gendarmes
(of whom 30 per cent, were Japanese, and the
rest Koreans) in harrying the rebels.
This, then, was the condition of Korea during
our visit to that troubled land in October, 1908,
and yet on the surface there were few indications
of the restless state of the country visible to the
ordinary traveller passing through. At the impor-
tant towns, such as Ping-yang, Seoul, and Fusan,
and along the entire length of the railway from New
Wi-chu to Fusan, from the north to the south of the
peninsula, the inhabitants everywhere appeared
to be pursuing their usual avocations, and one could
not help being struck by the quiet and orderly
demeanour of the Korean wherever met with. That
Korea has utterly and completely lost her independ-
ence it is futile to deny. The present Emperor is a
mere puppet in the hands of the Japanese, and his
172
A COVETED KINGDOM
Ministers are but tools, the whole of the administra-
tion and government of the country being actually
under the direction of the representatives of the
Government of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
And though one's sympathies are naturally drawn
towards the weaker race, apart from the fact that
there is something peculiarly attractive about the
Korean, in spite of his lazy, indolent nature, and
since there is little room for doubt but that the whole
nation has been most hardly and unjustly dealt with
by Japan, yet, it seems to me, there is a general
inclination to judge her actions too harshly in respect
to the subjugation of Korea. Insufficient stress is
laid on the fact that Korea, either absolutely inde-
pendent or as a vassal of Japan, is essential for the
future progress and even security of Japan.
From what has gone before it will be seen that
Korea is incapable of managing her affairs. Left
to herself, the country has always degenerated into
a hotbed of intrigue and been rent by internal dis-
sensions, and so would always be at the mercy of
some foreign Power, or combination of Powers, who
felt strong enough to take advantage of her defence-
lessness and defy the protestations of Japan. The
experiences of the Island Empire in the past have
not been of such a nature as to inspire her with
confidence in the solemn pledges made by those
with whom she has entered into Treaty relations
regarding the recognition of the absolute and com-
plete independence of Korea. For this article of
her faith within the short period of ten years she
173
KOREA
was plunged into two costly wars, in the last of
which the whole resources of the Empire were strained
to the utmost limit, and only after a vast expendi-
ture of blood and money did she issue triumphant
from the ordeal, having secured the independence of
Korea. Consider the enormous sacrifices that she
had to make to attain this result, and how crippled
she emerged from the Titanic struggle financially,
and then soberly reflect whether any nation, hav-
ing passed through the crisis that she had, would
voluntarily have acted differently by withdraw-
ing, knowing the incompetence of Korea to rule
herself.
Japan is a poor country; taxation weighs heavily
upon her, and she must obtain fresh markets and
land near by which can be colonised by her surplus
population; and strategically and commercially Korea
has been ordained as that land. The new Japan,
however, is young and has much to learn in the
matter of colonisation, and her efforts hitherto have
chiefly resulted in her stern hand having completely
alienated the subject-race from herself. But she
is gradually buying her experience, and, knowing
her faculty for adopting the methods successfully
employed by others, it is not too much to predict
that, with more consideration for the conquered race,
and a fair and just appreciation of the policy of the
"open door," Korea should be destined to form a
bright jewel in the crown of the Rising Sun.
Before bringing this chapter to a close it will not
be out of place here to present to the reader a thumb-
174
A COVETED KINGDOM
nail sketch of the country and its inhabitants, so
that a better understanding may be arrived at as
to character of the folk and of the scenery of this
fascinating country.
The peninsula of Korea varies in length from 400
to 600 miles, and has a mean breadth of about 150
miles. Speaking generally, the country is extremely
mountainous, and furnished with many streams,
some being rivers of considerable size: such as the
Chon-chon, about An-chu; the Ta-tong, on which
Ping-yang is situated; and the Han, near the capital.
The country is almost purely agricultural, large
areas of rice being cultivated in the valleys and the
smaller plains between the mountains; but as the
Korean is little inclined to grow more than sufficient
for his own requirements, there is still scope for
extending enterprises in the direction of agriculture.
A single line of rail, close on 600 miles in length,
traverses the peninsula from north to south, from
the Ya-lu to Fusan. The southern portion of this
line, as far north as Seoul, was completed under
Japanese direction, before the outbreak of war with
Russia, and since the war this has been extended
north to the Ya-lu, opposite An-tung. A small
branch line, 25 to 30 miles in length, connects the
capital with the coast at Chemulpo, which is distant
about 300 miles by sea from Port Arthur. In addi-
tion to the above harbour, Korea possesses many
excellent ports, particularly on the southern and
western coasts; but on the east, Gensan, nearly due
east of Ping-yang, is the only one of any value.
175
KOREA
As regards the inhabitants one is particularly
struck, on crossing the Ya-lu, by the abrupt change
from the prevailing blue colour of the garments
worn by the Chinese on the north bank to the almost
universal white worn by the Koreans on the South.
The Korean gentleman wears long, loose, baggy
white trousers, inserted into white socks of kid-like
looking material, which are encased probably in
brown shoes. A small, short white jacket covers
the upper portion of his body, and when he takes
his walks abroad this is surmounted by a long,
cream-coloured garment of light texture — a species
of long covert-coat — which adds a composure and
dignity to his appearance that is still further height-
ened by his peculiar tall hat, made either of fine
bamboo gauze-work, or, in the case of the more
affluent, of horse, or even human, hair. With a
long pipe in his mouth, the bowl supported by his
hand, and an air of repose and affability in his
leisurely gait, it would be impossible to regard him
as anything but what he actually is — a gentleman.
The common coolie of the street also affects a
similar dress, except that his socks and shoes are
somewhat less elaborate, and, from lack of means,
he cannot do otherwise than dispense with the tall
hat and long, flowing overcoat; but he wears the
baggy trousers and the little short jacket, and his
head is either bare or he twists a handkerchief over
it. Pigtails are only worn by small unmarried boys,
the other males either cutting their hair short or
wearing it in the form of a top-knot. The top-knot
176
A COVETED KINGDOM
was formerly the sign of a youth having reached
man's estate, but under present conditions a large
number of the male population wear their hair short
like the Japanese.
In Ping-yang the women like the men, are dressed
from head to foot in white, their garments being of
a peculiar nature. Their ideas of modest display
are somewhat different from those obtaining in the
West, and the upper portions of their bodies are clad
in a very short jacket, fastened across the chest with
tape, and from the restraint of which, more often
than not, their breasts are allowed to escape, and
remain freely exposed. Over baggy trousers con-
taining apparently many yards of cloth, which they
also affect, they wear a long white apron-sort of
garment secured about the waist, and reaching to
below the knees. Their hair is generally done up
into a knot, and their head-dress merely consists of
a kerchief fastened across the forehead over it. In
Seoul large numbers of women of the better class,
seen in the street during the daytime, conceal most
of their forms by green mantles, which are placed
over their heads, and held together in front with
their hands; whilst the long empty sleeves, which
appear to spring from near the top of the head,
hang loosely on each side.
Personally, I was extremely agreeably impressed
by the outward appearance of the people, who are a
fine-looking race — particularly the men, amongst
whom many handsome intelligent faces are seen.
The women, it struck me, with my Western notions,
177
KOREA
were not, as a rule, so fortunately endowed in this
respect. As a nation, the men are certainly far
handsomer than either Japanese or Chinese, though
the ladies are inferior to both in the matter of good
looks. In mental capacity, moreover, I am told by
those who have instructed both Japanese and Korean
youths that the latter are the superior, as they far
excel the former in their ability to acquire foreign
languages, and are in no wise inferior to them in
other branches of learning. They lack, however,
the grit, determination, and perseverance which is
so characteristic of their conquerors, and this is
probably due to centuries of oppression.
Indolence pervades the whole nation, and is very
clearly and amusingly brought out in a clever little
book called "Korean Sketches," by the Rev. Mr.
Gale, who has laboured for years amongst the Koreans
as a missionary. His description of the coolie at
work digging is excellent. It is common — almost
usual — in India to see two coolies man-handle a
shovel, but in Korea I have seen four men thus
employed, and a friend of Mr. Gale describes in
comic manner five men doing the work of one.
Nor are the better classes possessed of more vigour,
for Mr. Gale tells us: "No gentleman indulges in
manual labour, or, in fact, in labour of any kind.
His life consists in one supreme command of coolie
service, while the coolie responds to every order.
The lighting of his pipe or the rubbing of ink on the
ink-stone must be done for him. Down to the
simplest requirements of life he does nothing, so his
178
A COVETED KINGDOM
hands become soft, and his finger-nails grow long.
From constant sitting, his bones seem to disinte-
grate, and he becomes almost a mollusc before he
passes middle-life." And again: "So he passes from
us, one of the last and most unique remains of a
civilisation that has lived its day. His composure,
his mastery of self, his moderation, his kindliness,
his scholarly attainments, his dignity, his absolute
good-for-nothingness, or, better, unfitness for the
world he lives in, all combine to make him a mystery
of humanity, that you cannot but feel kindly toward
and intensely interested in."
When those who know well thus describe the char-
acteristics of the Korean nation, is it any cause for
astonishment that Japan should elect to rule the
country herself?
179
CHAPTER XVI
IN THE LAND OF MORNING CALM
WE were up at 4.30 a.m. on the morning of
October 3, and, mounting our 'rickshaws,
departed an hour later for the landing-
stage on the river-bank. We were accompanied by
Mr. Nishikawa, who came to see the last of us, and
to assist us in procuring our tickets and so on. Book-
ing through to Ping-yang, we were herded on to a
small launch crowded with Japanese, and all their
baggage also, and, leaving the shore at 6 a.m., reached
the railway jetty on the Korean side of the Ya-lu
fifteen to twenty minutes later. We there had all
our belongings transported by a Korean porter to
the train waiting near by, and, the railway being a
broad-gauge one (4 feet 8| inches), were comfortably
installed in corridor carriages, and were off at 6.30 a.m.
At first we traversed fertile plains set in the midst
of rugged hills; considerable areas were under culti-
vation, but the kaoliang, so universally grown in
Manchuria, is but little favoured in Korea, where
the staple food of the inhabitants is rice, though
beans, millet, and Indian corn are also sown. Many
natives, in their becoming white garments, were at
work in the fields, but the country villages passed
were usually of a poor type, the huts being con-
180
LAND OF MORNING CALM
structed of mud walls and thatched roofs, with a
reed fence round the garden of each habitation.
During the journey we crossed several large
streams, over some of which, such as the Chon-
chon and Ta-tong, the Japanese appeared to be at
work on the construction of new bridges. We
reached Ping-yang shortly before 2 p.m., and, as we
had telegraphed on ahead the previous day for
rooms, were met at the station by a Japanese boy
from the Yanaglia Hotel, who took over our baggage,
whilst we set off in 'rickshaws for the inn, which is
some little distance from the railway. We were
very comfortable during our twenty-four hours*
stay there, but as nobody about the establishment
knew a word of English, it was not always easy to
make our wishes thoroughly understood now that
we were deprived of the services of Mr. Nishikawa.
It was an excellent opportunity, however, for us to
practise the Japanese acquired during the past few
weeks.
After tea we chartered 'rickshaws, and proceeded
on a tour of inspection to the city near by, and also
to call on Mr. Noble, the missionary, who, together
with his wife and family, had been in Ping-yang for
the past twelve years. We were fortunate enough to
find them at home, and Mr. Noble kindly placed at
our disposal for the remainder of the afternoon one
of his lay -teachers, a Korean who could speak English
and Japanese as well as his own tongue. With him
as guide, we traversed many of the streets of the
town, which is a large one of some 40,000 inhabitants,
181
KOREA
but possesses few buildings of any pretensions what-
soever, beyond the mission church and one or two
others. The generaHty of the buildings are small,
with roofs of thatch, and the streets are for the most
part narrow and dirty. At this hour of the day
they were thronged with people of both sexes and
of all ages; but there was an absence of the hurry
and bustle so common in Chinese streets, and the
shopkeepers seemed indifferent whether their wares
exposed for sale attracted purchasers or not. In
Ping-yang one sees the Korean chez-lui, so to speak,
and there is little evidence of foreign dominion in
the city itself, for the Japanese largely confine
themselves to their own concession outside (in the
neighbourhood of the railway), where some 7,000 of
them have settled down, and comparatively few were
noticed within its walls.
Consequently the Korean gentleman is seen peram-
bulating the streets at his best; the coolie also looms
large, laboriously carrying huge weights on his back
supported on a frame consisting of two forked
branches fastened together, or basking in idleness
in the bright sunshine; whilst groups of small lads
and young students in their peaked caps, just out
from school and homeward bound, are met at every
turn. Nearly every woman, from the age of about
eighteen and upwards, appears to be a proud mother,
for few are seen as they walk the streets that have
not a baby strapped to their backs. And so we
threaded our way through this dignified and easy-
going throng until we reached the fine East Gate of
182
LAND OF MORNING CALM
the city, and, passing under the arch, found ourselves
on the bank of the Ta-tong or Tai-dan-gan River.
At that time of year the stream was about 100 yards
wide, its surface dotted with small craft being rowed
to and fro, whilst a bridge of boats spanned the
river from bank to bank.
General Broad wood had left a note on the Jap-
anese Resident of Ping-yang, early in the afternoon,
asking permission to visit the prisons and other
places of interest on the morrow; just as we had
finished dinner the Vice-Resident was announced,
and, though his knowledge of English was limited,
we understood that he would call for us at 8 a.m.
next morning, and personally conduct us. He had
barely left before a newspaper-man made his appear-
ance, with what reason it was not quite clear, for
he could scarcely speak English at all; but as he
seemed anxious to have our cards, we graciously
presented these to him.
As the Vice-Resident had not arrived at the
appointed hour next morning, we ascended a low
hill just outside the hotel, on the top of which
we saw Japanese exercising horses, and from there
obtained a good view of their barracks on the
other side. Ping-yang is the headquarters of two
battalions, which were distributed throughout the
neighbouring districts, half a battalion being located
at that time in Ping-yang itself. The barracks are
commodious blocks of buildings, two stories in
height, and substantially built of brick, with a fine
parade-ground in front. The Vice-Resident shortly
183
KOREA
after appeared on the summit, so we descended the
hill together, and accompanied him to the Japanese
prison near by.
There were only a few prisoners visible, not more
than half-a-dozen or so, and these were doing odd
jobs about the prison-yard. The buildings were
clean, well ventilated, and airy. An enclosed pas-
sage ran along the whole length of the front of the
cells, which were separated from it by alternate iron
bars and wooden scantlings the full height of the
cells from floor to roof. The yard is surrounded by
plank fencing 7 or 8 feet in height, and surmounted
by several strands of barbed wire.
From the Japanese prison we 'rickshawed to the
Korean Governor's house, and were met on arrival
by Mr. Oki, the Japanese Secretary, who showed us
to his offices, situated in a Korean building of con-
siderable size in close proximity to the Korean prison.
These large houses are warmed during the winter,
which is very severe, much on the same principle
as the Chinese hangs, though the method is more
elaborate; for the whole floor of the house is under-
mined by hot-air chambers passing up and down the
room, and connected with large pine-fires lighted
immediately outside the exterior wall. After some
conversation we were conducted to the prison, the
newer portion of which is built on the same lines as
that of the Japanese, except that all the uprights in
front of the cells consist of wooden scantlings some
3 inches square, with about 6 inches intervals between
tb^mt Unlike the Japanese prisoners, however, who
184
LAND OF MORNING CALM
are provided with bedding and other conveniences
inside each compartment, which is shared by only
two or three men, the Korean criminals were herded
together, from lack of accommodation, to the number
of from twenty -five to thirty in a cell perhaps 12 to
14 feet square. Criminals undergoing various terms
of imprisonments, from six months for minor offences
to others doing ten and fifteen years for serious ones,
were, for the same reason, all mixed up together,
seated in four rows on the floor of the cells. There
were four such cells fully occupied by men, whilst
another contained only two Koreans, superiorly
dressed, and evidently men of some position, who
had been condemned to ten and fifteen years' incar-
ceration for political offences. Beyond this, again, in
the next cell were some fifteen women seated in two
rows, with their faces towards the side partitions.
Most of these unfortunate creatures were murderers
and poisoners condemned to long terms of imprison-
ment; and though the majority were no longer
young, and showed their character in their faces, a
few appeared to be little over twenty years of age,
and were quite nice-looking.
In spite of the somewhat crowded condition of
these cells, the place was perfectly sanitary, fresh-
smelling, and well-ventilated, a peculiar disinfectant
with pleasant pine odour pervading the whole build-
ing with its aroma. Immediately behind this new
building — constructed since the Japanese admin-
istration — is the old Korean prison, now used as
cells for those prisoners who have given trouble, and
185
KOREA
are not permitted to take exercise in the yard.
These cells have been greatly improved by the
Japanese in many respects, and made sanitary by
providing proper ventilation and giving more light
to the wretched occupants; but they are far from
desirable residences. In front of the cells, which
face the open courtyard, a thick mud-and-stone wall
is built up to a height of about 4 feet above ground-
level, and into this are secured the wooden scantlings
which effectually bar all means of escape, as they
extend up to the eaves of the low roof, which descends
to little more than 3 feet above the top of the wall.
There were two such cells, both long and narrow, in
one of which were confined the worst criminals, as
though imprisoned in a pit; whilst in the other were
forty-three Koreans awaiting trial.
After we had completed our inspection of the
prisons, Mr. Oki kindly undertook to conduct us
to a high eminence to the north of the town, and
within the old walls, from whence we were promised
a fine view of Ping-yang and the surrounding country ;
and we were well repaid for the hot walk of some-
thing over a mile along the western edge of the wall
to reach this point. On a knoll immediately above
the Government offices the Japanese had erected a
monument to those of their countrymen who fell
during the capture of Ping-yang in the Chino-
Japanese War; and as we proceeded along the wall
we were shown the spot, just outside, where a skirmish
had taken place with Russian Cossacks during the
last war. The north-western portion of the city
186
LAND OF MORNING CALM
wall runs irregularly up the hillsides, is still in a
very fair state of preservation, and rises some 15 to
20 feet above the level of the slopes outside. Within
the walls hereabouts is open rolling grass-land which
ascends steadily towards the peak on which our
footsteps were directed, the town lying to the south,
in the valley below, on the river's bank. Trees are
singularly few in number, but outside the wall the
hill-slopes to the west are clothed in magnificent
old pines which grow there in great profusion.
On reaching the old Chinese pavilion at the sum-
mit, we found it held other visitors besides ourselves,
chiefly Japanese men and women; and one was not
surprised to find that the view from this point proves
an attraction to the dwellers in Ping-yang, for a
glorious panorama of the valley of the Tai-dan-gan
is stretched before one looking north and south,
whilst to the east and west undulating cultivated
plains extend to the foot of the mountain ranges.
A short distance across a narrow neck to the north
is another small peak, known as the Peony Mount,
the capture of which by the Japanese resulted in
entry being obtained into the city. This was accom-
plished by means of a gallant dash at the gate in
front of the archway through the wall near the pavil-
ion, which was carried in the face of a heavy fire.
*' Vladimir" thus describes this incident: "As soon
as Colonel Sato saw that Peony Mount had been
taken, he directed his efforts against the Gemmu
(Hyon-mu) Gate, the nearest on that side of the
city. The Chinese defended the walls so well, and
187
KOREA
kept up such a brisk fire, that the Japanese assault
was repulsed. . . . Lieutenant Mimura, burning
with shame at the repulse, shouted to his men, ' Who
will come with me to open that gate?' and at once
rushed towards the Gemmu Gate. Harada, one of
the soldiers of Mimura, then said, 'Who will be first
on the wall.'^' and flew after his officer. They ran so
quickly that only eleven other soldiers were able to
join them under the wall after passing through a rain
of lead. Mimura and his small band of heroes found
the gate too strong to be forced, so the lieutenant
gave the order to scale the walls. The Chinese were
busy firing in front, keeping the Japanese troops
back, and never imagined that a handful of men
would have the boldness to cHmb the wall like
monkeys under their very eyes. Mimura and his
men came upon them with such surprise that they
were scattered in an instant. The Japanese at once
jumped down inside the walls and rushed the gate,
killing three of its defenders and dispersing the rest,
Mimura cutting right and left with his sword."
After considerable difficulty, the gate was unbolted,
though the gallant little band suffered several casual-
ties from the Chinese firing into them from behind
before they could admit their astonished comrades,
who were outside the walls. The entry here forced
virtually resulted in the capture of Ping-yang.
In the river-bed immediately below this high
eminence the Japanese were constructing the head
works of the water-supply to be distributed in the
near future to the town. The river water is highly
188
LAND OF MORNING CALM
contaminated, and the cause of much sickness in
Ping-yang, so the Japanese, with their usual thor-
oughness in sanitary matters, have set to work to
remedy this evil. The construction of the settling-
tanks and filter-beds, and erection of the pumping-
machinery, were in an advanced state, and the
filtered water was to be pumped up to a rising main
to the reservoir near the top of the hill, and thence
carried by gravitation through a 20-inch main for
distribution throughout the town below.
On reaching the foot of the hill, Mr. Oki bade us
good-bye, and returned to his house above the Gov-
ernment offices, whilst the Vice-Resident accompa-
nied us back through the town to our hotel in our
'rickshaws, which had been sent round to meet us
at this point. Having completed our packing and
lunched, we left by the 2.2 p.m. train for Seoul.
Of the journey to Seoul there is little to describe.
As one proceeds south from Ping-yang, the more
open plains of the north dwindle away in size to
narrow valleys enclosed by hills of varying height,
the country being extraordinarily well watered by
numerous streams which are crossed by the railway.
Over many of the larger of these the Japanese were
constructing new bridges of considerable size. Before
half the journey had been completed darkness fell
over the scene, so the landscape became obliterated,
except what was visible under the pale light of a
comparatively new moon.
We arrived at the Nondaimon Station shortly
after 10 p.m., and were there met by the Astor House
189
K O R E A
Hotel courier — a Korean in his native costume,
who spoke EngHsh. With his assistance, we obtained
'rickshaws (whilst he looked after our heavy luggage),
and drove off to the hotel, a journey of some twenty
minutes, over rough, broken roads. Rooms had
been reserved for us, and we were soon settled down
again to the European mode of living, which afforded
a pleasant change from Japanese after five consecutive
nights' experience of the latter. The servants were all
Korean boys, the management under a European, and
inclusive charges little more than we had lately been
paying for far inferior fare and accommodation.
By an extraordinary coincidence a very old friend
of mine, whom I had not met for six or seven years —
Major Blair, R.E., from Tientsin — was spending
his honeymoon travelling in Japan, Korea, and
Manchuria, and he and his wife were stopping at
the Astor House at the time of our arrival. Shortly
before leaving England a mutual friend had observed
to me that he would not be surprised if I ran
across the Blairs somewhere in Japan, and though
the probability of doing so had appeared extremely
remote, the seemingly unlikely had actually occurred,
except that the meeting-place was to be in Korea
instead of Japan. It was only quite an afterthought
that had induced them to visit Korea from Japan,
and as they were leaving for Mukden the second day
after our arrival it certainly was a most remarkable
circumstance that, quite unknown to each other, we
should have reached Seoul very nearly at the same
time.
190
LAND OF MORNING CALM
After breakfast next morning we took 'rickshaws
and drove to the Daiichi Bank, in the Japanese
quarter of the town, entering the city walls, which
are lofty and castellated, by the West Gate, close
behind the hotel. An electric car line also passes
through this gate and runs to the East Gate along
the main street of the town on raised rails, which do
not add to the comfort of the traveller by 'rickshaw,
for the roads are so bad that the coolie, in his
anxiety to take advantage of good portions, con-
stantly crosses and recrosses the line by a series of
short sharp twists and violent bumps over the rails.
Fortunately, shortly after entering the gate, we
dived down a side-road, and were conveyed through
a maze of narrow streets to our objective. Having
supplied ourselves with the sinews of war, we next
called on the British Acting Consul-General, Mr.
Lay, who occupied a fine official residence set in
a charming garden on high ground. We were able
to obtain from here a comprehensive view of the
town and the surrounding chain of hills, which
almost completely encircle it.
Mr. and Mrs. Lay kindly asked us all to lunch,
and we spent a very enjoyable hour or two with
them in the early afternoon. We were not a little
surprised to hear that there was quite a large com-
munity of Europeans in Seoul, and that Mrs. Lay's
social duties required her to call on some sixty ladies
of difiFerent nationalities. Their experiences at the
time of the affair at Chemulpo, when the Japanese
squadron ordered the Russian gunboats, which had
191
KOREA
taken shelter there on the outbreak of hostihties, to
come out of the harbour, were most interesting, for
they were actually able to see the fight, which took
place some seven or eight miles out to sea, from the
Consulate, the doors and windows of which were
shaken severely by the thunder of the guns.
Later in the afternoon Captain Heathcote and I
tramped the whole length of the town from west to
east along the car line — a distance of some two
and a half miles from gate to gate. The road we
followed was generally a fine, broad, open one, but
appeared to be more on the outskirts than in the
busy part, such as we had traversed in the morning.
The shops were small, and, as a rule, uninteresting,
whilst buildings of any size were singularly few, the
most imposing being a large red-brick structure
under construction, destined to be the Young Men's
Christian Association. The East Gate of the city
is surmounted by the usual two-storied structure of
graceful design, and highly ornamented, and this we
ascended to get a view, but saw little. Subsequently
we climbed up the hillside in a northerly direction
along the top of the wall, a massive erection in stone,
10 to 12 feet wide at the summit in places, and loop-
holed at a height of about 20 feet above the ground
outside. This wall ran round the entire city, over
hill and dale, in irregular lines, and from one of the
highest points reached by us we obtained an excel-
lent bird's-eye impression of the city lying below us.
In actual extent it considerably exceeds Mukden,
but is not so closely packed with houses, for in
192
o c
LAND OF MORNING CALM
the south-west corner there were large open spaces,
apparently used as recreation grounds, and numerous
patches of vivid green indicated plots of cultivated
land, whilst dark belts of pines and other trees on
the slopes of lesser hill-features were also visible.
The area enclosed by the walls cannot be far short
of some five square miles, and within their shelter
some 200,000 Koreans dwell, the Japanese community
being estimated at about 30,000 souls.
In the evening I dined at the hotel with Major
and Mrs. Blair, who were entertaining General
Akashi, a former friend, and Commandant of the
Korean Gendarmerie, who spoke French fluently
with Mrs. Blair and English with her husband and
me. This was, unfortunately, our only day together,
for the Blairs were leaving early next morning bound
for Mukden. I pointed out to Mrs. Blair that she
would find accommodation on ahead somewhat
more primitive than in Seoul and Japan; but she
regarded these matters as mere trifles, and was
keenly looking forward to the experiences before her.
Together with her husband, she had apparently
made a close study of the Russo-Japanese War, and
was already quite familiar with the operations, the
scenes of which she was eager to view.
Following General Broadwood's usual practice,
we set out next morning to call on the Acting Jap-
anese Resident-General, Viscount Sone, Prince Ito
being on leave in Japan. It was showery when we
started, and the Koreans had donned their curious
conical-shaped oil-skin covers over their tall hats to
193
KOREA
keep the rain off their heads. The Japanese Gov-
ernment offices are situated in a fine new building,
lately erected on the slopes of Nan San, at some
considerable height above the level and to the south
of the town. We were introduced to the Resident-
General (a handsome man with grizzled hair and
moustache) by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs,
who spoke English fluently, and acted as interpreter
during the interview, as His Excellency did not
speak our tongue. It was arranged that in the
course of the next day or two we should have an
opportunity of inspecting some of the local schools.
We next called on Major-General Moratta, the
Chief of the Staff on military matters to the Resident-
General, whose house was close by. He speaks
French fluently, having formerly spent some years
in France, and he had also been present in London
on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.
General Moratta is an excellent conversationist,
and told us a great deal about various tours he
had made throughout Korea, and discussed many
other interesting subjects as well, so our stay with
him was one of considerable duration. It had been
General Broadwood's intention to call also on Gen-
eral Hasegawa, commanding the Japanese troops in
Korea, but as the General was engaged on committees
that morning, our visit had to be deferred until the
next day, and we returned to the hotel.
In order to see something of the environments of
Seoul, we set out on foot in the afternoon for a tramp
of about nine miles, visiting the White Buddha, one
194
LAND OF MORNING CALM
of the few curiosities of which Seoul can boast.
Leaving the hotel, we struck north along the Pekin
road, passing the large arch erected shortly after
the Chino-Japanese War by the Koreans, as a thanks-
giving for the recognition of their independence.
Continuing up the hillside the road runs through a
deep rock cutting, known as the Pekin Pass, beyond
w^hich we dropped into a narrow plain through fields
of cotton and chillies, the beautiful large red pods of
which were being dried in great quantities on the
thatched roofs of the huts, and gave a vivid splash
of colour to otherwise bare surroundings. Leaving
the Pekin road, we turned off east up a sandy nullah-
bed leading to the site of the White Buddha in a
rocky granite gorge in the heart of the low hills.
The figure, which is some 8 to 10 feet in height, in
a sitting posture, is cut in relief on the face of a rock
situated in the bed of the stream, the whole being
whitewashed except for the colouring of the neck-
lace, mouth, nose, eyes, and eyebrows, and protected
by a small Chinese pavilion of the usual type erected
over the rock. Near by, and higher up the side of
the ravine, are a small shrine and temple, with
quarters for the few priests who dwell here.
Leaving the Buddha, we proceeded farther up
the gorge until we reached the point where the outer
city wall, running over ridge and valley, crosses the
stream by a bridge of several arches, and continues
up the opposite hill-slopes. Passing through the
gateway at the bridge, we turned up a pretty little
wooded valley, in which were a few scattered huts,
195
K O R E A
leading to the summit of the ridge, and there again
entered within the precincts of the city wall by
means of another gateway. From thence we rap-
idly descended into the arena below, in which the
town proper is situated, and winding our way
through a labyrinth of narrow streets, made for the
Pagoda Gardens, so-called by reason of a small,
finely carved white marble pagoda, some 25 to 30
feet in height, which is situated in the grounds.
These public gardens, though small, are well laid out
with flower-beds, pathways, and shelters, and a
covered bandstand with curious sounding-box roof
at once catches the eye on entering; in another
corner is a marble pillar supported on the back of a
huge tortoise carved out of a block of granite.
Desirous of seeing Korean life in all its different
aspects, we paid a visit after dinner to the Theatre
Royal, close by, and derived no little entertainment
from watching several acts of a Korean play, per-
formed mainly by men and boys. The building in
which it took place was one of some size, the seats
in the body of the hall being raised in steps until
they reached the level of the gallery or promenade,
on which we had our seats in a private box on the
right-hand side. There were four or five boxes on
each side of the hall; those on the left, reserved for
Korean ladies, being all full. Not understanding
a word of the language, we were, of course, unable
to fathom the plot — if there was one at all — though
a gigantic paper or cardboard pumpkin, which was
repeatedly being cut, seemed to be the chief cause
196
LAND OF MORNING CALM
of interest in this highly sensational drama. Most of
the dialogue was chanted to the accompaniment of
a drum played by a man on the stage, and from time
to time supers strolled across the scene as though
they regarded themselves as invisible for theatrical
purposes. The music was by no means discordant,
and the high falsetto voice so commonly heard in
India appeared to be considered worthy of commen-
dation in Korea, as applause occasionally broke out
when a peculiarly high note had been successfully
grappled with. At the end of each scene a red-and-
white curtain, running along a wire, was pulled
across the stage from one side, and a member of the
company would come before the footlights and hold
forth to the audience, whom he was apparently
informing what might be expected in the scene
about to follow.
So the play dragged on until about 10.30 p.m.,
when the curtain was drawn aside to reveal the
entry of twelve geisang, or dancing-girls, prettily
arrayed in green and red, with long, loose silk cuffs
— I suppose one would call them — depending from
the wrists, and hanging far below the tips of their
fingers. Most of these girls during the earlier part
of the entertainment had been mixing freely with
the young Korean bloods of the balcony, who, like
ourselves, were occupying the most expensive seats
in the house — price one yen, or approximately two
shillings. They were pretty little creatures in a
dainty kind of way, with hair neatly done up on the
top with a flower placed in at one side, somewhat after
197
KOREA
the fashion of Burmese girls. During the last act
of the play they had all disappeared to adorn them-
selves in the garb in which they now appeared
before us. They made their entry in two rows of
six, one behind the other, and after a few prelimi-
nary movements en masse fell into two rows again,
Indian file, at the back of the stage. In the centre
was a large cloth screen supported on a high wooden
frame, end-on to the audience, and to opposite
sides of this one girl from each group advanced,
and there danced in perfect unison with the other,
though apparently unseen by her. The remainder
retained their positions, watching the graceful
movements of the two performing, who, judged
by their actions, appeared to be simultaneously
going through the ordeal of doing their hair and
other toilet difficulties before each side of the
screen, as though it were a mirror. When they
had finished, they each threw a wooden ball at
an orifice at the top of the screen, and if it success-
fully passed through they helped themselves to a
flower from two large bowls on tall pedestals at
each side of the stage near the footlights. Should
a girl fail in her shot, she resumed her place at the
back of her row without a flower. Then the next
pair of girls would advance and go through the same
evolutions, and so on until they had all done their
turn to the accompaniment of an orchestra consist-
ing of several reed instruments and drums played by
men ranged up along one side of the stage. We
watched three sets of girls go through the dance,
198
LAND OF MORNING CALM
and as it was then close on 11 p.m., we concluded it
was time to go to bed, and returned to the hotel.
We called on General Hasegawa at his private
residence next morning, and were there met by Mr.
Secretary Kuroda, who acted as interpreter during
the interview, as he spoke French fluently — in
fact, in vivacity, gesture, and general appearance
he is far more like a Frenchman than a Japanese,
and he speaks English well also. General Hasegawa
is a fine soldierly-looking man, with strong, deter-
mined face, and is less like the usual stamp of
Japanese in feature than European. He ordered
champagne to be handed round, drank our healths,
and arranged that Mr. Kuroda should show us the
Korean barracks and troops in the afternoon.
Accordingly, after lunch, we drove in 'rickshaws to
the barracks, close to the North Palace, were received
by Mr. Kuroda, and introduced to the Korean Vice-
Minister of Military Affairs and Major-General Ai,
a tall, slight young man, who had received his mili-
tary education in Japan, and is the proud Commander
of the Korean army, numbering about 500 men. The
former army, it wull be remembered, w^as disbanded
in July, 1907, since when one battalion has been
raised under Japanese supervision, its chief duty
being to act as the Emperor's bodyguard. These
troops are being trained mainly by Japanese oflScers,
of whom there were a good many present on the
parade-ground, as well as Korean oflBcers, whose uni-
form is precisely similar, except that their badges
of rank are worn on the sleeve, and not on the
199
KOREA
shoulder as in the case of the Japanese. Only one
company was drawn up on parade, as the remainder
of the army were in attendance on the Emperor, who
was visiting his father. It went through the manual
exercise for our benefit with conmiendable smart-
ness under command of one of its Korean oflBcers,
and performed various evolutions on the parade-
ground with precision.
It is not easy for a foreigner to distinguish the
difference between a Korean and Japanese when
both are dressed in uniform, beyond the fact that, as
a rule, the former is usually of slighter build and
taller than the latter. The troops drawn up for
General Broad wood's inspection had not yet received
their khaki uniform, with which they were to be
provided in the near future; they were wearing
out their old kit, which consisted of blue with red
facings, white canvas gaiters, with knapsack, accou-
trements, rifle, and peaked cap with red band,
exactly the same as those of the Japanese troops.
The men are reported to be intelligent and very
quick in learning their drill; but, in their character-
istic fashion, are seemingly equally prompt in for-
getting, through indifference, what they have learnt.
After inspecting the company drawn up in line.
General Broadwood went round their barrack-
rooms, in each of which some thirty men are accom-
modated. They sleep on raised wooden platforms
running the whole length of the rooms, their wooden
kit-boxes being placed underneath. The men's quar-
ters extended round practically three sides of the
200
LAND OF MORNING CALM
barrack-square, the west end being reserved for the
army offices and so on. So far as one could gather,
the men at present are not enhsted for any definite
period, nor have they any choice whether they wish
to join the army or not.
From the barracks we went on to the North Palace,
which is open to visitors on Wednesdays and Sun-
days on payment of a small entrance-fee of ten sen —
about five cents. The buildings are arranged much
on the same principle as those seen in the palace at
Mukden, in a sequence of courtyards leading from
one to the other; but the colouring, particularly of
their roofs, is less striking, for only tiles of a dark
hue are used, in place of the yellow and green ones
of the Manchu capital. The King's Audience Cham-
ber is an imposing structure, the high roof being
supported on lofty wooden pillars some 3 feet in
diameter and painted vermilion. The interior is
most tastefully painted in red, green, pink, blue,
and white tints, and the carvings and ornamenta-
tions generally are charming. The roof cannot be
less than 50 feet above the floor-level, and the centre
is richly decorated with a gorgeous design of two
gold-and-red dragons within a circle, while the
ceiling of the lower roof, immediately over the raised
dais on which the Emperor's throne is placed, is
similarly treated. The whole of the interior forms
as picturesque a specimen of decorative wood-work
as one can well imagine, and the dimensions of the
chamber are of noble proportions.
The late Queen's apartments in the courtyards in
201
KOREA
rear are still closed to the public; but we were able
to inspect their exterior, and were pointed out the
chamber in which she was brutally murdered on
October 8, 1895. Many other buildings of imposing
design exist within the precincts of the palace walls,
all of which are now unoccupied, as the present
Emperor lives in another palace in the heart of the
city; but that which perhaps appeals to one more
than any other is the summer-house. This is set
in the midst of an artificial lake enclosed within
masonry walls, the surface of the water being cov-
ered with a thick growth of lotus-leaves. These
plants flower in July and August, and we did not see
them at their best; but as it was, the surroundings
were exquisite. The building is founded on an
island of stone, some 50 yards square, which is con-
nected with the shore by three delicate stone bridges
30 to 40 feet in length, and is carried on forty-eight
granite pillars, some 15 feet in height. They thus
form a charming colonnade about 115 feet in length
and 100 feet broad, the under portion of the floor of
the building above being completely covered with
coloured designs of lotus-flowers. Access from ground-
level to the apartments is obtained by a stairway
near the bridges, and the residence is surmounted
by a lofty roof of the usual pattern in China and
Korea, with turned-up eaves at the corners. Round
the lake shore the banks are planted with willow
and other trees, the whole constituting an ideal
abode for the hot summer months.
We had been asked by Mr. Kuroda to tea at his
202
LAND OF MORNING CALM
house after we had seen over the palace, but had
first to return to the hotel, as General Moratta had
promised to call on General Broadwood. He was
so long with us that it was 5 p.m. before we were
able to leave the hotel, and, as we had half-an-hour's
'rickshaw ride before us, the sun was practically
setting before we reached Mr. Kuroda's residence.
On arrival, we were conducted by one of the servants
along a path leading from the house up a delightful
fir-clad glen, which ran through the pretty, well-
laid-out grounds to a summer-house high up on the
slope of Nan San, where Mr. and Mrs. Kuroda were
entertaining about a dozen Japanese ladies to tea.
AYe were introduced to Mrs. Kuroda, who speaks
English perfectly, without any trace of foreign accent,
and were then presented by her to the other Japanese
ladies before sitting down to join them. But it was
already so late that, unfortunately, they had fin-
ished before we arrived, and very shortly took their
departure. We remained for some time midst our
pleasant surroundings, and as the moon began to
rise followed our hosts back to their house, where
we were shown some extremely choice porcelain that
Mr. Kuroda had collected in Seoul during the past
two years. Some of the pieces were over 700 years
old and of great value, Mr. Kuroda being a noted
connoisseur. He had whole glass cases full of his
purchases, but, as it was getting late, we had to
satisfy ourselves with a very cursory inspection of
his treasures. The Koreans of the present day have
apparently quite lost the art of making china, an
203
KOREA
art in which, some hundreds of years ago, they
greatly excelled.
The evening's programme was kindly provided
by General Broadwood, by which we were enabled
to see another phase of Korean life — dining Korean
fashion at a tea-house near the North Palace. The
instructions previously conveyed to the manager of
the establishment by an interpreter were to the
effect that the meal was to consist entirely of Korean
dishes, was to be served in Korean manner, and
the entertainment was to be conducted entirely on
Korean lines. At the appointed hour for the feast
we set out in 'rickshaws with the interpreter, and on
arrival at the tea-house removed our boots, and,
provided with slippers, were show^n into a large
room on the ground floor, where we smoked cigar-
ettes as we squatted on cushions pending the
announcement of dinner. We then made a move to
the room upstairs, where the meal was spread in
bowls on a table, round which we sat. Numerous
and varied were the dishes by which we were con-
fronted, and all were cold except the opening soup,
w'hich was brought in steaming hot by one of the
servants, followed by four young gcisang — dainty
little ladies who were to wait on us. They appeared
overcome with bashfulness at the prospect of the
ordeal of attending on foreigners at first, and to the
uninitiated it seemed as though they were observing
no particular method in the order in which w^e were
being served with the different viands. As the meal
progressed, however, they began to thaw a bit, and
204
LAND OF MORNING CALM
when they had poured out the first cup of sake for
each of us, they broke out, without warning, into a
soft-toned chant, abounding with low trills. This,
we were told, contained words expressing their wish
for our future health and happiness; and similar
outbursts of song were indulged in at intervals
throughout the repast.
After dinner an adjournment was made to the
lower chamber, where we distributed ourselves on
cushions, whilst the geisang at the far end of the
room proceeded to array themselves in their dancing
costumes, attaching head-dresses and other garments
over their existing ones. They then danced two at
a time with considerable energy and abandon, twist-
ing and turning about with most graceful movements
to the accompaniment of a drum or two and several
reed instruments played by men seated at the back of
the room. We were treated to this pleasing spectacle
for half-an-hour or so, when the performers, appear-
ing somewhat exhausted, were regaled on beer after
their exertions. This brought the entertainment
to a close, and the young ladies departed in 'rick-
shaws for the theatre, where doubtless they had
pressing engagements to keep with certain Korean
gilded youths.
The next morning was spent visiting various
Korean schools, and we found that the systems
were much the same as those obtaining in Mukden,
having been introduced from Japan. We were
shown round by a Korean official and a Japanese
interpreter, and were first taken to the Normal
205
KOREA
School, located in a fine new double-storied build-
ing, and attached to which was the Governihent
Primary School.
The students of the Normal School (of whom there
were about 112, studying to become teachers) varied
in age from seventeen to twenty-five, and are all
boarders. Entrance to this academy is obtained by
examination, candidates coming up from the prov-
inces as well as the capital. The students are all
dressed in a light grey uniform, the coats buttoning
high up round the neck, and receive their instruc-
tion in large airy class-rooms. They are provided
with excellent model -rooms and small museums con-
taining stuffed birds, insects, moths, butterflies, and
so on, whilst the laboratories are well supplied with
modern chemical and electrical appliances. Their
dormitories — eight or ten students are accommo-
dated in each — lavatory, bath-room, and dining-
room were all scrupulously clean and fresh, and
are heated during the winter months on the kang
principle. Recreation is obtained in the adjoining
playground, which is fitted up as an open-air
gymnasium.
Practically within the same grounds is the Primary
School, for boys from eight to seventeen years of age,
all of whom are day-boys. There were some 190
of these youths, mostly bright, cheery little fellows
with intelligent faces, and often exceedingly good-
looking. They are taught the more elementary
branches of education, such as geography, arithme-
tic (using our figures), Japanese, and the Chinese
206
LAND OF MORNING CALM
classics in Korean, etc., as a grounding for the High
School, which we next visited.
This school was opened in 1900, and contains
about 170 pupils, who enter at the age of fourteen
or fifteen, and pursue a four years' course to fit
them to be educated Korean gentlemen and officers.
The education here also is entirely free, the cost
being borne by the State, and amongst the scholars
are sons of Korean nobles as well as those of the
middle classes. We found some of the smaller boys
studying chemistry in one class-room, more advanced
pupils struggling with economics in another, whilst
in other rooms geography and Chinese classics were
being taught in a Korean sing-song manner.
From the High School we proceeded to the Lan-
guage School, which was evidently a popular insti-
tution, for here some 580 pupils were studying
various foreign languages, of which Japanese was
first favourite with 338 students, after which came
English with 139. Then followed Chinese with 61,
German with 24, and French with 13. English is
taught by an English master, assisted by Korean
teachers, and German and French lessons are also
conducted by masters of those two nationalities.
We heard the English, German, and French pupils
put through their paces by their respective instruct-
ors — reading aloud, being questioned, and answer-
ing in their particular language, and so on — and
were most favourably impressed by the pronuncia-
tion and knowledge of the more advanced students.
We also watched youngsters who had been learn-
207
KOREA
ing English less than a year, writing most clearly
from dictation, and their spelling of the easy sen-
tences read out to them was in most cases fault-
less. Altogether the methods in force appear to be
eminently practical, judging from the satisfactory
results obtained. But then the Korean boy is
acknowledged to be very quick and intelligent in
the direction of acquiring foreign tongues, for which
he possesses a peculiar aptitude.
One could not help being struck also with their
almost total absence of shyness or self-conscious-
ness in the presence of foreigners, such as we were.
There were no signs of diffidence when they were
asked questions before us, and were expected to
come out sharp with their replies, and their whole
demeanour was natural and unaffected. The boys
receive also a general education through the medium
of the particular language they may have elected to
study, so they obtain a pretty thorough instruction
in foreign tongues.
The schools we had up to this point visited were
those at which a free education was provided at the
expense of the State, and we were now conducted
to one the cost of which was borne by a private
nobleman, the patron of the establishment. Here
there were some 260 scholars, partly boarders and
partly day-boys, varying in age from eight to eigh-
teen, who receive much the same education as that
provided at the Government High School. Admis-
sion is obtained by graduates from the Primary
School or by an entrance examination. The boys
208
LAND OF MORNING CALM
had, unfortunately, finished their studies for the
morning at the time of our arrival, so we were unable
to see them in class, but were led to understand that,
besides a general education, one foreign language
also was taught, three-quarters of the boys selecting
Japanese and the other quarter English. The happy-
looking lads crowded round us as we proceeded
on a tour of inspection round their buildings, and
willingly fell in to be photographed when we expressed
a wish for them to do so. They are very taking
youngsters, these young Koreans, and one cannot
help being attracted by their frank, open counte-
nances, and their general tone and manner. It is
much to be hoped that they may in the future succeed
better than their fathers have done in helping to
raise the status of the country from the low level to
which it has fallen in recent unhappy times.
Although assured early in the morning that there
were no girls' schools in Seoul, our conductors now,
of their own accord, suggested that we might like
to visit the Girls' High School, which was only
opened in May, 1908, and which is now attended by
about 100 girls, of ages ranging from eight to eigh-
teen. We therefore drove off in our 'rickshaws to
the locality in which it is situated, and obtained
admission through a large gateway in the high wall
by which the school grounds are shut off from the
street. On passing through this, we entered an
open courtyard, in which the girls, who were tem-
porarily out of school, were playing games, while
in one corner was a swing, and another part of the
209
KOREA
playground was marked out with a tennis-court.
There appeared to be three Japanese mistresses,
assisted by a Korean lady, who acted as interpreter,
and they and their pupils evidently formed a very
happy contented community, for the girls were
joined in their games by their instructresses, and all
were romping together in the most light-hearted of
manners. The girls were all attired in little jackets,
some of which were of brighter colours than those
usually seen in the streets, being of green in some
cases, pink in others, and yellow in others again.
They all wore, in addition, long petticoats of thin
black material fastened high up above the waist and
falling well down over the loose trousers worn by all
women in Korea. We were gracefully welcomed by
the Japanese mistresses in the manner so character-
istic of the ladies of that nation, and were shown by
them over the class-rooms, model-rooms, and so on;
and also some of the work done by the girls, such as
the making of artificial forget-me-nots and other
flowers, were exhibited, and specimens presented us.
As school was over for the morning, we unfortunately
were not able to see the pupils at work as well as at
play, and so took our departure with very pleasant
impressions of the future prospects of the Korean
maidens of to-day, thanks to the education which
is now within their reach.
This terminated our morning's round, and in the
afternoon we adjourned to the Pagoda Gardens,
where the band plays every Thursday afternoon at
this time of year. Here we listened to some excel-
210
LAND OF MORNING CALM
lent music for about an hour and a half, played by
a band of about forty Korean performers, trained
and conducted by Herr Eckhardt, a German, who
formerly instructed Japanese bands in Japan. The
gardens were thronged with Koreans, who appar-
ently thoroughly appreciate Western music, if one
may judge from the rapt attention with which they
followed the programme provided for their benefit.
A fair sprinkling of the European community were
also gathered here, and numbers of schoolboys put
in an appearance after school-hours, and, squatting
in rows in front of the stand, seemed to derive much
pleasure from the music. With this gay scene our
acquaintance with Seoul came to an end, for on the
morrow we were to continue our travels to Fusan
and Japan; we retired early to rest that night in
anticipation of the railway journey and sea-voyage
before us.
We were up betimes on the morning of October 9,
and had our baggage conveyed to the Seidaimon
Station, close to the hotel, in order to catch the
8.10 train for Fusan. We were able to book right
through to Shimonoseki, the Japanese port, our
ticket embracing dinner and breakfast next morning
on the steamer. The train proceeded first to the
Nondaimon Station, shortly after leaving which we
crossed the Han River, a fine broad stream spanned
by a bridge several hundred yards in length.
Throughout the day we traversed very hilly
country intersected with numerous streams, flowing
generally through narrow valleys, which necessitated
211
KOREA
stiff grades, and the construction of a considerable
number of bridges and short lengths of tunnel. In
many of these valleys rice was profusely cultivated,
the steep slopes being neatly terraced and skilfully
irrigated by means of small dams and open channels,
which conveyed the clear limpid waters of the streams
to the fields. Villages were passed at frequent
intervals, nestling picturesquely at the foot of the
hill-slopes, their thatched roofs being brightened by
the deep scarlet of the chillies spread out on them
to dry, and overrun, too, by climbing vegetable
marrows, which, with their roots in the soil, clamber
up the walls of the huts, and bring forth on the roof
fruit of fine proportions. The persimmon also flour-
ishes luxuriantly in the sheltered valleys, and trees
loaded with the ripening fruit, of a beautiful rich
orange colour, are a common feature of these Korean
villages.
In spite of the soil of the valleys appearing highly
fertile, the hillsides are for the most part singularly
lacking in vegetation, and whole ridges quite devoid
of trees are seen, while few are covered with any-
thing more than a species of dwarf pine, little larger
than shrubs. This has probably arisen from many
generations of these village folk having cut down
everything in the shape of a tree of any size in their
neighbourhood in order to obtain fuel, and as the
science of forestry was either unknown or totally
neglected, the hills have not unnaturally suffered.
The Korean, though lazy, is yet far from being a
bad agriculturist, for he, too, appears quite capable
212
LAND OF MORNING CALM
of drawing with little labour what is necessary for
his requirements from the generous earth. But with
its fine climate, good rainfall, and richly watered
fertile land, there are still greater possibilities before
Korea. The Japanese are taking this matter up
by establishing experimental farms throughout the
country, and importing large numbers of their
own farmers with a view to greatly increasing
the areas under cultivation and improving the crops
produced. It is not unlikely, therefore, that in the
near future Korea will be in a position to export
immense quantities of rice for the benefit of Japan
and other countries. Doubtless, in course of time,
also a Forestry Department will undertake the
reafforestation of the barren heights, which will
not only add beauty to a singularly attractive region,
but should prove of great commercial advantage
as well in years to come.
For the last hour or so before darkness set In we
followed closely the bank of a large stream, and
shortly after 6.30 p.m. reached Fusan. We were
met at the station by the Japanese Vice-Resident
of the port, who had come to do the honours of the
place to General Broadwood, and accompanied us on
our ten minutes' walk round the end of the harbour
to where the Satsuma Maru, a ship of 1,900 tons
register, was lying alongside the wharf. Having
seen us comfortably installed on board, he took
his departure. Although the moon was just up, we
were able to see little of the town, but were informed
by the Vice-Resident that it was divided into two
213
KOREA
separate colonies, some 20,000 Japanese occupying
the town at one end of the harbour, whilst about an
equal number of Koreans were located in the one at
the other end.
We cast off at 8 p.m., and at once commenced the
sea-trip of some 120 miles across the Straits of Tsu-
shima — the scene of the memorable naval battle
between the Russian Baltic Fleet and the united
Navy of Japan. It was a lovely evening, and the
sea was like glass, so, when w^e came up on deck
after dinner, we were able to enjoy a cigarette before
turning in, while we watched the mountains of the
Land of Morning Calm slowly fading from sight,
bathed in the soft moonlight of a peaceful night.
214
REFORMS AND PROGRESS IN KOREA
By Viscount Masatake Terauchi
His Imperial Japanese Majesty^s Residency -General
CHAPTER XVII
THE RELATIONS OF KOREA WITH JAPAN
D
URING several decades, many suggestions
were offered and sincere efforts exerted by
Japan with a view to reforming the malad-
ministration in the neighbouring Kingdom. The
latter's gracious Sovereign and patriotic statesmen
also attempted on several occasions to improve the
condition of the country, and many enlightened laws
and ordinances were enacted. But the jealousies
prevailing among political parties, which were often
entangled with the interests of rival foreign Powers,
not only hindered reform measures but also retarded
the progress that had been partially initiated.
After the conclusion of the war with Russia, Japan's
paramount position in Korea was gradually defined,
and subsequently received recognition at the hands
of the civilised countries of East and West alike.
More recently, a New Agreement with Korea was
concluded, by which a Resident-General, represent-
ing the Japanese Government in that country,
was made the distinctly legalised repository of
power to reform the Korean administration. It is
now hoped that the progress of Korea, unhampered
by political jealousies and international rivalries,
which have been productive of so much harm in the
217
KOREA
past, will continue uninterruptedly, under the gui-
dance of the Resident-General, aided by the united
efforts of the Korean Government and its patriotic
subjects; and further, that the Koreans, whose
condition was greatly impoverished, will gradually
enjoy prosperity and will assimilate the advantages
of modern civilisation.
It may not be altogether useless to make a few
remarks here upon the history of Korea's relations
with Japan in the past, so as to render clear the
inevitable character of the latter's present responsi-
bility.
From the very beginning, it has been the unbroken
policy of Japan to open the "Hermit Kingdom" to
the world, to establish terms of neighbourly friend-
ship with the peninsular nation, to strengthen the
Korean Imperial House, and to maintain the inde-
pendence of the country. After the attempts to
break down Korea's seclusion — made by France,
in 1866, by the United States, in 1871, and later by
Japan, in 1872 — had all failed. General Takamori
Saigo urged the immediate despatch of an expedi-
tion to Korea to give effect to that policy. But
Mr. Ito (now Prince and Resident-General) having
been commissioned, together with M. Boissonade
(a French jurist, then legal adviser to the Japanese
Government), to investigate the conditions existing
in Korea, a majority of the Cabinet voted to try
conciliation and diplomacy in preference to a dis-
play of force. Accordingly, Japanese envoys were
despatched, and, in the sequel of patient efforts,
«18
KOREA WITH JAPAN
they succeeded in concluding a treaty of amity and
commerce on February 26, 1876, in which Japan
recognised that "Korea, being an independent
country, enjoys the same sovereign rights as Japan."
Western Powers were not slow to follow this example.
With the hope of making Korea's independence
a reality, Japan employed all the resources of friendly
suggestion to induce the former to adopt modern
civilised methods, to reform her corrupt admin-
istration, to reorganise her police system, and to
strengthen her military defences, so as to be able to
fulfil her treaty obligations. In consequence, how-
ever, of jealousy between political parties, nothing
resulted but plots and counterplots. Coups d'etat
and insurrections came in rapid succession. The
Japanese Legation was twice attacked: once, in 1882,
by the mob combined with the soldiery, who are
habitually used in Korea as political tools; and once,
in 1884, by Korean troops co-operating with Chinese.
On each occasion the Japanese Minister, with his
wife and children, had to fly from Seoul for safety.
Nevertheless, the difi'erences between Japan and
Korea, in which China was inextricably mixed up,
were settled without any serious conflict by con-
ventions concluded at Chemulpo, in 1882, and at
Seoul and Tientsin, in 1885. Thereafter, however,
Japan's endeavours to maintain Korea's indepen-
dence and to carry out reforms in her corrupt
administration were so greatly obstructed by China
that the two countries drifted into war, with the
result that China had to recognise Korean inde-
219
K O R E A
pendence by the treaty of Shimonoseki, in 1895.
Japan then reverted to her programme of friendly
advice. She urged Korea to reform her corrupt
administration, which endangered Hfe and property
and which must cause foreign compHcations cal-
culated to imperil ultimately the integrity of the
Kingdom. Following these sincere counsels, the
Korean Government engaged a number of Japanese
advisers in several branches of officialdom, and
enacted various laws for the improvement of internal
administration. But, after a brief period of service,
the Japanese advisers were dismissed owing to polit-
ical intrigues as well as to the foreign complication
of 1895-6. Thus all the reform measures hitherto
initiated were arrested. Korean political history
was a perpetual repetition of the same tale: plot,
counterplot, insurrection, and foreign complications.
Japan was again compelled to engage in a costly
war, this time w^ith Russia, largely on account
of Korean affairs. But Japan had now realised
that Korea was not capable of governing herself, and
that the policy of maintaining her independence
could not be pursued without certain modifications.
Indeed, as the Resident-General declared in a speech
made in July, 4907, "the identity of Korean and
Japanese interests in the Far East and the para-
mount character of Japanese interests in Korea
will not permit Japan to leave Korea to the care
of any other foreign country: she must assume the
charge herself."
Thus Japan took the responsibility of intervention
220
KOREA WITH JAPAN
in Korean affairs, after having given the Koreans
ample opportunity to prove their fitness for self-
government, and after having found them wholly
unprepared for the task. Subsequently to the
outbreak of war with Russia, Japan, by succes-
sive agreements, obtained entire control of Korea's
foreign affairs. This fact being afterwards recognised
by the other Treaty Powers, they duly withdrew
their diplomatic representatives from Seoul. With
respect to domestic affairs, Japan has assumed
advisory supervision of the general administra-
tion, but, in military matters, if "the welfare of
the Imperial House or the territorial integrity of
Korea" is endangered by the aggression of a third
Power, or by internal disturbances, Japan is to
have direct control. Further, the "control and
administration of the post, telegraph, and telephone
services in Korea (except the telephone service
exclusively pertaining to the Department of the
Imperial Household) " have been transferred to the
Japanese Government.
In addition to assuming direct control of Korean
affairs, the Resident-General, representing the Jap-
anese Government, commenced faithfully to exercise
his advisory functions in the general administration.
As to the details of his procedure, he caused the
Korean Government to engage a number of Jap-
anese advisers, councillors, or assistant-councillors,
both for the Imperial Household and for the vari-
ous Departments of State, in addition to a financial
adviser and a diplomatic adviser, who had been
221
KOREA
engaged before the establishment of the Residency-
General. Technical experts were also engaged for
the public works and for the model experimental
farms where instruction was given in industry,
agriculture, and forestry. In matters relating to
the reform of local administration, it was arranged
that the Vice-Residents of the Japanese local Resi-
dencies should act as councillors to Provincial Gov-
ernors; and Finance Councillors were distributed
among the thirteen provinces to act as advisers to
the Provincial Tax Supervisors. Assistant-Council-
lors were to stand in the same relation to Tax
Assessors in important districts. As to police admin-
istration, in addition to a Police Advisory Board,
having its headquarters in the Central Government,
there were attached to each of the thirteen provincial
capitals similar police advisory boards, under which
were branch boards, the Japanese advisory police
working with the Korean police side by side. For
the administration of justice, a Japanese legal
councillor, or assistant-councillor, was attached to
each of the courts, local and high, in Seoul, and to
each of the courts in the Provincial Governments
as well as to magistracies of prefectures and districts.
Thus no radical changes were introduced into the
old Korean administrative organisation. On the
contrary, the Resident-General tried to improve
the existing Korean administration by general gui-
dance under the various Japanese advisory bodies.
The Central Government had competence to enact
any necessary laws and ordinances for reform
222
KOREA WITH JAPAN
measures, and to instruct Local Governments to
act in accordance with advice, while local oflScials
were expected to pay due attention to advice given
by the Japanese councillors.
But the operation of this system proved unsatis-
factory, owing to the fact that the Korean officials
paid little respect to the advice given, so long as
they were free to adopt or reject it at will. More-
over, the incapacity of Korean officials and the
habitually crooked methods of the Korean Govern-
ment greatly handicapped the success of the pro-
jected programme. Thus it resulted that advisory
guidance had practically little or no effect in bring-
ing about the desired changes in the old-time malad-
ministration of affairs. So many evils and abuses
had taken deep root that more direct management
on the part of the Resident-General, together with
some modifications in the Government organisation
and the employment of capable officials, became
vitally important, since otherwise the welfare and
prosperity of the Korean people could not be pro-
moted. These experiences and considerations com-
pelled the conclusion of a new Agreement. It
was signed on July 24, 1907. By it the Resident-
General was given more direct participative power
in the general administration. He acquired initia-
tive as well as consultory competence to enact and
enforce laws and ordinances, to appoint and remove
Korean officials, and to place capable Japanese
subjects in the ranks of Korean officialdom. The
Agreement provided specially for differentiation of
223
KOREA
the Judiciary and the Executive, as much corruption
existed under the old system which invested both the
provincial governors and the district magistrates
with judicial functions.
So important was this Agreement that it should
be regarded as the new and fundamental principle
for the reform of the Korean Administration, in
pursuance of which object so many measures had
hitherto proved abortive. Therefore it will be well
to quote at length the provisions of the Agreement: —
"1. The Government of Korea shall act under
the guidance of the Resident-General in respect to
reforms in administration.
"2. The Government of Korea engage not to
enact any laws, ordinances, or regulations, or take
any important measures of administration, without
the previous assent of the Resident-General.
"3. The judicial affairs in Korea shall be set apart
from the affairs of ordinary administration.
*'4. The appointment and dismissal of all high
officials in Korea shall be made upon the concur-
rence of the Resident-General.
"5. The Government of Korea shall appoint as
Korean officials Japanese subjects recommended
by the Resident-General."
By the Convention concluded on November 17,
1905, the Japanese Government was to be repre-
sented at the Imperial Korean Court by a Tokan
(Resident-General) *' primarily for the purpose of
taking charge of and directing matters relating to
diplomatic affairs," and this Tokan was to have
224
KOREA WITH JAPAN
"the right of private and personal audience" with
the Korean Emperor, while Rijikan (Residents)
were to be stationed at the several open ports and
at such other important places in Korea as the
Japanese Government might deem necessary, in
order primarily to exercise "the powers and func-
tions hitherto appertaining to Japanese Consuls in
Korea." The detailed organisation and functions of
the To-Kan-Fu (the Residency-General) and the Riji-
cho (Residencies) were first set forth in Imperial
Ordinance No. 267, issued on December 20, 1905,
and were amended by Imperial Ordinance No. 295,
issued soon after the conclusion of the New Agree-
ment of 1907. Directly appointed by the Japanese
Emperor, the Resident-General is responsible to
none but the Sovereign of Japan. He addresses the
Japanese Throne and seeks Imperial sanction for
all matters through the Prime Minister, but in
matters relating to Foreign Affairs, he must first
communicate with the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
According to the first Imperial Ordinance, he had
"general control of all business relating to foreigners
and foreign consulates in Korea, with the exception
of such as pass through the foreign Representatives
resident " in Japan; he had to " oversee all administra-
tive business carried out by the Imperial (Japanese)
authorities and officers in Korea" which falls within
the purview of the treaty stipulations, and he had
to "discharge all functions of supervision hitherto
devolving on the Imperial authorities." The New
Agreement confers on the Residency- General more
225
KOREA
direct powers over the internal affairs of Korea,
and the functions of the Resident-General are pro-
vided for in general terms and in a wider sense in
the amended Ordinance, which reads as follows: —
"The Resident-General shall represent the Imperial
Government of Japan in Korea and control general
political affairs in accordance with treaties, laws, and
ordinances." The military power is also vested in
the Resident-General, and he has competence to
issue orders direct to the Commander-in-Chief of
the Japanese garrison troops in Korea for the employ-
ment of military force, if he deem "such a course
necessary for the better preservation of peace and
order in Korea." In discharging his functions,
the Resident-General had originally under him a
Director General, a Director of Foreign Affairs, a
Director of Agricultural, Commercial, and Industrial
Affairs, a Director of Police Affairs, a Private Secre-
tary, seven Secretaries, two Police Inspectors, five
Engineers, ten Interpreters, and 45 subordinate
officials. By the amended Ordinance, the organiza-
tion of the Residency-General has been modified,
so that the offices of Director of Foreign Affairs,
Director of Agricultural, Commercial, and Indus-
trial Affairs, and Director of Police Affairs have
been abolished; while a Fuku-Tokan (Vice-Resident
General) and two permanent Councillors have been
created. There are also slight changes in the
number of the other officials. But there is no
alteration with regard to the Director General: his
functions continue to be the direction of general
226
KOREA WITH JAPAN
affairs in the Residency-General. By the New
Agreement the functions of the Resident-General
being largely increased, the creation of the oflfice
of Vice-Resident-General, to assist the Resident-
General and to act in the latter's stead in case of
absence or inability, is very important. The Vice-
Resident-General also is appointed direct by the
Emperor. One of the permanent Councillors is
to be Chief of the Department of Foreign Affairs,
and the other, Chief of the Supervisory Department.
In addition to these officials the Vice-Ministers of
the Korean Cabinet and of the Imperial House-
hold are ex-officio Councillors in the Residency-
General. Under the Resident-General are the
Resident-General's Secretariat, the charge of which
is taken by the Director General; a Department of
Foreign Affairs, a Supervisory Department, and a
Department of Local Affairs. The Resident-Gen-
eral's Secretariat is again divided into three sec-
tions, which deal respectively with Documents,
Accounts, and Personnel.
Moreover, under the Resident-General are a
Bureau of Communications, a Railway Bureau, a
Forest Undertaking Station, and an Appeal Court
of Japan in Korea, the last of which entertains all
cases appealed from the courts maintained by
Japanese Residencies.
The Japanese Consulates, or their branch offices
in Korea, were converted into Residencies in Jan-
uary, 1906. The Residents stationed at Seoul,
the open ports, and other important places are to
227
KOREA
discharge, under the orders and supervision of the
Resident-General, "the duties originally pertaining
to Consuls in Korea, together with such duties as
the treaties and laws require Residents to perform."
The control of Korean foreign affairs having been
transferred to the Japanese Government, the func-
tions of the Korean local authorities relating to
foreigners and foreign Consuls have been assumed
by the Resident. That is to say, the issuing of title
deeds of land, and the collecting of rents or land
taxes in the foreign settlements, hitherto done by
Korean Superintendents at treaty ports, have all
been entrusted to the Japanese Residents. The
Residents may issue passports to foreigners who
desire to travel in the interior or outside treaty
limits, and to Korean officials or private persons
proceeding abroad. The Resident is also concerned
with foreigners claiming proprietory rights of real
estate or mortgage rights in regions outside treaty
limits, under "the Regulations for certifying the
Proprietorship of Lands or Houses." These Regu-
lations went into force from December 1, 1906.
They provide that, if one of the parties concerned
in a contract of sale, gift, exchange, or mortgage of
real estate is a foreigner, the contract should first
be certified by the Korean local authorities, and
again examined and certified by the nearest Resident,
otherwise the contract can not be regarded as valid.
When both parties are foreigners, the Resident
certifies the contract and gives notice of the same
to the local authorities for registration. By "the
228
KOREA WITH JAPAN
Regulations for the Enforcement of Foreclosing
Mortgages upon Lands and Houses," which have
been in effect since February 1, 1907, the Korean
local authorities, when a dispute arises between a
native debtor and an alien creditor with regard
to foreclosing a mortgage, are to settle the case
with the approval of the nearest Resident. If the
debtor is a foreigner and the creditor a native, the
Resident settles the question with the approval
of the local authorities. \^Tien both parties are
foreigners, the Resident settles the question by
himself and then notifies the Korean authorities
of his decision.
Concerning the improvement of local administra-
tion, a branch office of a Residency was established
in September, 1906, at each place where a seat of
provincial government was located, and a Vice-
Resident had to act as adviser to the Governor in
reforms of local administration. But as a result
of the New Agreement, a Japanese subject being
now appointed as secretary to each provincial govern-
ment, the above branch office of the Residency
became unnecessary, and ceased to exist on the
31st December, 1907.
Again, as results of the New Agreement, the
Korean Government reorganised the police admin-
istration, appointing Japanese subjects as Chiefs
of Police Bureaus and as Inspector General of the
Metropolitan Police Board; while the Japanese
police, formerly engaged in police advisory bodies,
became Korean police, and the Japanese police
229
KOREA
force hitherto maintained by the Residencies was
amalgamated with tlie Korean poHce on the 2nd of
September, 1906. Residents, however, still retain
powers of command and superintendence over the
police appointed by the Korean Government, so
far as concerns affairs relating to Japanese subjects
in Korea.
In the place of Chief Police Inspector, each
Residency has created an office of Chief Prison
Inspector, who has charge of prison affairs relating
to Japanese criminals in Korea.
The so-called "Open door policy" in Korea has
been from the very beginning maintained by the
Japanese Government. In both the treaties of
alliance between England and Japan, concluded
on January 30, 1902, and on August 12, 1905,
respectively, adherence to that policy was a funda-
mental key note of the engagements. In the latter
treaty especially Japan solemnly and explicitly
pledged herself to observe "the principle of equal
opportunities for the commerce and industry of
all nations," while Great Britain recognised the
right of Japan to take measures for "the guidance,
control, and protection of Korea." Although Japan,
in accordance with the Convention concluded on
November 17, 1905, assumed the entire control of the
foreign affairs of Korea and undertook the duty of
watching over "the execution of the treaties actually
existing between Korea and other Powers," five
days after the conclusion of this Convention, namely,
on November 22, 1905, a circular note was addressed
230
KOREA WITH JAPAN
to the Treaty Powers, in which the Imperial Gov-
ernment of Japan declared that "in assuming charge
of the foreign relations of Korea and undertaking
the duty of watching over the execution of the
existing treaties of that country, they will see that
those treaties are maintained and respected, and they
also engage not to prejudice in any way the legiti-
mate commercial and industrial interests of these
Powers in Korea."
Since the establishment of the Residency-General
in Seoul, the Resident-General has faithfully observed
this principle of his Government, and exerted his
power and influence along the line of the "Open
door policy." For example, the privilege of mining
in Korea was not previously given to aliens, except
by special grant in rare cases. But as a result of
the operation of the mining laws and their detailed
regulations, enacted, in 1906, by the advice of the
Residency-General, mining concessions became open
to any alien on making due application; and the
right of transferring the concession by sale, gift,
succession, or mortgage was fully secured. Such
was also the case with the holding of real estate. A
provision in the Korean criminal law prohibits
Koreans from selling real estate (private or public),
or any forest land outside the treaty limits, to aliens,
either directly or indirectly. Nevertheless, the laws
for certifying the proprietorship of houses and lands
and the foreclosing of mortgages create competence
to recognise the right of aliens to own real estate
under certain conditions.
231
KOREA
Debt claims and complaints by foreigners against
the Korean Court or Government were not promptly
or satisfactorily settled until the Resident-General
began to take charge of matters concerning foreigners.
This may be illustrated by reference to a claim for
a large sum preferred by a foreign firm in Seoul
against the Korean Court on account of imported
rice, railway material, and ammunition. The affair
had been long outstanding when, application having
been made to the Residency-General, the latter
proposed to have it settled by a commission of
inquiry, consisting of members of the Finance
Bureau of the Imperial Household, of the Residency-
General, and of the Consulate whose national was
concerned. The investigation lasted several months,
and it was finally decided that a due amount should
be paid to the firm. Moreover, claims for salary
made by two foreign engineers in the service of the
Imperial Household, and by an employee; a claim
by a foreign bank in connection with a discounted
note, and a claim on account of provisions supplied
to the Imperial Household by a Chinese firm were
all satisfactorily settled through the good offices of
the Residency-General.
232
CHAPTER XVIII
THE ADMINISTRATION
ALTHOUGH Japan has assumed protectory
responsibility in Korea, yet the strength-
ening of the Imperial House and the main-
tenance of its dignity have been, and ever will be,
one of her fundamental principles. In the Protocol
concluded on February 23, 1904, the Japanese Gov-
ernment guaranteed "the safety and tranquillity
of the Imperial House of Korea." Again, in the
convention concluded on November 17, 1905, when
the right of establishing the Residency-General at
Seoul was secured, the Japanese Government declared
that it undertook "to maintain the welfare and dig-
nity of the Imperial House of Korea." Soon after
the Resident-General had assumed his duties in
Seoul, he repeatedly advised the Korean Court to
clearly differentiate the functions of the Court from
those of the State, their confusion having been a
chief cause of the weakness and corruption of the
Korean Government and of the Imperial Court as
well.
The separation of the State from the Imperial
Household had been attempted previously soon after
the Chino-Japanese War, under Japanese advisers,
by the enactment of regulations for the Cabinet and
233
KOREA
for the Department of the Imperial Household. As
a result of these measures, the Imperial Household
Department was created for the first time, the sphere
of its activities being confined purely to Household
matters, administrative functions being left entirely
to the Cabinet, and the Minister of the Imperial
Household not being included among the members
of the Cabinet. But these reform measures were
rendered wholly inoperative by the coup d'etat of
1895-1896, which resulted in the Imperial House-
hold soon again becoming confused with the Execu-
tive. Administrative officials were appointed through
the Minister of the Imperial Household; offices were
often sold by him, or by influential officials in the
Imperial Household, without reference to the Min-
ister of State concerned, and not only were taxes
collected by officials despatched from the Imperial
Household, but also the sphere of national finance
was in other ways frequently invaded by them. This
confusion produced innumerable evils and abuses in
the Imperial Household. Many thousands of inca-
pable officials were appointed and many superfluous
offices created, some of the latter keeping separate
accounts and collecting revenue and paying expenses
independently. Sales of offices, bribes, and con-
fiscations of private property were quite prevalent
among influential officials in the Imperial House-
hold. Further, although theoretically the Minister
of the Imperial Household controlled all officials
under him and alone had competence to address the
Throne and obtain Imperial sanction, yet many
234
THE ADMINISTRATION
officials, favourites of the Emperor, independently
and freely approached the Sovereign and irrespon-
sibly gave counsel to His Majesty. The Imperial
Palace was moreover frequented by diviners, for-
tune-tellers, and other persons, men and women, of
obscure origin and questionable character, their sole
object being to cheat and extract money from the
Imperial purse, in co-operation with native and for-
eign schemers. Political as well as personal dissen-
sions occasioned plots and counterplots even within
the Palace itself. In the face of these perilous
conditions the Resident-General could not remain
silent. Hence, as stated in the report for 1906, the
Residency-General, having obtained the Imperial
consent, caused, in 1906, the Police Adviser to sta-
tion constables at each gate of the Palace, in order
to keep off persons of questionable character, and
at the same time the " Palace Precincts Ordinance"
was promulgated, by which passes were to be issued
only to known persons who had legitimate business
with the Court.
Thus the Resident-General used his best exertions
to purify the chronic state of corruption which had
become so deeply rooted in the Imperial Household,
and to improve the management of Court affairs,
through the intervention of advisers and councillors.
But inasmuch as the Court was free to accept or
reject this advice at will, the reforms in the Imperial
Household were not satisfactorily carried into effect
until the conclusion of the New Agreement. As a
result of the latter, the Resident-General acquired
235
KOREA
the right of more direct intervention in the affairs
of the Imperial House, and Japanese officials were
nominated to important offices in the Court. New
regulations for the Imperial Household were pro-
mulgated on November 29, 1907. By them the
Minister of the Household alone has the right to
address the Throne and obtain its sanction in matters
concerning the Imperial Household, and, whereas
twenty-four offices had existed in the previous
organisation, these were consolidated or reduced to
thirteen, an establishment of several thousand officials
being cut down to, at most, one-third of that number,
while accounts hitherto kept independently at vari-
ous offices were brought under the sole management
of the Nai-chan Won (Bureau of Accounts).
As the properties owned or controlled by the
Imperial House had fallen into a disordered condi-
tion, a "Bureau of Readjustment of the Imperial
House Property," under the superintendence of the
Minister of the Household, was also established in
November, 1907. This Bureau is to conduct all
business relating to the readjustment, maintenance,
and management of properties, movable or immov-
able, of the Imperial House.
Again, the properties owned or managed by the
Imperial House, being much confused or confounded
with those belonging to the State, an "Imperial and
State Property Investigation Committee" has been
established to examine into the condition of the
properties of the Imperial House and the State, to
define their respective ownership and to settle mat-
236
THE ADMINISTRATION
ters relating to their readjustment. Its ex-officio
committee consisted of the Vice-Ministers of the
Imperial Household, and of the Department of
Finance and the Interior, under the Presidency
of the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce, and
Industry.
The Korean administrative system in the Central
Government, like the Central Government in China,
was conducted by a board consisting of Ministers
of State and other influential personages in the
Imperial Court. It was called the Wi-jong-pu
(Deliberative Board). Being essentially what its
title implies, namely, a deliberative body, its head
Minister Wi-jong had no adequate power to control
the administration of the various departments or to
maintain uniformity or harmony among them, his
duties being little more than to preside at the council
meetings. Under such a system, even the detailed
regulations of a particular administrative depart-
ment having to be submitted for approval by the
Wi-jong-pu, each Minister of State had little discre-
tionary power, so that promptness and efficiency
were hardly to be expected. It naturally resulted
that many superfluous offices came into existence
and incompetent officials were appointed. Further-
more, the confusion between the State and the
Court, mentioned above, constantly hampered the
execution of administrative measures.
In the reforms of 1895, a modern system of admin-
istration was first inaugurated by establishing a
Cabinet, in which the Minister of the Imperial
237
KOREA
Household was not included, the object being to
draw a clear line of demarcation between the Court
and the State. But this reform was defeated by the
coup d'etat of 1896, the Cabinet being then abolished
and the old system of deliberative government
restored by an Imperial edict issued on September
24th of that year. Thereafter, according to a body
of amended regulations for the organisation of the
Deliberative Board, issued as an Imperial edict on
June 16, 1898, the Minister of the Imperial House-
hold was again included among the members of the
Cabinet, the old confusion between the affairs of the
State and those of the Imperial Household being
thus recreated.
After the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese
Financial Adviser to the Korean Government first
suggested reforming the administrative organisation
from the fiscal side. That is to say, reforms were
confined to reduction of unnecessary oflBcials; the
abolition or amalgamation of different parts of the
State establishment and the redistribution of official
functions being relegated to the future. Thus,
under the provisions of regulations relating to the
establishment of the Central Government, which
were issued in March, 1905, the number of oflBcials
was reduced from 751 to 571, and although the State
saved only 40,000 yen by this reform, the honesty of
the oflBcials was secured to a large extent by increas-
ing their salaries. Moreover, the functions of the
Minister of the Imperial Household were by regula-
tion confined to affairs of the Household only, and
238
THE ADMINISTRATION
thus the separation of the State from the Court was
attempted.
Acting on the advice of the Residency-General, the
Korean Government improved its central adminis-
tration by the operation of new regulations relating
to Cabinet organisation (issued on June 16, 1907).
The term "Cabinet" was substituted for that of
Wi-jong-pu. It consisted of a Minister President
of State and Ministers of Home Affairs, Finance,
Education, War, Justice, and Agricultural, Com-
mercial, and Industrial Affairs. As for the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, it was transferred to Japan by
the convention concluded on November 17, 1905.
The Minister President of State (Prime Minister) is
empowered to control the Ministers of the several
Departments and to maintain harmony among them.
Every law or Imperial Ordinance has to be counter-
signed by the Prime Minister and the Minister, or
Ministers, of State concerned in the matter, and the
signatories are responsible to the Sovereign for the
measure.
According to the regulations for the organisation
of the various Departments of State, promulgated
in December, 1907, though the Minister of each
Department is under the control of the Prime Min-
ister and must obtain Imperial sanction through
the latter in appointing or removing high officials
in his Department, he has ample discretionary power
to issue administrative decrees within his jurisdic-
tion and to appoint or dismiss subordinate officials.
The function of the Vice-Minister of State, who is
239
KOREA
to be a Japanese and from whom administrative
efficiency is expected, is "to assist the Minister of
State, to take charge of Departmental affairs, and
to supervise all business of the Department."
Soon after the Resident-General had assumed his
duties in Korea, he was confronted by the question
of local administration, among many others. As
stated in the report for 1906, a special commission,
consisting of several Korean officials and two Jap-
anese from the staff of the Resident-General, was
established under the direction of the Resident-Gen-
eral in order to draft measures for the improvement
of local administration, by thoroughly investigating
the root of the evils and abuses incidental to the
old system, while, at the same time, being careful to
avoid radical changes such as might provoke need-
less popular antagonism. This investigation found
expression in the organic laws of the local adminis-
tration, embodied in Imperial edicts and decrees of
the Department of Home Affairs, issued in Septem-
ber, 1906. According to these laws, the offices of
crown commissioner and of superintendent in the
treaty ports were abolished, and districts contain-
ing open ports were elevated to prefectures, making
the total administrative divisions of the country
13 provinces, 11 prefectures, and 333 districts.
Although, under this system, provincial governors
were to be controlled by the Central Government,
and prefects and magistrates by the provincial gov-
ernors, a certain measure of local autonomy was
recognised, such as a governor's power to levy
240
THE ADMINISTRATION
local taxes and to issue administrative decrees, the
same authority being given to prefects and magis-
trates within their jurisdictions. As corruption in
connection with the sale and purchase of offices and
the appointment of unqualified officials cried aloud
for remedy, a "Local Civil Service Supervisory
Committee" was established; and it was enacted
that the appointment of all local administrative
high officials must be subject to examination and
approval by this Committee. In order to encourage
honesty among officials, salaries were increased all
round, and an entertaining allowance was given to
principal officials.
By the reform measures of 1906, the local admin-
istration under the Japanese advisers was expected
to improve gradually as compared with its former
condition, and was also expected to prepare the
way for a system of local autonomy, the old idea
of decentralisation being preserved. It was soon
found, however, that a more centralised administra-
tion was needed for the practical welfare of Korea, so
long as her political, social, and economic conditions
were in a primitive stage; and that, for purposes of
local administrative reform, guidance more direct
than mere advice was necessary. Hence, after the
conclusion of the New Agreement, well qualified
Japanese subjects have been appointed to the posts
of Secretary (one). Chief Police Inspector (one), and
Clerks (three) in each provincial government. Fur-
ther, the provincial governors' power of levj'ing
local taxes, which had been conferred by the previ-
241
KOREA
ous regulations, was rescinded; their jurisdiction
in matters relating to weights and measures and
mineral products was transferred to the Central
Government; and the power of prefects and local
magistrates to issue administrative decrees was also
revoked. The functions of the Secretary (Japan-
ese) in the provincial governments, by whose efforts
large improvement in the efficiency of local ad-
ministration is hoped for, are primarily to assist the
Governor; to act in the latter's capacity in case
of his absence or temporary inability to discharge
duty; and to have charge of all matters relating to
local administration, charity, religion, ceremonies,
public works, education, foreigners, and the encour-
agement of industry. The functions of the Chief
Police Inspector (Japanese) are to have charge of
matters relating to police, sanitation, census, and
emigration.
242
CHAPTER XIX
THE JUDICIARY
IN Oriental countries, generally speaking, the
judiciary is not separate from the executive,
and this used to be specially true in Korea,
where provincial governors and local magistrates
commonly discharged judicial functions in their ex-
ecutive capacity. Judicial reforms were begun first
under Japanese advisers soon after the China-Japan
War. A code for the constitution of law courts was
promulgated on March 25, 1895. It provided for
the establishment of a special court to deal with
crimes committed by members of the Imperial
family, a court of cassation, circuit courts, "treaty-
port courts" which should administer justice in
cases of an international nature, and local courts.
At the same time, a law school was founded for the
purpose of training judges, public procurators, and
clerks. This organisation existed on paper only : the
work of putting it into practice was largely neg-
lected. Excepting the establishment of the Court
of Cassation and the Seoul Local Court, the other
courts mentioned above never came into actual ex-
istence. The provincial governors, prefects, super-
intendents of treaty ports, and district magistrates
continued to assume the name, and discharge the
243
KOREA
functions, of judges in administering justice. Civil
cases were for the most part determined according
to the amount of the bribe offered by plaintiff or
defendant, and criminal cases by the arbitrary will
of the judge. Until very recently there was no such
thing as a barrister to defend a suspected criminal;
a witness was in many cases considered a particeps
criminis; and torture was commonly resorted to as a
means of procuring evidence required by the magis-
trate. Under such a state of things the conviction
of innocent people and the confiscation of their prop-
erty were common occurrences. Even in such inde-
pendent tribunals as the Court of Cassation and the
Seoul Local Court, judges and procurators, being
utterly deficient in legal knowledge and training,
often delivered wrong judgments. Under the treaty
stipulations Korean courts can entertain actions
brought by foreigners against the people of the
country, but as the judicial tribunals are held in
ridicule by foreigners, cases against Korean subjects
were almost sure to be made international questions,
and thus carried into diplomatic channels.
Impressed by the urgent necessity of protecting
life and property, the Resident-General, w^hile avoid-
ing any introduction of radical reforms in the organ-
isation of the Korean courts, caused the Korean
Government, as stated in the last report {i.e. for
1906), to engage a Japanese councillor and assistants
in the Department of Judicial Affairs, who should
take an active part in the administration of judicial
business and superintend the revision of laws and
244
THE JUDICIARY
ordinances. In addition to increasing the number
of judges and clerks in the Court of Cassation and
the Seoul Local Court, a Japanese legal assistant
was attached to each of these courts, to aid in the
proper administration of justice. A Japanese legal
assistant was also appointed to each court connected
with the offices of governors or prefectures, though
governors and prefects still retained their judicial
functions as heretofore; and a Japanese Assistant
Police-Adviser was stationed in each district to
act as legal assistant in the court of that district
magistrate. These appointments of Japanese with
advisory powers to Korean courts produced some
good results. Thus the system of torture was abol-
ished; the arrest of a person on a civil charge was
suspended; the detention of alleged offenders in the
court-house was stopped ; and all judges were strictly
charged to keep the records of decisions rendered
by them.
But so long as the judicial branch of the Govern-
ment was not separated from the executive, the evils
and abuses of the old system, which are so deeply
rooted, could not be fully removed.
By the New Agreement the Resident-General
secured from the Korean Government a pledge to
separate the judiciary from the executive, as the
first step in the direction of a complete judicial
reform. The Korean Government agreed also to
appoint Japanese subjects to the following offices
in the Korean courts which were to be estab-
lished: —
245
KOREA
1. A chief justice, a chief procurator, two judges,
and five clerks in the Court of Cassation.
2. A chief justice, two judges, a chief procurator,
an assistant procurator, and five clerks in each of
the three Courts of Appeal.
3. In the eight Local Courts, the chief justices,
the senior procurators, thirty-two judges, and eighty
clerks.
4. A judge and a clerk in each District Court.
Regulations relating to the organisation of the
law courts were finally enacted on December 27,
1907. According to these Regulations the country
is to have 125 courts altogether, viz: — A Court of
Cassation, or Supreme Court, in Seoul; Courts of
Appeal in Seoul, Ping-yang, and Taiku, respec-
tively; eight Local Courts, one at Seoul and one in
each of the capitals of the other seven provinces of
the old administrative division; and finally, 115 Dis-
trict Courts in the principal districts throughout the
country. Korea has adopted the so-called "three
trial system," which is that in practice in Japan as
well as in continental Europe. The District and
Local Courts are to hear civil and criminal cases in
first instance. The former tribunals deal with minor
offences and with civil suits involving sums not
exceeding two hundred yen, but with the right of
appeal to a Local Court. A case originating in a
Local Court goes up to a Court of Appeal, while a
case brought up from a District Court to a Local
Court must be referred direct to the Court of Cassa-
tion. The Court of Cassation has jurisdiction also
246
THE JUDICIARY
in matters carried up from the Courts of Appeal, and
has sole jurisdiction in first and last instance over
all criminal cases brought against any member of the
Imperial House. In the District Courts the hearing
is to be before a single judge, but in the other courts
the bench is collegiate.
The Koreans had little or no conception of private
rights as these were understood elsewhere in the
Orient. Thus such maladministration existed for
a long time that public oflScials were accustomed to
pay only scant respect to the private rights of the
people, and the latter, on their side, dared not com-
plain against official extortion. In short, civil law
guaranteeing private rights had practically no exist-
ence. This is undoubtedly one of the main causes
of the people's impoverishment. Although the exist-
ing code of criminal law was enacted as late as April,
1905, it is still intolerably severe in the punishments
it prescribes, nor is it free from defects in many other
ways. The death penalty is not confined to wilful
murder, but extends even to the case of thieves who
enter the Imperial Palace or a temple, and treason,
manslaughter, and desecration of graves are the
offences most commonly visited with capital punish-
ment. On the other hand, many penalties may be
lightened or commuted on payment of money. More-
over, in the administration of these laws, so little
independence is enjoyed by the judiciary that, in
case of doubt as to proper application of the laws,
the judges in the Court of Cassation or any other
court must consult the Minister of the Depart-
247
KOREA
ment of Justice and decide in accordance with his
opinion, which is final.
Consuls or Residents in Korea have civil as well
as criminal jurisdiction over the life and property of
their nationals by virtue of the treaty stipulations.
That is to say, foreign offenders in criminal cases,
using their consular courts, are protected against
any arbitrary proceedings of the local courts and
against the severe punishments of native laws, while
foreign defendants in civil cases are guaranteed
against any arbitrary decisions of native courts.
Subjects or citizens of the Treaty Powers are also
exempted from certain forms of taxes, and from
other administrative control by native oflficials.
Taking into consideration the historical conditions
which existed in Korea at the time when the treaties
were concluded, it was quite natural that civilised
nations should have wished to make their consular
jurisdiction as extensive as possible, even though they
pushed it beyond the limits of treaty stipulations.
Such privileges and exemptions, however, are not
free from disadvantages. These were hardly noticed
during the period when the number of foreign resi-
dents was small, and their requirements were rela-
tively simple; whereas the importance of maintaining
adequate safeguards against the arbitrary proceedings
of the native Government was very palpable. But
with the progressive tide of reforms, the conditions
of Korean life are changing year by year. Improved
methods of government, central and local, are grad-
ually taking root throughout the country; modern
248
THE JUDICIARY
law courts, with competent Japanese judges and
procurators associated, are steadily replacing the
old tribunals. It is a recognised fact that under
the guidance of the Resident-General, with the
co-operation of Japanese subjects who have been
recommended for their special fitness, the Korean
Administration is changing the situation heretofore
existing. The importance of maintaining consular
jurisdiction has thus greatly diminished; and it is
now rather the case that certain inconveniences re-
sulting from its continuance are becoming palpable.
Many missionaries, some of them helping to main-
tain schools and hospitals, are residing in towns and
villages in the interior quite outside treaty limits;
many hundreds of miners — Americans, Chinese,
and Japanese — are employed in mines ; several
foreigners now own real estate in places even outside
treaty limits; more particularly, a number of Jap-
anese and Chinese are engaging in agriculture in the
interior of the country. So soon, however, as the
Korean Government ceases to be arbitrary, law-
abiding subjects and citizens of foreign nations
should desiderate its positive protection in their
activities, in lieu of the purely negative preventive
system now prevailing. Furthermore, the differ-
ences of procedure observed by different nation-
alities in their Consular courts discourage native as
well as foreign plaintiffs from having recourse to the
laws administered there. Again, in appeal cases,
the inconvenience of recourse to appeal courts con-
stitutes a similar discouragement, seeing that an
249
K O II E A
appeal case under British or American consular
jurisdiction in Korea must be carried to Shanghai,
and, in the case of the French tribunals, to Saigon.
The Japanese Government, since the reform of the
Korean Police organisation in September, 1907, has
relied upon the Korean Police force, and abolished its
own, hitherto maintained in the former Consulates
and subsequent Residencies. As Japan has pre-
dominating interests in Korea, she should take the
lead in withdrawing her Consular jurisdiction. The
United States, at the very outset of her entrance into
treaty relations with Korea, in May, 1882, generously
encouraged the Korean Government by promising
to withdraw her Consular jurisdiction under the
following stipulations: —
"It is, however, mutually agreed between the
High Contracting Powers, that whenever the King
of Chosen shall have so far modified and reformed
the statutes and judicial procedure of his kingdom
that, in the judgment of the United States, they
conform to the laws and courts in the United States,
the right of extraterritorial jurisdiction of the United
States' citizens in Chosen shall be abandoned, and
thereafter United States citizens, when within the
limits of the kingdom of Chosen, shall be subject to
the jurisdiction of the native authorities."
A similar provision is made by treaty, declaration,
or protocol with Great Britain, France, Germany,
Italy, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and Denmark.
Prison administration as heretofore carried out in
Korea is a matter almost too unsavoury to describe.
250
THE JUDICIARY
The most common forms of punishment were beat-
ing, imprisonment, and confinement in the stocks.
The Penal Code is full of directions for administer-
ing floggings, which were often so severe as to render
the victim a cripple for life, if he did not die under
the infliction. Major offences, even robbery, are
for the most part regarded as punishable by death,
and although capital punishment, which formerly
meant decapitation, has recently been replaced by
hanging, yet even this latter form of execution has
been most cruelly carried out, being in fact slow
strangulation, so that the victim is in pain for half-
an-hour or more. Women convicted of major crimes
were often executed by poisons calculated to inflict
terrible agony before death ensued. Although regu-
lations for prison administration more or less on the
basis of modern principles were enacted in January,
1898, yet their enforcement was not separated from
the functions of the ordinary executive, being left
under the control of the Inspector General of Police
in Seoul and of the Provincial Governors in the prov-
inces. Consequently, prison administration, instead
of aiming at the punishment of criminals in the
interest of public safety, was often prostituted to
private ends, so that innocent people were frequently
thrown into jail simply at the dictates of political or
personal vengeance. The new regulations provided
that the treatment of prisoners awaiting trial should
be differentiated from that of those already convicted.
But in practice no such discrimination was made.
Again, injustice in the treatment of convicts of the
251
KOREA
lower classes was very marked, so that while an
offender of high official rank or the better class of
civilians could have the company of his family in
the prison yard and could order any luxury in the
way of food or bedding, a convict of the poorer class
could hardly obtain two meals a day, and often died
of actual starvation. As to sanitary measures,
nothing was provided. Most of the prison build-
ings in the provinces were mere shelters, often with
earth floors. In winter, when the thermometer
fell below zero, there were many cases of death from
cold. In hot summers, on the other hand, prisoners
often fell victims to epidemic diseases. Even the
prison compound in Seoul, which w^as established in
1902, had no separate building for the sick.
When judicial reforms were commenced in 1906
by introducing Japanese legal councillors in the
various courts, the Resident-General caused the
advisory police inspectors attached to the provincial
government offices to improve the prison adminis-
tration as far as circumstances might permit. Efforts
were made to differentiate the treatment of prisoners
awaiting trial from that of convicts; three regular
meals a day were given to all prisoners ; rigorous sani-
tary measures were prescribed for times of epidemic
disease; special rooms were to be set apart for the
sick; outdoor work, such as street cleaning, was intro-
duced to give air and exercise to the prisoners. For
moral purposes, religious teaching was to be given to
the prisoners and convicts on Sundays by Christian
teachers, and, on Wednesdays, by Buddhists.
252
CHAPTER XX
TRADE CONDITIONS TO-DAY'
IN 1908 Korea's commerce suffered because of
£he) non-exportation of ginseng (the shipments
of which amounted to o;dl1v $880 in compar-
ison with $601,237 in 1907),(a%rge rice crop in
Japan, and 'an) abundant bean crop in Manchuria.
Rice and beans are Korea's chief articles of export.
The insurrection disturbed business in some parts of
the Kingdom, but the principal reasons for the trade
depression are the three just stated. However, the
year 1908 witnessed the inauguration of a vigorous
mining movement on the part of Americans, which
will show to the world that Korea possesses mineral
wealth of great value.
For over ten years a single group of mines, the
first to be opened up in the country by foreigners
(Americans), has stood as the only successful
mining venture in Korea to be operated under
modern methods. This group has produced approxi-
mately $12,000,000 in gold bullion. The output is
over $100,000 per month. On this property almost
$1,250,000 has been expended in equipment, the
machinery being largely of American manufacture.
Between seventy and eighty American miners are
employed and 5,000 Korean laborers, and about
^ By Consul-General Thomas Sammons, Seoul.
253
KOREA
1,000 tons of ore, averaging $5 per ton, are crushed
and treated daily. The fact that this mine, now at
a depth of 900 or 1,000 feet, continues to increase
in value is confirmation of the possibilities of Korea's
mineral resources.
American Mining Interests Quadrupled
American mining interests in Korea quadrupled
during 1908, copper (Kapsan), gold, (Suan), and
graphite (Kang Neung) properties being among those
added. In addition to these another gold quartz
property (Sak Ju mines), located near the Ya-lu
River, is to pass to American control, and Amer-
icans have also secured a half interest in the famous
Ham Heung Province placer mines at Meung Tai
Dong, situated northwest of Wonsan (Gensan), on
the east coast of Korea. At Meung Tai Dong nug-
gets are found, but this is the only extensive placer
property in Korea that resembles the Klondike dis-
trict deposits of coarse gold and nuggets. The ore
values uncovered on one of these properties, a large
gold quartz area known as the Suan mines (originally
granted to British subjects, but in which Americans
were largely interested and which is now leased to
Americans), have warranted the purchase of a com-
plete milling plant. The first consignment of twenty
stamps is being installed. Supplies of this nature
are purchased in the United States, and it is to this
class of American products that Korea offers a most
inviting new market.
Next to the American interest in mining in Korea,
254
TRADE CONDITIONS TO-DAY
the British have shown the greatest activity. Thus
far, however, Americans are interested to a consid-
erable extent in all British mining exploitation in
Korea. The most important British acquisition
during 1908 was the taking over, under a working
option, of the gold quartz and placer properties
situated a short distance south of Seoul and known
as the Chiksan mines. Indeed, it would seem that
London capital heretofore largely occupied in Aus-
tralia and South Africa is turning to Korea as the
most promising field to be found in the world at
the present time.
While the French mining concession as recently
granted has not proven satisfactory, the Italian
concession now being exploited, located near the
Kapsan copper mines, in northern Korea, promises
to prove rich in copper deposits. The German con-
cession has as yet failed to show high values on any
large scale.
Customs Duties Removed — Agriculture
In connection with the adjustment of American
mining concessionary problems during 1908, the
Japanese Protectorate, acting for the Korean Gov-
ernment and under the personal direction of Prince
Ito, practically did away with all export duties on
mine products and removed all import duty on sup-
plies used in the operation of mines in Korea. This,
together with such modifications in the mining laws
as are calculated to strengthen title and facilitate
transfer, has served to stimulate the mining industry,
255
KOREA
and, combined with exceptionally valuable discov-
eries and new mining concessions as adjusted during
1908, has offered such practical inducements that
the year will mark the turning point in Korea's
industrial development. Thus, while Korea has
always been primarily an agricultural country, its
mineral wealth is becoming of great importance, and
as iron mines and coal deposits are being developed
the exploitation of its mineral resources may reason-
ably be expected to continue.
In the meantime the Korean-Japanese movement,
having for its object the taking over of extensive areas
of fertile Government land in Korea and the utilisa-
tion of tracts commonly designated as waste lands,
is calculated to stimulate agricultural and industrial
pursuits. This movement will at the same time
bring large numbers of Japanese farmers to Korea,
and it is predicted that the "Hermit Kingdom" will
ultimately be able to export, particularly coastwise,
large quantities of farm produce as well as of
manufactured goods, fruits, and vegetables.
Agricultural experiment stations have demon-
strated that Korea is well adapted to varied horti-
cultural and agricultural pursuits. The culture of
grapes on the lower half of the peninsula promises to
develop into an important industry, and the possi-
bilities of silk culture are very great. In rice, silk,
cotton, cattle, tobacco, matting, and grass cloth
Korea, with but slight systematic attention to their
culture, care, and manufacture, would become of
much consequence to the crop-production possibili-
^56
TRADE CONDITIONS TO-DAY
ties of the Far East. Already Korea produces some
of the best varieties of rice in the world.
There are waste-land areas in Korea that could
doubtless be profitably cultivated under the dry-
farming process. Rice lands now worked only as
the result of irrigation could also be worked under
dry-farming methods should this new departure be
introduced. The average rainfall is 39.4 inches,
but owing to the fact that the forests have been
cut away, as in many other parts of the Far East,
destructive floods usually follow the heavy rains
of July and August and the water is quickly car-
ried off.
Korea possesses large areas of uplands suitable for
cattle raising, and this industry, which is already
receiving considerable attention, could be developed
rapidly if cattle diseases were eradicated. About
$300,000 worth of live stock was exported in 1908
and $25,000 worth of hides is exported annually.
The results of experimenting with American cotton
in Korea are highly satisfactory. The crop produced
is double that of native cotton in quantity, the
expense of raising it is fifty per cent, less, and the
prices offered for the product are much higher than
those for the Korean variety.
Foreign Trade
The total commerce in 1908 amounted to ^31,843,-
557, and of this sum $4,273,377 represented specie
and bullion. This aggregate is $1,390,195 less than
that in 1907. The balance of trade was against
257
KOREA
Korea, the merchandise imports exceeding the exports
in 1908 by $13,455,669. In 1907 this excess of
incoming trade was $11,524,085. Exports of gold
and silver coin and bullion exceeded the imports,
however, by $749,408 in 1908 and by $2,006,636
in 1907. The principal articles of merchandise
exported from Korea during 1907 and 1908, respec-
tively, are shown in the following comparative
statement:
Artide
1907.
Articles.
1908.
Animals
Barley and
wheat
Beans, yellow
and red . . . i .
Copper, manu-
factures of ■
Cotton, raw and
ginned
Fertilisers
Fish
Ginseng
$388,722
228,340
1,967,826(
30,054
81,587
243,019
601,237
$358,527
83,377
)l,705,82l)
31,424
51,683
128,035
119,B35
880
Hides
Ore:
Gold
Iron and
copper . . .
Paper
Rice
Seaweed
Timber and
planks
$338,264
32.668
,3J79,253;
6,935
89,312
$259,468 7
22,451
87,686
34,225
8,240,534;)
"^38,306
72,072
The great decline in exports of ginseng from
$601,237 in 1907 to the insignificant amount of
$880 in 1908 caused a heavy decrease in the total
of export trade, and there were additional losses of
$538,719 in rice and $262,005 in beans.
While the export trade suffered, the total imports
for the year showed a gratifying increase. The
imports during 1907 and 1908 were divided among
the various countries as follows:
258
TRADE CONDITIONS TO-DAY
Country.
United States
Austria
Belgium • ■
British India
China
Dutch Indies
France
Germany • . •
Hawaii
Hongkong . ■
$1,647,779
12,677
2,232,848
9,139
33,463
$2,096,959
11,948
33,321
11,202
2,441,198
63,210
57,084
197.347
11,637
32,557
Country.
Japan
Philippine
Islands . ■ -
Russia
Russia,
Asiatic . . ■
Switzerland
Turkey . . . .
United
Kingdom .
Other coun-
tries
Total . .
$13,681,936
19,829
321,657
2,758.798
1 20,718,126
1908.
$12,021,454
83,922
10.516
25,839
25,010
27,581
3,390,242
21,898
20,512.925
*The figures for 1907 include $693,124 for articles for miUtary use and
exclude those for re-export.
Trade with the United States
As appears in the foregoing table, the United
States, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom
practically control the import trade of Korea. The
effort to introduce cheap oils into the country has
not proven successful, and American oils continue
to hold the bulk of the trade, notwithstanding that
other oils have recently been placed with Korean
merchants on a credit basis. In the kerosene oil
business, as in the cigarette trade, personal repre-
sentation and the carrying of goods in stock ready
for local demands solve the problem of commercial
expansion, as a rule.
Of approximately 735,000,000 cigarettes consumed
annually in Korea a large number contain, wholly or
in part, American tobacco. The Japanese tobacco
259
KOREA
monopoly has only slightly over fifty per cent, of the
total trade in this line, with British-American inter-
ests holding practically the balance of the business.
The latter have opened a factory in Korea. In rail-
way supplies America has practically all of the trade,
the railways of Korea being provided with American
locomotives and rails. About fifty per cent, of all
cars and fixtures are also of American manufacture.
American flour is well established in Korea and
larger quantities may be sold from year to year.
This will doubtless be the case, too, with school
furniture and supplies, heating stoves, and house-
hold necessities generally. Because of bad roads or
no roads at all automobiles are not in demand, but
there may be a limited market for motor boats as
the mining and other industries are developed.
The development of mines that are near tide
water will open up a market for large quantities
of heavy mining timber, and for a considerable
period, if not permanently, it is probable that the
Pacific coast of America will be able to supply this
demand as against the products of the Ya-lu River
timber districts, either in Korea or Manchuria.
The Kang Neung graphite mines, the Chiksan gold
mines, and the Sak Ju mines are all near tide water.
The operation of the Kapsan copper mines on a
large scale will require a railway to the sea, and by
this method supplies may be hauled into the interior.
The principal articles imported from the United
States, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands during
1908 are given in the following table:
260
TRADE CONDITIONS TO-DAY
Artidet.
Beer, porter, and stout. . . •
Candles
Cigarettes
Cotton, manufactures of:
Sheeting
Shirting, grey and white
Fish, salted
Flour, wheat
Instruments, telegraph and
telephone, etc
Iron and steel, manufac-
tures of:
Galvanised sheets
Value.
Articles.
$1,312 Iron and steel, manufac-
10,233. tures of — Cont'd.
53,094 Locomotives and fixtures
Nails
19,571 I Pipes and tubes
3,695 Rails
13j694 I Lumber and planks
(486,408 I Oil, kerosene
Porcelain and earthenware
5,918 Sugar, brown and refined •
All other articles
7,775
Total.
Value.
$171,735^
15,043
3,183
. 414,049^
16,340
684,995)
292
15,013
474,609
2,096,959
Korean exports to the United States consist largely
of concentrates, curios, brass ware, and a few tiger,
leopard, and sable skins. With the development of
the mineral resources of the country, shipments of
mine products will increase, and efforts made during
the past year by American concerns warrant the
belief that larger quantities of Korean brass ware
will find a ready market in the United States.
Tr.\de with Other Foreign Countries
Although Korea is able to manufacture grass cloth
from native materials, and does, in fact, manufac-
ture large quantities, it imported from China in 1908
approximately $800,000 worth of this fabric because
China can sell Korea grass cloth more cheaply than
Korea, with primitive methods, can manufacture it.
That country is also sending large quantities of silk
to Korea, this trading being stimulated during 1908
261
KOREA
by the depreciation of silver. The establishment of
many newspapers throughout the Kingdom has
greatly increased the sales of paper, and the market
shows an increasing demand for sugar, flour, cotton
wadding, kerosene oil, and matches. Grey shirting
and sheeting are not in active demand at present.
White shirting from Shanghai successfully competes
with Japanese manufactures. The principal articles
imported from Japan, China, and the United King-
dom, respectively, during 1908 are shown in the
following table:
Articles.
Japan.
China.
United
Kingdom.
Cigarettes
Coal
Cotton, and manufactures of:
Raw, and wadding
Satins
Sheetings and shirtings
Tissues, other
Yarns
Flour, wheat
Iron and steel, manufactures of:
Galvanised sheets
Locomotives and fixtures . . .
Nails
Pipes and tubes
Rails
Lumber and planks
Oil, kerosene
Salt
Silk gauzes
Sugar, brown and refined
All other articles
Total
$307,
684,
149,
5,
1,085
812,
'1,000,
5,
11,
19,
5,
11,
584,
74,
<336
6,924.
,645
,645
222"
600
731'
842
899,
737
107
956
256
964
143
175
562
,230
211
,542
,987
$88,000
644
46,385
6,953
3,058
10,779
257
235,178
.144,293-
f 28Cl27
^ 3,974
1,620,648
$49,916
' 194,363)
l,845,520f^
136
7
101,407-'
13,553
24,9^1^
290, 892 3
8,673
1,555
859.269
12,021,454
2,441,198
3,390,242
262
TRADE CONDITIONS TO-DAY
Patent and Trade-Mark Regulations
The Japanese system for the protection of trade-
marks, designs, and patents was extended to Korea
during 1908, to be effective after August 16. Under
the agreement bringing about this new arrangement
it is provided that Korean and Japanese subjects
and American citizens possessing patent, design,
or trade-mark rights obtained and protected in the
United States upon appHcation shall receive the
same rights and similar protection in Korea, of
the same duration as in America, provided that the
application is made within one year after date on
which the new regulations went into effect. Patent,
design, and trade-mark rights obtained in Japan by
American citizens prior to the enforcement of the
new regulations will be deemed to have acquired
protection in Korea for an equal period. Goods held
in violation of patent rights thus obtained must be
sold within six months after the regulation becomes
effective.
It is provided that the terms for the exclusive use
of patent, design, and trade-mark rights, obtained
otherwise than as above described, shall be fifteen,
ten, and twenty years, respectively. The fees for
application are $2.49 for patents, $4.98 for designs,
and $1.49 for trade-marks. The yearly fee for hold-
ing a patent right is $4.98, increased by $2.49 each
three years. The annual fee for a design right is
$1.49 for the first four years, $2.49 for the next three
years, and $3.48 for the last three years. There is
263
KOREA
an annual fee of $14.94 for a trade-mark right, to
be charged for each class of goods upon which it is
used.
It is evident from the movement of freight traffic
in Korea that the port of Fusan, at the southern end
of the peninsula, is destined gradually to divide
honours with the port of Chemulpo on the western
coast near Seoul. This is partially due to the falling
off of shipping facilities with China and a steady
increase in trade accommodations at the ports
nearest Japan.
Declared Exports to the United States
The declared value of exports from Korea to the
United States in the years 1907 and 1908, respec-
tively, was as follows :
Articles.
Articles.
1908.
Books
Brass ware
Chests, cabinets, and
cash boxes
Concentrates and slag,
gold
Curios
Effects, personal and
household
Embroidery, native • • •
Ginseng
$373
242
518
11,126
802
2,862
39
2,129
408
23,237
1,311
653
30
113
Ore, gold and copper- •
Skins, leopard, bear,
and sable
Total
$214
208
Returned
goods
Grand total
American
16,322
197
28,364
668
16,519
29,032
264
CHAPTER XXI
MARITIME UNDERTAKINGS
IN October, 1905, the Financial Adviser was
appointed to succeed ex-officio Mr. Brown,
Chief Commissioner of the Korean Imperial
Customs. Among many works of progress under-
taken by the customs administration, the extension
of the compounds, the improvement of harbours,
and the enlarged provision of light-house facilities
are the most noticeable. The growing foreign trade,
especially its sudden increase since the last war,
necessitated improvements at the Korean open
ports. The Government consequently decided to
expend upon the extension of all Customs com-
pounds and the erection of light-houses several
million yeriy which had been previously set apart
as a special fund out of the Customs receipts.
In March, 1906, a "Department of Customs mari-
time undertakings" with a Light-House Bureau
was established at Seoul under the control of the
Chief Commissioner of Customs. Its engineering staff
is composed of several competent Japanese experts.
Branch offices have been opened at the ports of
Chemulpo, Fusan, Wonsan, Mok-po, and Chin-
nampo, to take charge of the reclamation works
necessary for the Customs compounds, as well
%Q5
KOREA
as to oversee the construction of office buildings,
warehouses and sheds. Moreover, the work of
providing Customs compounds at Shin-Wiju, and
Chyong-jin was commenced in the fiscal year 1907.
The reclamation works in Chemulpo and Fusan
are particularly extensive, the intention being that
these harbours may offer full facilities for connecting
land and water traffic. The areas reclaimed at
Chemulpo and Fusan are to be 17,978 (15 acres)
and 12,164 tsubo (10 acres), respectively, the former
requiring 385 ken (770 yards) of retaining wall and
the latter 29 ken (590 yards). The Chemulpo har-
bour is to have a main landing pier beside four piers
for small cargo steamers and large junks; and the
Customs compound at Fusan is to have a large wharf
for ocean steamers, on which wharf five sheds will be
built and connected with the railway, while there
will also be piers for lighters and fishing-boats. In
the basin for fishing-boats at Fusan provision will
be made for cold-storage and other sheds; while in
the Chemulpo compound there will be three ware-
houses and six sheds, all connected with the railway.
Five improved cranes are to be erected in the Cus-
toms compounds at both Chemulpo and Fusan.
With reference to quarantine, an inspection station
is to be built on an island near the harbours of Che-
mulpo, Fusan, and Wonsan respectively, and each
station will include a quarantine office, a disinfecting
chamber and a hospital ward.
When this work of extending the Customs premises
is fully completed, much greater facilities will be
266
MARITIME UNDERTAKINGS
afforded for foreign trade in Korea. Especially the
harbours of Chemulpo and Fusan, having land and
water communications, will undoubtedly be among
the best in the Orient.
In spite of the fact that the Korean coasts are
exceedingly unsafe for navigation, the Korean Gov-
ernment paid little attention to the erection of light-
houses until 1901, when the Japanese Minister at
Seoul called the attention of the Korean Government
to article 31 of the trade regulations concluded in
1883 between Japan and Korea, by which it is stip-
ulated that "the Korean Government shall improve
each commercial harbour and establish light-houses
and buoys in connection therewith." In conse-
quence of this representation, Mr. Brown, Commis-
sioner of Customs, agreed to make a beginning by
allotting 245,000 yen out of the funds of the Customs
revenue for survey purposes and for the construction
of light-houses. The services of several Japanese
experts were obtained, and, later on, an English
engineer, Mr. Harding, was engaged for the work.
Thus the construction of five light-houses on islands
in the vicinity of Chem^ulpo harbour was completed
by 1903. During the recent war, the Japanese
Military Staff established light-houses and placed
beacons and buoys at the mouth of the Ya-lu River,
and on the eastern and southern coasts of the
peninsula.
Side by side with the work of extending the Cus-
toms compounds, the Korean Government decided,
in March, 1906, to make considerable improvements
267
KOREA
in light-house facihties along the several water-
routes, and to allot for that purpose one million and
a quarter yen out of the Customs revenue. The
Bureau of Light-Houses, after careful survey, mapped
Korean waters into ten navigation lines, and planned
to establish thirty-five light-houses, five light-buoys,
three beacons, fifty buoys, and eleven fog-signals,
making 194 in all. This plan, however, was subse-
quently modified so that the numbers now stand as
follow: — Fifty light-houses, five light-buoys, five
beacons, fifty-four buoys, and sixteen fog-signals,
making 130 in all, for which 1,266,272 yen is to be
expended during five years beginning with 1906.
268
CHAPTER XXII
RAILROADS, TELEGRAPHS AND
TELEPHONES
ALTHOUGH the Koreans boast an ancient
civilisation of their own, the country hither-
to possessed hardly any public roads, except
the so-called "grand road " from Seoul to the Chinese
border, and a few roads between the capital and some
provincial cities. The Government used to distrib-
ute a certain amount of money among the various
districts for purposes of road repair. Not only was
this sum, even in its integrity, quite inadequate
to maintain the roads, but three-fourths of it went
into the pockets of local magistrates, and prac-
tically nothing was done for the roads. Even stone
bridges w^ere suffered to lie broken, and the road-beds
w^ere gradually beaten down below the level of the
adjacent ground. Thus in time of rain the roads
became almost impassable.
During the China-Japan War, the Seoul-Chemulpo
highway was constructed by the Japanese army, and
two trunk roads from Seoul to Wonsan and Wiju
respectively were similarly made by the Japanese
troops during the war with Russia.
In order to facilitate transportation, the Korean
Government (as stated in the Report for 1906)
269
KOREA
allotted 1,500,000 yen out of the Loan for Public
Undertakings to construct four roads; namely, one
between Chinnampo and Ping-yang; another from
Tai-ku to Ya-nil Bay, by way of Kyang-ju; a third
from Yon-san-kang to Mok-po; and a fourth from
Keun-kang to Kunsan. These roads are to connect
the principal open ports with the railway centres
and agricultural districts. Surveys of the routes
were commenced in August, 1906, and completed
by December of that year, the total length being
301.5 kilometres. The width of the Tai-ku-Ya-nil
and Yon-san-kang-Mok-po roads is to be six metres.
But the Chinnampo-Ping-yang and Keun-kang-
Kun-san width is to be seven metres, the idea
being that these roads may be used for car lines
hereafter. The appropriation of lands for the con-
struction of these roads occupied almost a year
(November, 1906-November, 1907) and the market
price was paid, according to the Land Appropria-
tion Law. Many of the Japanese owners gave their
land gratis; an example followed to some extent
by the Koreans. The actual work of construction
was commenced in May, 1907, and 63.3 kilometres
had been finished by the end of December in this
year.
As a secondary stage of communications construc-
tion, seven other roads are planned for different
provinces. These highways are expected to serve
as models for similar work undertaken in future by
local governments or municipalities.
By the Agreement concluded on April 1, 1905, the
270
RAILROADS, ETC.
Korean Government transferred to the Imperial Jap-
anese Government "control and administration of
the post, telegraph, and telephone services in Korea
(except the telephone service exclusively pertaining
to the Department of the Imperial Household)."
Nevertheless the opening of the Japanese postal
service in Korea dated from November 1, 1876,
several months after the opening of the port of Fusan.
Later on, Japanese post-offices were opened in Seoul
and each treaty port. During the Russo-Japanese
War postal services were also conducted by the
Japanese in important cities or towns along the
Japanese railways. Before the Korean Govern-
ment assigned their communications system to
Japan, there were altogether sixty-one Japanese
post-offices.
With regard to postal administration, the Korean
Government made its first effort in 1896 to operate
a modern postal system by engaging Mr. Yamada,
Postmaster of Osaka, and by enacting various Regu-
lations relating to postal administration on the model
of the Japanese system. But nothing was carried
out after his dismissal. In 1898, Mr. Min San-ho,
then Vice-Minister of the Department of Agricul-
ture, Industry, and Commerce, proceeded to Europe
and America to investigate Western systems of
postal administration, and brought back with him
'M. Clemenceau, a French gentleman, who was then
engaged as adviser to the Post-Office. Again the
introduction of a modern postal system was com-
menced, and Korea formally joined the Universal
271
KOREA
Postal Union in January, 1901 ; a Board of Communi-
cations being established in March to control the
postal and telegraphic affairs of the country. Post-
offices were opened at the treaty ports and in the
principal towns and cities. But the operation and
management of this postal service was so poor that
the State lost annually from 140,000 yen to 290,000
yen, without any prospect of improvement. Had
the postal administration been continued by the
Korean Government, the Treasury would have suf-
fered even more. Thus "finding it expedient from
the standpoint of the administration and finances of
Korea," the Government finally decided to transfer
the entire management of communications to Jap-
anese control.
The Korean postal system, amalgamated with the
Japanese system, was thus brought under the charge
of the Communications Department of the Japanese
Government, and became subject to the control of
that Department's Minister. But on the establish-
ment of the Residency-General in Seoul, the charge
of the posts, telegraphs, and telephones in Korea was
transferred to the Bureau of Communications of the
Residency-General and its final control fell to the
Resident-General. The subsidy granted by the Jap-
anese Government has decreased year by year
and the earnings increased, so that, according to
present prospects, the postal, telegraphic, and
telephonic services in Korea will some day become
self-supporting.
The number of post-offices, including those newly
272
RAILROADS, ETC.
built, was 498 at the end of the fiscal year ended
March 31, 1906, and it became 485 by the amalga-
mation of some small oflSces at the end of the next
fiscal year. The total number of letters and post-
cards handled by post-offices was 42,902,434 during
the fiscal year ended March 31, 1906, as against
63,624,682 during the year following, an increase
of 20,722,248, or nearly 49 per cent.; and the total
number of parcels sent through the post was 286,734
and 512,230 in the same years, respectively, an
increase of nearly 80 per cent., while the number of
post-offices issuing money-orders increased from 512
in the former year to 264 in the latter.
The first telegraphic service in Korea was con-
ducted by a Japanese post-office at Fusan in Febru-
ary, 1884, when the Great Northern Telegraph Com-
pany of Denmark laid a submarine cable between
Nagasaki and Fusan. In November of the next
year, the Korean Government constructed a line
between Seoul and Wiju with money borrowed from
China. Then, in consequence of representations
made by the Japanese Minister at Seoul, the same
Government constructed the Seoul-Fusan line in
1888, and a Seoul-Wonsan line was built in 1895.
But the maintenance and management of these lines
were so bad that telegraphic communication was
easily interrupted in inclement weather, and the ser-
vice could not be relied upon. When war broke out
with China, the Japanese army built its own tele-
graph lines between Fusan, Seoul, and Chemulpo, and
the right of maintaining these lines was reserved to
273
KOREA
Japan with the consent of the Korean Government.
Further, by the Russo-Japanese Protocol concluded
on June 9, 1896, the Russian Government obtained
the right of constructing a line from Seoul to the
Russian frontier, and in addition to these various
trunk lines, there were several branches connected
with seaports and gold mines. When the whole
system of communications was transferred to Jap-
anese control, the Korean Government possessed
about 524 ri (1,310 miles) of telegraph lines, includ-
ing a few telephone lines.
As to the telephones in Korea, the Government
had services at Seoul, Chemulpo, Suwon, and Yong-
tengpo to a limited extent; but the total number of
users of these telephones did not exceed fifty. After
1902, the Japanese post-offices at Seoul, Chemulpo,
Fusan, and other places also operated telephone
services.
The railways in Korea are of the improved standard
gauge, while all those in Japan are of the narrow
gauge.
Soon after the war with China had broken out,
Japan expressed her intention of obtaining conces-
sions for Seoul-Chemulpo and Seoul-Fusan rail-
ways, as indicated in the Agreement concluded
with Korea on August 22, 1894. Later on, in 1896,
Mr. James R. Morse, an American citizen, secured
a definite concession from the Korean Government
for the Seoul-Chemulpo line, and this concession
was purchased from him in 1898 by a Japanese
syndicate. The construction of the railway having
274
RAILROADS, ETC.
been completed in 1901, it was opened to traffic in
October of the same year, being thus the first railway
in Korea. In 1898, a definite concession for the
Seoul-Fusan line was given to another Japanese
syndicate, called the Seoul Fusan Railway Company.
With an authorised capital of 25,000,000 yen, to be
raised by annual instalments of five millions, and
with the Japanese Government's guarantee of inter-
est on the debentures issued by the Company, the
work of construction was begun in August, 1901.
But when the relations with Russia became strained
at the end of 1903, the Japanese Government granted
an additional subsidy of 2,200,000 yen as well as a
loan of 1,580,000 yeri without interest, in return for
which the Company undertook to push the construc-
tion rapidly. The railway, 268 miles in length, was
completed by Novem.ber, 1904, and opened to traffic
on January 1, 1905. When the Japanese Govern-
ment nationalised the principal private railways in
Japan, this policy was extended to Korea, and the
Seoul-Fusan and Seoul-Chemulpo lines were pur-
chased for 20,015,500 yen in June, 1906, being
brought under the charge of the Railway Bureau,
which, under the control and supervision of the
Resident-General, manages matters of construction,
maintenance, and improvement, transportation and
business connected therewith.
As to the Seoul-Wiju line, the first concession was
given to a French syndicate, La Compagnie de Fines
ville, in 1896, but owing to delay in commencing con-
struction, the Korean Government itself, in 1908,
275
KOREA
decided to undertake the work. This project, how-
ever, was subsequently suspended for lack of funds.
Immediately after the war with Russia had broken
out, the Japanese army began to build the Seoul-
Wiju railway and the Masampo line, in March and
August, respectively, of 1904, according to the provi-
sions of a treaty empow^ering the Japanese Govern-
ment to take such measures as the circumstances
might require, or to occupy such places as might be
needful from a strategical point of view, in case "the
Imperial Household or the territorial integrity of
Korea be endangered by the aggression of a third
Power or by internal disturbance." The Masampo
line, twenty-five miles in length, was completed in
May, 1905, and the Seoul-Wiju line of 323 miles in
March, 1906. The cost of these two lines aggregated
25,397,357 yen, and they were transferred to the
charge of the Railway Bureau of the Residency-
General in September, 1906.
Up to the close of the fiscal year ended March 31,
1907, there had been expended 33,194,910 yen for
the Seoul-Fusan line, 31,600,110 yen for the Seoul-
Wiju line, and 2,338,951 yen for the Masampo line,
making a grand total of 67,133,972 yen. In Febru-
ary, 1907, the Imperial Diet authorised the Railway
Bureau of the Residency-General to establish a spe-
cial account for the construction and improvement
of railways in Korea, and granted a sum of 21,873,144
yen for these purposes, thus adding 8,179,003 yen to
the sum of 13,694,141 yen which had been already
appropriated for military objects. This fund is to be
276
RAILROADS, ETC.
expended during the coming four years in the follow-
ing amounts: — 10,100,020 yen for the fiscal year
1907; 7,257,587 yen for 1908; 3,281,537 yen for
1909; and 1,134,000 yen for 1910.
277
CHAPTER XXIII
PUBLIC WORKS
IN the course of administrative reforms, industrial
encouragement, and educational extension, the
necessity of improved public buildings has been
felt. Under the pressure of this need, a "Special
Section," dealing with the construction of public
buildings, was established in the Finance Department
by Imperial Edict No. 55, issued on September 24,
1906, the staff of the new Section being composed
of several Japanese engineers and architects. As
already stated, 587,221 yen out of the first "Public
Undertakings Loan" was allotted for establishing the
Tai-Tan Hospital, the Seoul Court-House, and the
Industrial Training School. Of that sum, 293,566
yen was expended for building the hospital, 78,000
yen for the court-house, and 75,209 yen for the school,
making a total of 446,775 yen. In addition, the
National Treasury spent 80,000 yen for the construc-
tion of a Cabinet building, and 39,279 yen for the
new Seoul Prison. The Cabinet building, the hos-
pital, and the court-house are of a permanent nature,
being built of brick or stone, and it is hoped that
they will serve as a model for public buildings in
the future.
The Educational Department, also, has spent
278
PUBLIC WORKS
69,250 yen for building the Seoul Normal School,
and 338,617 yen for forty-nine new common schools.
The winter in Korea being rather severe, public
buildings made of wood are not suitable. Moreover,
Korea is outside the earthquake zone. For these
reasons the Government decided to construct sub-
stantial brick buildings of a permanent type. But
the supply of bricks made by private companies
being found inadequate, while those imported were
very expensive, the Government itself undertook to
manufacture this commodity, and 234,000 yen was
appropriated for the establishment of a brick factory.
The site selected is at Ma-ho near the Han River, and
50,000 tsuho (42 acres) of land was obtained for the
erection of buildings and to supply clay. The actual
making of bricks began in April, 1907; the setting
up of the latest model of Hoffman's brick-making
machinery was completed by September of the same
year; and the station thenceforth became capable
of turning out more than 30,000 bricks a day. The
cost of bricks made at this station is much cheaper
than that of those imported.
As a branch of this enterprise, a factory for making
drain-pipes and tiles has been established at Yong-
tengpo. The whole of this department was not
completed by the end of December, 1907, though
3,504 pipes and 97,045 tiles were made in the several
kilns already completed during the last four months
of the year.
In the course of financial and administrative
reforms, the Korean Government felt the pressing
279
KOREA
necessity of printing various blank forms of official
documents, certificates, stamps, oflBcial reports, etc.
But private enterprise in this line being in its infancy
in Korea, and consequently inadequate for the pur-
pose, the Finance Department, in November, 1904,
decided to establish a Printing Bureau. To that
end advantage was taken of the fact that the mint,
which had been closed in October, 1904, owing to the
financial reforms, was lying idle, and all its machines
were utilised for the Printing Bureau.
Besides ordinary printing business, the Bureau
undertook the engraving of copper plates, as well as
designing and painting. But owing to a fire in March
1906, more than half of the buildings was destroyed
and business had to be suspended temporarily. It
was soon resumed, however, and further extended
as follows : —
1. Making of stamps, bonds, and shares.
2. Designing, engraving, and modelling.
3. Printing from type, copper plates, photolithog-
raphy, and so forth.
4. Making of ink and ink-rollers for printing
purposes.
5. Manufacturing paper for oflScial certificates,
bonds, and other securities.
For the further development of the business,
430,000 yen, appropriated from the "Public Under-
takings Loan," is to be spent in extending the build-
ings, buying improved printing-machines, providing
motor-power and electric light, and constructing
residencies for employees, etc. This extension
280
PUBLIC WORKS
work was begun in September, 1907, and is now
completed.
Various efforts have been made to train native
labour. Thus several young Koreans were sent to
the Printing Bureau in Japan, in 1906, to study
improved systems of printing. Moreover, Korean
girls, who are habitually confined to domestic duties,
were encouraged to work in the Printing Bureau,
and are now engaged in various sections of the
bookbinding, paper-manufacturing, and lithographic
works. Japanese engineers and foremen are also
engaged as instructors or to undertake specially
difficult and delicate work.
Along the main stream of the Ta-dong River and
its tributaries, in the neighbourhood of Ping-yang,
beds of anthracite coal are extensive, the veins
being about thirteen ri (32 miles) in length and
three ri (7^ miles) in width. Their position forms
the figure Y. It is said that the Koreans did not
pay any attention to these rich deposits until the
sailors of a Chinese junk first used Ping-yang coal
for fires, some fifteen years ago. After the China-
Japan War, a French firm, Messrs. Rondon, Plaisan
et Cie, obtained a mining lease from the Imperial
Household, and another Company (a Korean and
American partnership) engaged in the enterprise of
coal-mining for some time at different places, paying
the Imperial Household twenty -five per cent, of the
profits as a royalty. The Imperial Household is
said to have furnished 300,000 yen to each com-
pany as a part of their capital fund. In addition,
281
KOREA
private individuals, native or foreign, freely mined
the coal, without regard to the public interest.
With the object of establishing a model coal-mine
as well as to increase the national revenue in the
future, the Government assumed complete control
of the Ping-yang coal-mines, and by Imperial Edict
No. 10, issued August 22, 1907, the "Ping-yang
Coal Mining Station" was established under the
supervision and control of the Minister of Agricul-
ture, Commerce, and Industry, the organisation of
the Station being subsequently modified by Imperial
Edict No. 67 in December, 1907. The staff is com-
posed of a presiding engineer, two managers, two
chief engineers, several assistant engineers, and
clerks. In addition, there are twenty-seven engineers
engaged in the actual work of mining, seven of them
being Koreans. At the end of December, 1907,
thirty-five foremen and 425 miners were employed,
ninety per cent, being Koreans. Up to that month,
34,415 yen had been expended on developing the
work and on the plant, and 2,150 tons of coal had
been sold for 5,700 yen.
The budget for 1908 contained a special grant of
300,000 yen for this coal-mining station, to meet
expenses and the cost of extending the mining
equipment.
There exist rich forests along the banks of the
Ya-lu and the Tu-men Rivers, but they were never
properly exploited, except in a temporary manner
by the Russians prior to the recent war, and later
by the Japanese army in turn. Proper exploita-
282
PUBLIC WORKS
tion with adequate capital should undoubtedly yield
a considerable revenue to the Treasury. But being
unable without foreign aid to open up this large
source of wealth, the Korean Government concluded
an agreement with the Resident-General in October,
1906, to conduct forestry undertakings along the
Ya-lu and Tu-men Rivers as a joint enterprise of the
Japanese and Korean Governments, with a capital
of 1,200,000 yen, each party contributing one-half.
Work actually began in May, 1907, with a paid-up
capital of 600,000 yen, and the "Forestry Under-
takings Station" was established at Antung in
Manchuria, near the mouth of the Ya-lu River, oppo-
site Wiju. The business hitherto carried on in
Korean territory at a "Timber Station" maintained
by the Japanese army was then transferred to this
new Forestry Undertakings Station. In the Ilyoi-
San-Chin Mountains, the centre of the forests on the
upper reaches of the Ya-lu River, a branch station
was erected to manage the work of felling, trans-
porting, and rafting the timber. Along the river
three sub-stations were created to watch the rafts.
The distance from the place where the timber is
felled to the main station at Antung is 150 ri (375
miles) and the rafts take forty days to make the
journey. During the Japanese fiscal year ended
March 31, 1908, 74.112 cubic .^haku of timber was
felled, of which 71,006 cubic shaku was rafted and
45,301 cubic shaku arrived at the main station,
19,855 cubic shaku being sold for 79,596 yen.
In accordance with the experience of the Japanese
283
KOREA
troops who conducted the timber undertaking for
a time, the following estimates were compiled: A
loss of 82,970 yen in 1907; lessening to 11,670 yen
in 1908; becoming a profit of 119,630 yen in 1909,
and so on. But the actual loss in 1907, namely,
the excess of expenses over sales of timber, did not
exceed 46,000 yen^ instead of 82,970 yen. This was
mainly owing to the good market that prevailed in
China and Korea.
284
CHAPTER XXIV
INDUSTRIAL ENCOURAGEMENT
THE mountain ranges in Korea cover more than
half the total area of the country. Owing
to indiscriminate felling of trees without
public supervision, which was practised for a long
time past, most of the mountain slopes, except those
along the Ya-lu and Tu-men Rivers, the Chili-san
range, dividing the provinces of South Kyongsyang
and South Chyolla, and the island of Quelpart, have
become denuded of trees. Thus the people not only
suffer from lack of fire-wood, but also are unable to
build better houses than mere huts. Furthermore,
this general deforestation of the mountains is a
principal cause of injury to agriculture, owing to
floods in the rainy season and lack of water for irri-
gation purpose in the dry season.
The Korean Government, appreciating the urgent
advice of the Resident-General, established, in 1906,
three model forests in the mountains near Seoul,
Ping-yang, and Tai-ku. The total area of these
covered 33,320 cho (83,300 acres) and the number of
young trees, comprising pine, oak, larch, chestnut,
and cryptomeria imported from Japan and planted,
amounted to 17,880,000 at a cost of 293,000 yen.
In 1907, three Nursery Gardens were established
285
KOREA
in the vicinity of the Model Forests near Ping-yang
and Tai-ku, and also at Suwon. In these Gardens
seeds of various trees were sowed in the spring of
1907, and promising results were obtained.
In addition to these model forestry stations, the
Government is making every effort to afforest the
bare mountains throughout the country. In a school
attached to the Agricultural and Industrial model
station at Suwon, a short course in forestry was
added to the curriculum, and the first graduates,
twelve in number, are now actively engaging in
forest administration under the Government, and
at the Model Stations.
Hitherto the administration of forests has nomi-
nally been conducted by the agricultural section of
the Department of Agriculture, Commerce, and
Industry, but in order to grow timber on the barren
mountains, to encourage private enterprise in for-
ests, and to effectively supervise the management of
forests, a Bureau of Forestry was established in the
Department in 1907, and several Japanese experts
in forestry were engaged for service throughout the
country.
Thus having established model forests, a forest
school, and a Bureau of Forestry, the Government
is now preparing comprehensive laws which will
provide, among other things, that certain mountains
and forests, both public and private, shall be pre-
served as protections against land-slides, floods, and
drought. On the other hand, public lands or their
products are to be sold, leased, or granted to private
286
INDUSTRIAL ENCOURAGEMENT
individuals under certain limitations and conditions
in the interest of forestry improvement.
Nothing is more important for the advancement
of material prosperity in Korea than to give the
people every opportunity of improving the old-
fashioned methods of agriculture and industry.
For this purpose the Residency-General estab-
lished, in June, 1906, an Agricultural and Industrial
Model Farm at Suwon, about twenty-five miles from
Seoul, at a cost of 168,520 yen. This farm was
transferred to the control of the Department of
Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry of the Korean
Government in April, 1907. Eighty-seven cho of
land (217 acres) have been appropriated for the
purpose, and there are attached to the Farm seven
competent Japanese experts with twelve Japanese
and Korean assistants, all under the charge and
superintendence of Dr. Honda. Experiments in
the cultivation of rice, barley, sugar-beet, tobacco,
cotton, and other staples are made; sericulture is
undertaken; and the raising of live stock is tried.
The work done during the last two years is worth
attention.
Rice: The Farm has paid serious attention to rice
cultivation, as this cereal is one of the major agri-
cultural products in Korea. In 1906, experiments
were undertaken in several fields near Suwon and
Kunsan, where Japanese and Korean seed was sown ;
and it was proved that the Japanese seed generally
produced more than the Korean. In 1907, several
kinds of Japanese rice were tried at the Farm,
287
KOREA
and that known as Shinriki was found to be best
adapted to the Korean soil and climate, while being
also the most productive. Of upland rice, the Orian
proved the best.
Sugar-beet : The climate of Korea being somewhat
similar to that of Europe, where the sugar-beet is
generally grown, the Farm, in 1906, distributed the
German seeds, klein-wanzlebener and braune, for
trial at the Horticultural Model Station at Tuksan,
the Industrial Undertakings Company at Hoang-Ju,
and the Aichi Agricultural Garden at Wonsan. Of
these kinds of seed the klein-wanzlebener proved
the more adaptable to Korean soil. The results
obtained with this seed at the Farm in 1907 were
satisfactory : they gave the following average figures :
Weight per root, 435 grammes; sugar contained in
Hquid, 13,988 per cent., the purity being 88 per cent,
by chemical analysis. The climate in Korea being
drier than that of Japan, the production of sugar-
beet is more promising than in Hokkaido, where the
cultivation of the root is carried on to a limited
extent.
Sericulture: The Japanese originally learned seri-
culture from the Koreans, yet the silk industry in
Korea is to-day very limited and its product so crude
as not to be comparable with the Japanese staple.
The Farm experimented with silk-worm eggs and
mulberry trees brought from Japan and found that
they are well adapted to the conditions existing in
Korea. A great many years will be required, how-
ever, to carry the silk industry in Korea to a state
288
INDUSTRIAL ENCOURAGEMENT
approaching perfection as long as Korean houses are
so low and dark that they seriously interfere with
the growth of the worm, whereas Japanese houses
are almost ideal in this respect.
On the other hand, the cultivation of wild silk-
worms, as carried on in the Antung districts beyond
the Ya-lu, should be capable of being transplanted
to Korea, as the conditions in north Korea and in
Antung are much alike, and the Quercus Mongolia,
on which these wild silk-worms feed, abounds in
both regions. The eggs of this wild variety of silk-
worms were brought from the Hoo-san Mountain in
north Antung and tested at the Paingma Mountain
in north Korea, also at Suwon. At both places the
results of two years' experiments, alike with spring
and autumn broods, were satisfactory, the worms
proving themselves adaptable to Korea when proper
care is taken to prevent destruction by magpies as
well as by flies and other insects.
Live stock: Specimens of Berkshire pigs have
been brought to the Farm, and are proving so
satisfactory that a pig of seven months weighs 18
kan (150 lbs. av.).
With regard to poultry, the Nagoya Cochin China
and other stock of foreign origin are being bred at
the Farm. The Cochin China do particularly well
in Korea. They keep very healthy without any
special care during winter and their eggs average
58.5 grammes.
Besides the experimental works above mentioned,
the Farm distributes seeds or young plants, eggs or
289
KOREA
young live stock to farmers who apply for such
things, or sells them at cost price. Any necessary
instruction or information in regard to agricultural
questions, is also freely given.
The climate and soil in the southern part of the
peninsula are well suited to the growth of cotton,
but the native method of cultivation being primitive,
Koreans and Japanese interested in this industry
formed an "Association for the Cultivation of
Cotton" (as stated in the report for 1906), with the
object of introducing an improved system of plant-
ing. The Korean Government also decided to sub-
sidise this Association to the extent of 100,000 yen,
distributed over three years, beginning in 1906, on
condition that American upland cotton be introduced;
that the seed obtained from the crop be distributed
among planters at large, and that a ginning mill be
established, with the special object of preventing
the seed from being wastefully thrown away. The
charge and superintendence of the Association have
been entrusted to the Agricultural and Industrial
Model Farm at Suwon, and a branch station for
experimenting in cotton cultivation was established
at Mok-po in June, 1906.
This branch soon selected ten sites for cotton beds,
and erected a ginning mill near Mok-po. The total
area under cotton cultivation, including the ten beds
managed by the experimental station, increased from
516 tan in 1906, to m<^ tan (166 acres), in 1907, with
a production of 77,074 kin (92,765 lbs. av.). The
number of Koreans planting cotton increased to 580
290
INDUSTRIAL E N C O U R A G E M E x\ T
in 1907 against 348 in 1906, while five places where
Japanese carried on the enterprise in 1906 became
sixteen in 1907.
In past ages Korea reached an advanced stage in
various arts and industries, so that the Japanese
obtained from her the arts of weaving, keramics,
metal-casting, architecture, etc. Since median-al
days, however, Korean industry has been on the
decline, and to-day it is in a state of decay. Should
the young generation of men whose ancestors exhib-
ited remarkable talent in the various arts be brouglit
under uniform guidance, and be properly trained,
they will undoubtedly show once more their old
industrial activity.
To establish a special school for carrying out the
above idea was one of the principal objects in obtain-
ing a "Loan for Public Undertakings" in 1906, and
149,654 yen out of the loan was allotted to establish-
ing an Industrial Training School in Seoul. By the
recommendation of the Resident-General, Dr. Iliraga,
one of the leading technical engineers in Japan, was
engaged by the Korean Government to prepare
general plans of the schools. The following six-
courses of industrial training are to be given at this
institution, viz: —
1 . Dyeing and weaving: — Bleaching; plain dyeing
and printing; weaving of cotton, hemp, silk,
and wool.
2. Keramics: — Beside the original Korai faience,
the making of modern porcelain has been
introduced,
291
KOREA
3. Metal work: — Casting, tempering, and fin-
ishing.
4. Manual work: — Carpentering, joinery, and
wheelwright work.
5. Applied chemistry: — Paper making; skin
dressing; manufacture of soap, glue, gela-
tine and artificial manure; oil extraction
and chemical analysis.
6. Civil engineering : — Surveying and drawing.
In addition to the above, the following subjects
will be taught in all courses alike: —
The Japanese language; elementary English; arith-
metic; free-hand drawing; physics and chemistry.
The construction of a main building and six build-
ings for the separate courses, as well as two dormi-
tories, was completed in March, 1907, at the cost
of 75,209 yen. For machinery and apparatus of
various kinds 50,000 yen has been spent.
The object of the school excited much interest
among the Koreans, and at the first entrance exami-
nation, held in April, 1907, there were 1,100 appli-
cants, of whom only seventy-four passed. In
addition to free tuition and lodging, an allowance of
six yen per month is given to each student.
For the maintenance of the school, 30,170 yen was
appropriated in 1907, and 41,799 yen in 1908.
While the Korean Government and the Residency-
General employed their utmost efforts and influence
in promoting various agricultural, industrial, and
commercial facilities, they did not neglect to afford
every available encouragement or opportunity to the
292
INDUSTRIAL ENCOURAGEMENT
Koreans at large, with a view to improving the hatter's
standard of hving. Thus a Seoul Exposition was
held in 1907, primarily to impart general knowledge
to the Koreans, and to stimulate their interest in
modern industrial life. This enterprise was under
the auspices of the Korean Government and the
Residency-General, and received pecuniary aid from
them, its details, however, being managed b}' a pri-
vate joint association of Koreans and Japanese.
The total number of exhibitors was 1,493, among
whom 193 were Koreans, the rest being Japanese;
and the total number of articles exhibited was
76,021, namely, 4,909 by Koreans and the rest by
Japanese. The Exhibition was opened on the 1st
of September, 1907, and remained open for two
months and ten days. At the beginning, only a
few Koreans, drawn mainly by curiosity, visited the
place, but the popularity of the Exhibition soon
grew, and a large concourse of Koreans attended,
their interest being particularly excited by the con-
trast between the comparative crudeness of their
own exhibits and the superior qualities of the Jap-
anese articles. It was originally estimated that the
number of visitors might not reach more than
50,000 during the whole term, but this forecast
was quadrupled, the visitors actually aggregating
208,417. The largest attendance on any one day
reached 12,710, the smallest being 223, and the
average was 2,778 per diem for the whole seventy
days. Seventy-five per cent, of the visitors were
Koreans.
293
CHAPTER XXV
SANITATION AND WATER WORKS
ALTHOUGH Korea is not typically a tropical
country, yet various plagues have often
threatened both human beings and cattle.
Proper sanitary measures having hitherto been
neglected, the population has been at a standstill
for a long time. A hospital and a medical school
to promote vaccination were first established in 1897
under the advice of a Japanese, Dr. Kojo, and, three
years later, eighty-one medical students having grad-
uated, they were distributed among vaccination
stations, which were established throughout the
provinces, by a decree of the Home Department,
issued on June ^7, 1897. The regulations provide
also for general compulsory vaccination; and, in
addition, several laws and regulations were enacted
for the prevention of cholera, typhoid fever, dysen-
tery, and diphtheria. These laws were not carried
into effect: they w^ere pigeon-holed.
In March, 1906, the Advisory Police Board engaged
about fifty Japanese physicians and distributed them
among the police stations in the various provinces.
They had charge of vaccination and other sanitary
measures. Since these measures have been taken,
the number of small-pox cases has decreased compara-
294
SANITATION AND WATER WORKS
lively, although an accurate estimate has not yet
been obtained.
In the later part of the summer of 1907, when
several cases of cholera appeared among the Koreans,
Chinese, and Japanese in the vicinity of the Ya-lu
River, a temporary quarantine station, with a
personnel of several Japanese and Korean commis-
sioners, was established in Shin-Wiju, and when the
disease made its appearance in Fusan, Chemulpo,
Ping-yang, and Seoul, the Police Advisory Board
established branch quarantine stations in these
places also. Prior to the visit of the Crown Prince
of Japan to Seoul, the Resident-General issued a
special order for the establishment of a "Plague
Preventive Staff" (principally consisting of the
medical corps of the Japanese garrison and advisory
police), and thorough measures for disinfection were
rigorously carried out in the city of Seoul. The
result of these precautions was that any serious
spread of the epidemic was checked. Official reports
give the following statistics: 361 cases of cholera
(198 Koreans, 152 Japanese, and 11 Chinese); 270
deaths (156 Koreans, 8 Chinese, and 106 Japanese).
In connection with the organic regulations for cen-
tral and local administration, issued in December,
1907, various sanitary organisations were established.
With regard to central administration for sani-
tary purposes, the Sanitary Bureau of the Home
Department is to control and supervise the sanitary
administration of the whole country; the Sanitation
Experimental Section of the Tai-Han Hospital is to
295
KOREA
take charge of experiments along the Hne of sanita-
tion; while the local sanitary administration is to be
conducted by the second section of the Metropoli-
tan Police Office, by the sanitary sections of the
Provincial Police Stations, and by the provincial
governments. Municipal organisation for sanitation
was inaugurated by the Seoul Sanitary Association,
organised as a joint undertaking of the Seoul munici-
pality and the Japanese settlement municipality, it
being arranged that the expenses of this association
should be met by a subsidy from the Korean Govern-
ment, and by fees collected from the Korean and
Japanese residents in Seoul.
Until very recently Korea possessed no adequately
equipped hospital on a large scale, though there were
two small hospitals, and one attached to a medical
school in Seoul; as well as several other hospitals
organised by foreign missionary societies or by the
municipalities of the various Japanese settlements.
These hospitals, however, were irregularly managed,
and did not possess any competent equipment or
accommodation, though one of them was controlled
by the Home Department, another by the Imperial
Household, and a third — which was attached to the
Medical College — by the Educational Department.
In accordance with the advice of the Resident-
General, the Korean Government decided, in 1906,
to establish one large new hospital, by amalgamating
the above mentioned three institutions. For this pur-
pose 357,577 yen, out of the "Public Undertakings
Loan," was allotted for construction and mainte-
296
SANITATION AND WATER WORKS
nance, and the hospital was placed under the control
of the Home Department; Baron Dr. Sato, a promi-
nent Surgeon-General in Japan, being invited to act
as councillor in the establishment of this Tai-Han
Hospital, and later being made its President. Mad-
zusan Hill, the most healthy location in Seoul, was
selected for the hospital. Most of the buildings
are of brick, and the hospital has been divided into
five sections, namely, medical, surgical, gynaecolog-
ical, and ophthalmological, together with a section
for diseases of the ear, nose, and throat. The medical
faculty is composed of the President, eight Japanese
and two Korean doctors, with three Japanese and
five Korean assistants; four Japanese pharmacists
and ten Japanese nurses. Six buildings of one-story
construction have been provided as wards for the
patients, and these are divided into three classes.
Beside these an isolated building has been erected
for patients with infectious diseases. In the first
class wards a charge is made of 2 J yen a day;
in the second class, 1.25 yen, and in the third, 15
sen; but all foreign people are charged double
these fees. As for medicine for out-patients, all
foreign people have to pay fifty per cent, more
than Koreans do. For patients in extreme poverty,
free advice and treatment are given.
The Medical School attached to the Tai-IIan Hos-
pital succeeded the Seoul Medical School which
belonged to the Educational Department. The new
Medical School was reorganised on an improved
modern system. Its teaching force consists of three
297
KOREA
Japanese professors, three Korean doctors, and one
American physician. The school is exclusively de-
signed to train Koreans as physicians, surgeons,
pharmacists, midwives, and nurses; and the course
of study extends over four years for medicine; three
for pharmacy; and one for midwifery or nursing.
In the Medical Department the curriculum includes
anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnosis, phar-
macy, practice of medicine, pediatrics, surgery,
geni to-urinary treatment, gynaecology, midwifery,
sanitation, bacteriology, medico-jurisprudence, and
clinical practice. In addition, arithmetic, physics,
chemistry, and Japanese are taught in the first year,
because the Koreans are still deficient in the common
branches of education. Those who pass the entrance
examinations with good marks are received as Gov-
ernment students, all their expenses for dormitory,
clothing, and tuition being given to them, while in
the case of other students the fees only are remitted
and text-books are lent.
The well-water in Korean towns is often a cause
of epidemic diseases, owing to infiltration from
stagnant drains and uncleaned necessaries. In spite
of the fact that water works for the large cities are
thus of vital importance, attention was never seri-
ously paid to the matter until the Japanese Muni-
cipal Council in Seoul held a meeting to discuss this
subject on January 29, 1904, and decided to build
a reservoir on Nam San, for the purpose of supply-
ing the Japanese settlement with water at a cost
of 100,000 yen. The measure was not carried out,
298
SANITATION AND WATER WORKS
however, owing to a protest from Messrs. Collbran
and Bostwick, an American firm, which claimed
the exclusive privilege of constructing water works
in Seoul. Meanwhile, in March, 1906, on the urgent
advice of the Resident-General, the Korean Govern-
ment decided to appropriate funds for water works
out of the "Loan for Pubhc Undertakings," and to
apply them for the construction of water works at
Chemulpo and Ping-yang, as well as to subsidise
the water works at Fusan, which had already been
commenced by the Japanese settlement there. The
amount thus allotted to Chemulpo is 2,170,000 yen;
to Ping-yang, 1,300,000 yen, and as a subsidy to
Fusan, 350,000 yen. A Bureau of Water Works was
established in June under the control of the Finance
Department, but was amalgamated with the Bureau
of Public Works of the Home Department in Decem-
ber, 1907.
The site chosen for the pumping station is at
No-Yang- j in on the banks of the Han River above
Yong-san. All the necessary surveys for the pump-
ing station, including settling reservoirs and filters,
a clear water basin, the route of the pipe line, and
a distributing reservoir, were completed by October,
1906, but, owing to the severity of the winter,
work was not actually begun till March, 1907. The
capacity of the water works has been calculated so
as to furnish a supply of 280,000 cubic shaku of
water a day, on a basis of four cubic shaku per
head of 70,000 inhabitants, the possible population in
the near future being estimated as follows: Koreans,
299
KOREA
30,000; foreigners, 25,000; and 15,000 for ships
watering at the port. The intake is to be in the
Han River, a mile above the railway bridge, where
the water is free from contamination and altogether
suitable for drinking purposes. The pumping sta-
tion is connected with the settling reservoirs and
filters, which have respectively a total capacity of
500,000 cubic shaku, sufficient for two days' con-
sumption by a population of 70,000. A clear water
basin is to be built on a hill at No-Yang-jin, 300
shaJcii above sea level, having a capacity of 140,000
cubic shaku, or sufficient for half a day. The dis-
tributing reservoir is to be built on a hill 200 shaku
above sea level to the north-east of Chemulpo, and
will have a capacity of 560,000 cubic shaku, or two
days' maximum supply. The length of the main
pipe between the clear water basin and the distrib-
uting reservoir is to be 8 ri 14 cho, and its diameter
20 inches.
The work of construction is to be completed within
five years, beginning from 1906, when the preliminary
surveys and the purchase of necessary materials were
commenced. By the end of December, 1907, one-
third of the construction had been finished.
The survey of the Water Works for Ping-yang was
completed by December, 1906. It has been planned
on the basis of a population of 50,000, namely,
Koreans, 30,000; foreigners, 12,000; military, 4,500;
and 4,000 for railway use. The pumping system is
to be similar to that at Chemulpo, and the water is
to come from a point in the main stream of the Ta-
300
SANITATION AND WATER WORKS
Dong River to the pumping station on Neung-ma
Island, with which settHng reservoirs and filters are
connected. Thence, the water is to be led across a
branch stream of the Ta-Dong River to the distrib-
uting reservoirs, which have a total capacity of
3,400,000 litres for twelve hours. Half of the work
of construction was done by the end of December,
1907, and the whole is expected to be finished by
the end of 1909.
The Water Works at Fusan are under construc-
tion as a joint enterprise of the Korean Government
and the Japanese Municipal Council, at a cost of
1,170,000 yen, out of which 820,000 yen is to
be subscribed by the municipality and the balance
of 350,000 yen by the Government, and the work of
construction is to be carried out under the control
of the Bureau of Public Works. The plan for the
works at Fusan is to improve the old reservoir
hitherto maintained by the Japanese municipality
and to build a large new one, with a capacity for
55,000 people. The gravitation sj^stem has been
adopted, and the old impounding reservoir on
Ko-uon-kyon Mountain is expanded to contain a
supply for 10,000 persons, while a new impounding
reservoir is to be constructed on a mountain two ri
from the city capable of supplying 45,000 people.
The water from the two impounding reservoirs is to
be conducted to a distributing reservoir, constructed
on a hill behind the present Customs oflSce. The
work was begun in April, 1907, and is to be com-
pleted within three years and a half.
301
CHAPTER XXVI
EDUCATION
PRIOR to the China-Japan War, there was no
real public school system in Korea, nor
any institution for giving modern education.
In fact, education has never been regarded as a
matter of public interest, but only as a private affair.
A litterateur in a village gives lessons to boys in the
writing and reading of Chinese characters and in
domestic etiquette, this kind of school being known
as clu-pung. For a more advanced study of Chinese
Korean boys go to the Han-gyo, where the image of
Confucius is venerated, and this Han-gyo is main-
tained in each district with income derived from
rice-fields granted by the Government or donated by
private individuals. One candidate selected from
each Han-gyo is eligible to enter the Son-gyun-koan
at Seoul, which is merely a high educational institu-
tion for the study of the Chinese classics. Within
recent years, however, general history, geography,
and mathematics have been included in the curricu-
lum. Graduates from the Son-gyun-koan are eligible
for the lower grades of the Civil Service.
Although several laws and ordinances relating to
common, middle, normal, and technical schools were
promulgated in the course of the general administra-
302
EDUCATION
live reforms in 1895 after the China- Japan War,
these regulations were largely ineffective. Common
schools and others were indeed established in Seoul
and some provincial cities, but they may be said to
have confined themselves to the irregular teaching
of Chinese ideographs, other important studies being
neglected for the most part. There are schools
maintained by various foreign missionary societies,
besides several schools under Buddhist missionaries
from Japan.
For the sake of the general welfare of the young
generation, reform in education is of vital importance.
The educational affairs of the country cannot be
entrusted wholly to foreign missionary schools, or
abandoned to the imperfect system hitherto pursued
by the Korean Government.
In accordance with the advice of the Resident-
General, the Korean Government appropriated
500,000 yen out of the "Loan for Public Under-
takings," in March, 1906, for the extension of educa-
tion; 350,000 yen being allotted for improving and
establishing common schools, and the balance,
150,000 yen^ for expanding and improving normal
schools, high schools, and foreign language schools.
Based on the educational system of advanced
countries, yet carefully adapted to existing condi-
tions in Korea, general regulations for common
schools were issued by Imperial Edict and by a
decree of the Minister of Education in August, 1906.
While common schools in Japan are maintained by
municipalities or local governments, in Korea the
303
KOREA
Central Government also takes a leading part in
supporting such schools, municipal and local admin-
istration not being yet developed. Instead of com-
pulsory education, a voluntary system of attendance
has been adopted, as the present scale of living
among the Koreans is not compatible with compul-
sory attendance. However, in order to encourage
children to come to school, tuition and text-books
are free. While the course of study in Japan is
eight years — six years in the lower grade and two
years in the upper — a four years' course has been
adopted in Korea, by combining parts of the upper
and lower Japanese grades, and the village clu-pung
are to connect with the common schools as pre-
paratory to the latter.
The course of instruction includes moral teach-
ing, the languages of Korea, China, and Japan,
arithmetic, simple geography and history, physics,
drawing, and physical exercises. Sewing and other
domestic accomplishments are added for girls; while
music, manual training, and lessons in agriculture
and industry can be given as voluntary courses.
Text-books are to be used in teaching morality,
languages (Japanese, Korean, and Chinese), phj^sics,
and writing. The text-books for geography and his-
tory have not yet been issued separately, but they
are included in the Korean and Japanese reading-
books.
By the end of December, 1907, the number of
common schools established under the new regula-
tions was forty -nine (eight in Seoul and forty -one in
304
EDUCATION
the various provinces) with 51 Japanese teachers
and 152 native teachers, 4,052 boys and 40 girls.
Besides these, there are thirty-five common schools
established in accordance with the old regulations,
but their management is so poor that they can
scarcely be said to have any system, and the exact
number of teachers and pupils is unknown.
There are also 271 private schools recognised by
the Government, but in their case also the exact
number of teachers and pupils is unknown. The
Government is working to bring them gradually
into harmony with the public schools, as far as
possible.
Nothing is more important for the improvement
of general education in Korea than the training of
native teachers. Therefore the Government has
given most serious attention to establishing a new
Normal School. In order to train uniform and com-
petent teachers for the common schools, the new
regulations for the Normal School, promulgated by
Imperial Edict No. 41, on August 27, 1906, do
not recognise any private normal school; every
normal school must be founded by the Central, or
Provincial, Government. The course of study is
nearly the same as that of the normal school in
Japan, except that the Japanese language consti-
tutes one of the most important subjects in the
Korean normal school. The curriculum includes
moral teaching, pedagogy, the Korean, Japanese,
and Chinese languages, history, arithmetic, physics,
chemistry, natural science, drawing, music, and
305
KOREA
gymnastics. By permission of the Minister of Edu-
cation, one or more courses in agriculture, commerce,
and manual training may be included; and for prac-
tical training in teaching, a common school may be
attached to the normal school. The term of the
regular course is three years; but a preparatory
course, a short-term course, or a lecture course,
for special students may be completed in one year.
Tuition, board, and clothing are given by the
Government to all regular students.
The construction of the new normal school was
completed in December, 1907. By the end of that
month, there were 106 students, with five Japanese
and three Korean teachers.
In addition to the foregoing, there are two kinds
of schools maintained by the Government under the
new regulations, one the High School, the other the
Foreign Language Schools.
The object of the High School is to give a liberal
education to Korean boys above twelve years of age,
who have passed through the common schools or
who have corresponding attainments. The course
includes history, geography, mathematics, natural
science, physics, chemistry, ethics, the Korean,
Japanese, and Chinese languages, drawing, music,
and gymnastics. Elementary law and economics
are also given as voluntary subjects, and the course
of study occupies a period of four years.
At the end of December, 1907, there was only one
high school with 126 students, ten Korean and five
Japanese teachers.
306
EDUCATION
In Seoul there are five foreign language schools
for teaching Japanese, English, Chinese, German,
and French, respectively; besides a Japanese lan-
guage school at Chemulpo and two at Ping-yang.
For children of the Imperial Family and the nobil-
ity, a Peers School, called the Su-hak-won, was estab-
lished in 1906. It ranks as a common school in
educational grade, and although controlled by the
Minister of the Imperial Household, the Minister
of Education is freely consulted in all matters
relating to the educational work.
Prior to the entrance of Korea into treaty rela-
tions with the Western Powers, the Government
rigorously maintained an anti-Christian policy, and
a number of French missionaries were put to death
or banished. The Western Powers, however, secured
freedom of missionary enterprise within the treaty
limits, and, later, the work of American, French,
and English mission societies was extended, so that
now a number of missionaries are engaged in preach-
ing the gospel of Christ in the interior, and many
schools and hospitals have been established under
Christian auspices. When the Japanese Govern-
ment assumed control of the foreign affairs of Korea,
they promptly notified the Treaty Powers that the
treaty rights of all nations would be respected; and,
although the Resident-General has charge of matters
relating to foreigners in Korea, the Japanese authori-
ties have never interfered with the activities of the
foreign missionaries; on the contrary, all necessary
protection has promptly been given to them. A
307
KOREA
report was circulated journalistically in 1907 to the
effect that certain missionaries were not in sympathy
with the reform measures taken by the Korean
Government under the advice of the Resident-
General. Thereupon the leading representatives of
one of the missionary bodies called on the Resident-
General, and gave assurances that missionary activ-
ity was confined to religious and educational lines,
so far, at least, as their own mission was concerned.
At the time of the abdication of the Emperor,
which was followed by riots in Seoul, it was alleged
that the Young Men's Christian Association had
instigated a movement against the Government,
but the General Secretary of that Association in
Korea promptly made known its status and explained
that it was a non-political society, purely religious
and educational. Nevertheless, the fact is notorious
that there existed a widespread tendency among the
native believers at the time to make unwarranted
use of the names of their churches and of the above
association for purposes of political agitation. The
Korean Government, however, as well as the Resi-
dency-General, knew well that United States' citizens
engaged in missionary work in Korea had received
more than one oflicial warning by their Government
to strictly "refrain from any expression of opinion,
or from giving advice, concerning the internal man-
agement of the country, or from any intermeddling
in political questions," and consequently there was
never any doubt that Anjerican missionaries would
appreciate the disposition of their Government and
308
EDUCATION
devote their activities to religious and educational
propaganda alone. The Resident-General more than
once made known his favourable appreciation of
the religious and educational efforts of the foreign
missionaries, believing that they would co-operate
with him in promoting the welfare of the Koreans,
and he further intimated that he would exercise his
influence to protect their work, so long as their
activities were confined to religious and educational
matters. Finally when, in December, 1907, the
Educational Committee of the General Council of
Protestant Evangelical Missions approached the
Korean Government with a request that the meas-
ures undertaken for establishing new public schools
should not interfere with w^ork of the missionary
schools, the Vice-Minister of Education gave as-
surance that the Department of Education would
render every possible assistance to the educa-
tional efforts of the missionaries.
309
CHAPTER XXVII
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE'
THE policy of Japan in Korea to-day cannot be
fully understood unless it is regarded not as
an isolated manifestation, but as a part of a
great Imperial scheme. Japan has set out to be a
supreme world-Power, and she is rapidly realising
her ambition. Yesterday her territory was limited,
her people were desperately poor, her army and
fleet were thought to be negligible quantities, and
her aspirations were pityingly looked upon as the
fevered dreams of an undeveloped people. To-day we
are in danger of over-estimating the Japanese force
and strength as greatly as yesterday our fathers
under-estimated it. Japan has found Imperialism
a costly, dangerous, and burdensome policy. Her
navy and her army have won her world-glory, but
she is still struggling and staggering under a load
that even yet may be too much for her.
Japanese statesmen realise that they must have
fresh territories in which to settle their people. Their
own land is crowded and over-populated. Each year
sees an increase of from 600,000 to 700,000 people.
The 33,000,000 in the Japan of 1872 are now just on
50,000,000, and the rate of increase grows greater
each year. The vast majority of these people are
» From " The Tragedy of Korea," by F. A. McKenzie.
310
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE
still very poor, and Japan to-day has slums in her
cities, and problems of child-labour, sweated labour,
and starvation, rivalling those of Western nations.
Unbacked by great natural resources or by consider-
able reserves of wealth, her Government is trying to
carry through the most gigantic and costly of tasks
on a foundation of patriotism and splendid national
spirit.
For myself, I cannot but feel the most profound
and genuine respect for the loyalty and high racial
ambitions that have carried the nation so far. The
casual visitor to Japan to-day sees great and glaring
faults, but those of us who have lived longer among
her people and have gone deeper into her problems
wonder not that there are faults, but that develop-
ment has reached a stage when faults are noted.
Not long since I was on the train from Seoul to
Fusan. It was five hours late. It had broken down
twice. The locomotive, badly cleaned and badly
handled, was scarce able to drag its load, and car-
riages had been discarded to lighten it.
Some of us, standing in the Korean station —
wet, cold, and miserable — were passing caustic
remarks about Japanese engine-drivers and the way
they muddled and misused their engines. A quiet
Scotsman turned on us with a single question.
*'Do you ever reflect," he asked, *'on the wonder
that these people can do as well as they do? Think
of it," he continued. *'The driver was probably
two years ago an agricultural labourer in a village,
and had never seen an engine. He is running this
3U
KOREA
train badly, it is true, but he is running it, and in
twelve months' time he will be handling it well.
What man of another nation could have done the
The quiet Scotsman had touched the heart of the
problem. It is barely thirty years since Japan was
still torn in the struggle between feudalism and
modernity. The men who to-day are managing
cotton mills wore, in their younger manhood, two
swords and fantastic armour. Yesterday the kiheitai
(irregular soldiers) walked through their districts
armed to the teeth, terrorising peaceful farmers;
now the same kiheitai work their ten hours a day in
the factory for thirty cents. Yesterday the dainty
wife sat modestly at home waiting for her lord to
return from his political brawls; to-day the same
wife is busy over the spinning-jenny in the factory,
while her lord is doing his share in shop or ware-
house. The thing is a world-miracle, and the longer
one contemplates it the greater the miracle appears.
Japan has broken her solemn promises to Korea
and has evaded in every way her pledged obligations
to maintain the policy of equal opportunities, because
she is driven thereto by heavy taxation, by the pov-
erty of her people, and by the necessity of obtaining
fresh markets and new lands for settlement. Her
people are now the most heavily taxed in proportion
to income of any in the world. At the beginning of
the Russo-Japanese War a scheme of Imperial taxa-
tion was instituted that was thought to reach the
final extreme possible to bear as a national war
312
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE
burden. This taxation was further increased in
1905, it being understood that the extraordinary-
special taxes were to be abolished on the last day of
the year following the restoration of peace. The
land-tax was increased during the war from 120 to
700 per cent., the business tax 150 per cent., the
income tax from 80 to 270 per cent., and the sugar
duties from 100 to 195 per cent. There were also
various other increases. Great national industries,
such as tobacco and railways, were nationalised, and
Japan succeeded in sending up her ordinary income
from $125,000,000 to over $200,000,000. At the end
of the war the Government announced that under
existing circumstances the promised remission of
the war tax could not be carried out, so they were
kept on to its full extent. Now for the financial
year of 1908-9 the Government is compelled to
impose a number of taxes over and above the war
burden, and despite this is still faced by the proba-
bility of a heavy deficit.
So long as Japan could meet the deficiency by
foreign loans, the problem of making both ends meet
was capable of easy solution. But the most opti-
mistic financier hesitates, at the present time, to
suggest a loan either in the European or American
markets. For months a careful campaign has been
waged to enable a new loan to be floated in Paris,
but so far without success. The Manchurian Rail-
way issue was an open failure, although only half
of the money really needed was asked for. The
Japanese Finance Commissioners who were in Europe
313
K O II E A
last summer returned home disappointed. " You can
rest assured," one of them was told by a leading
financial authority, "that Europe has not another
sovereign to lend Japan for increased armaments."
The monetary difficulties have been increased by
the disastrous results of commercial speculation in
the summer of 1907, when large numbers of banks
and institutions failed. The situation is such to-day
that the Government must decide on one of two
alternatives. It must either reduce expenditure,
and thus limit some of its cherished schemes, or it
must find excuse for an aggressive campaign against
its wealthy neighbour, China. It is this which may
explain the Japanese breaches of the Open Door
policy. The Government, no doubt, feels that it
cannot afford to miss anything that would expand
its commerce and improve its national income.
The financial problem has led, in turn, to the
labour problem. The inevitable result of high taxa-
tion has been to raise the cost of living. It is prob-
ably an understatement that the cost of living has
doubled in Japan in a few years.
One outcome of this rise in the cost of living
has been a series of formidable strikes, particularly
among the miners — strikes often accompanied by
violence and loss of life. In April, 1907, several
hundred miners at the Horolai coal-mine attempted
to destroy the mine buildings, fought the police,
wounding five of them, and set fire to the mine
offices and the go-downs, using dynamite to destroy
the buildings.
314
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE
At the Ashio copper-mine the men rose, cut down
the telegraph lines, extinguished all the lights in the
pits, blew up the watch-houses with dynamite, and
started a general riot. A bomb was thrown into the
watch-house and blew it to atoms. The rioters were
thoroughly organised, and had supplies of kerosene
and explosives for their work. In the end a heavy
body of troops and over 300 police had to come
and restore order. In this riot no less than 830
houses were burnt and a number of lives were lost.
At the Besshi copper-mines, in June, there were
serious disturbances and grave fights, involving a
direct loss of $1,000,000. Offices were set on fire,
and damage done which it will take a year to repair.
In September some thousands of dyeing operatives
went on strike. An epidem'ic of strikes ran through
many industries.
The rapid increase in wages is wounding the new
Japanese manufacturers in their most vital point.
An attempt was recently made to obtain cheap
labour by importing a number of Chinese coolies.
The Government quickly intervened, and had the
coolies expelled, to the accompaniment of consider-
able indignity and suffering. Japan has no hesi-
tation in protecting herself from cheaper labour,
whatever she may say about America having similar
protection for her people.
This labour question raises yet another issue.
Japan's success as a manufacturing nation has so
far been largely due to the low wages of her toilers.
The cotton mills, with an unlimited supply of women
315
KOREA
workers at ten cents a day, and children at a few
cents a week, the factories with skilled workmen
earning an average wage of sixty sen (30c.) a day,
are able to turn out goods very cheaply. The
Japanese working man is, in the opinion of all com-
petent authorities, not nearly so capable a handler
of machinery as is the European. Generally speak-
ing, it takes two Japanese to do the work of one
European where much machinery is used. Japanese
deftness lies largely in handicrafts.
So long as human material was cheap this did not
much matter. But now we have labour appreciat-
ing all the time, until in some districts known to me
two shillings a day has to be paid. Firms that land
goods at Japanese ports are already becoming loud
in their complaints of the cost of handling freight.
The Japanese manufacturer thus finds his labour
bill rising, while his direct taxation is double or
treble what it once was. At the same time a new
commercial rival is arising. The factory system is
being introduced into parts of China, especially
around the Yangtze Valley, and the Chinese are
beginning to produce, on a considerable scale, cer-
tain lines of goods in competition with Japan.
In China labour is still paid a minimum wage
and taxation is low. The Chinese worker is at
least equal to the Japanese. What China has lacked
up to now has been Government direction, and skilled
Government aid in finance, in securing cheap freight,
and in finding and keeping customers. Dear labour
and high taxation threaten Japan more nearly and
316
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE
more seriously than any Armada from foreign
lands.
What are the main causes of these crushing national
burdens? They are, without doubt, mainly due to
the great amount spent on the army and the navy
and on commercial subsidies. A great parade was
made in some quarters, at the beginning of 1908,
because of an announcement that the Japanese
Government had resolved to modify its military and
naval expenditures for the coming year. The com-
mentators were probably not aware that this so-
called modification was merely a slight clipping off
in a great scheme of expansion. Japan still spends
twice as much on her fighting forces as five years
ago. The national policy since the conclusion of the
treaty of Portsmouth has been, as it was previously,
strongly in favour of the rapid and considerable
enlargement of both the fleet and the army. There
is, it is true, a party, both in the Cabinet and out
of it, that would keep defence expenditure within
bounds. But this party is at present only able to
exercise a slightly moderating influence.
A comparison of the fighting strength of the nation
immediately before the war and to-day will best
show this. At the end of 1903 Japan had six good
battleships. To-day she has thirteen, and three
more are being built. Of these thirteen ships, two
— the Satsuma and the Aki — are of the Dread-
nought class, and exceed the Dreadnought in displace-
ment. The three now building will far surpass
in tonnage, horse-power, and armaments the British
317
KOREA
monsters, the Bellerophon, Temerairey and the Superb.
Here is an excellent comparison: —
Duplacement I.H.P.
18,600 23,500
Displacement. I.H.P.
Japanese battleships 22,000 26,500
Bellerophon
Temeraire ■
Superb ....
ArmomenU.
10 12". and 27
small Q.F.
Arm amenta,
f 12 12",
10 8", and
12 4.7 Q.F.
Before the war Japan had six efficient armoured
cruisers. To-day she has twelve, besides four now
being built, of which one is near completion. Some
of these new armoured cruisers are battleships in all
but name. As against fourteen protected cruisers
before the war, there are now eighteen. Her nine-
teen destroyers have risen to fifty -four, and her forty-
five torpedo-boats to eighty-five. In addition, she
has accumulated a considerable fleet of submarines.
There are seven in commission and six now under
construction. It is not too much to say that the
Japanese Navy is to-day nearly twice as efficient and
powerful as it was three months before the outbreak
of the Russian War.
The increase in the army has been also consider-
able. At the close of the Russian campaign the
Minister for War, General Terauchi, wanted to
resign, and was only induced to continue in office by
a promise that his plans for the expansion of the
army would be considered as favorably as possible.
The war party asked that the army should be in-
318
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE
creased from thirteen to twenty-five divisions. This
was afterwards reduced by the Minister to twenty-
one divisions. The Finance Department declared
that such a programme was impossible, for the
country could not bear the burden. As a com-
promise, it was decided early last year to enlarge
the army to seventeen divisions, with two further
divisions in Korea and Manchuria. Other increases
took place, which still further added to the military
strength. Thus the time for infantry training was
reduced from three years to two. As need hardly
be pointed out, this will give the infantry a reserve,
in a few years, 50 per cent, greater than before. A
thousand men were added to each division.
The Japanese military authorities also seriously
set themselves to eradicate the various w^eaknesses
revealed in their organisation during the Russian
War. In England a number of open scandals pre-
ceded the very effective changes which have been
made in its land forces since the Peace of Vereeni-
ging. Japan managed better. Scandals were sup-
pressed, and all dirty linen was washed in private,
but a most careful and relentless inquiry was insti-
tuted behind closed doors.
Cavalry had been a conspicuously w^eak arm of
the service during the war. Experts were called
in from Austria and other countries, fresh breeding
stock was introduced, and the authorities will accom-
plish the seemingly impossible task of making real
horse-masters of some of their countrymen. The
Japanese field artillery was hopelessly out-classed by
319
KOREA
the Russian. If Japan were fighting to-day much
of her field artillery would be found equal to that
of any other Power. Vast sums have been spent
to create steel foundries in Japan, in order that the
country may be able to supply within its own borders
the steel used for war material. This policy has
since been carried a step further, and late last year
the Japanese finally concluded an agreement with
Messrs. Armstrong, and Vickers and Maxim by which
Armstrong, Vickers, and the Japanese are to build,
in co-partnership, works in Japan itself. These
works will have the benefit of the Armstrong and
Vickers secrets and designs, and it is expected that
a monster arsenal will be created at the Hokaido,
doing for Asia what Krupp, Armstrong, Vickers,
and Creusot have accomplished for Europe.
Steps have been taken to increase the esprit and
the military pride of the soldiery. Soon after the
war more ornamental dressings were given to mili-
tary uniforms, and the Japanese soldier now, in
his red and gold-trimmed dress, looks very different
from the shapeless and slouching yokel who formerly
excited the derision of superficial European onlookers.
There is nothing extraordinary in this. Japan is
only following the line taken by many great con-
quering nations before, and those who would follow
the reasons for her action need but study Napoleonic
history. Her army and na\'y are at once her strength
and danger. Her soldiers, strong, successful, and
determined, look with some scorn on the quiet and
somewhat sober statesmen w^ho keep them in check.
320
A GLANCE AT THE FUTURE
They are working out, under new conditions, the
same conclusions that have always made the Samurai
the strength of, and potentially the most dangerous
cias^ in, Japan.
Happily for the world, while the military clans are
strong, they are not yet omnipotent. There is a
school of statesmen, not perhaps a growing school,
that sees the real hope of Japan's future in peaceful
expansion. A generation ago, Okubo, leader of those
who overthrew the Shogunate, died under the hands
of an assassin for loyalty to his principles. Twelve
years ago Ito kept his countrymen in check when
they were furious to avenge the insults that were
put upon them by Russia. The school of Okubo
and Ito is not yet dead. Ito, it is true, is laughed at
by many of the younger men, who declare that while
his ways were good enough for their fathers, they
have entered into a wider inheritance, and will prove
themselves worthy of it. The future of Japan, the
future of the East, and, to some extent, the future
of the world, lies in the answer to the question
whether the militarists or the party of peaceful
expansion gain the upper hand in the immediate
future. If the one, then we shall have harsher rule
in Korea, steadily increasing aggression in Manchuria,
growing interference with China, and, in the end, a
Titanic conflict, the end of which none can see.
Under the others Japan will enter into an inheri-
tance wider, more glorious, and more assured than
any Asiatic power has attained for many centuries.
Given peace and fair dealing, her commerce cannot
321
KOREA
fail to expand by leaps and bounds. Once her
merchants have learnt to purge themselves of their
inherited trickery, once they have discovered that
bogus trade-marks, poor substitutes, and smartness
do not build up permanent connections, their future
is certain. Japan has it in her yet to be, not the
Mistress of the East, reigning, sword in hand, over
subject races — for that she can never permanently
be — but the bringer of peace to, and the teacher of,
the East. Will she choose the nobler end?
322
INDEX
Administration, the Japanese, in
Korea, 233.
Agricultural experiment stations, 256.
Agriculture, 55, 255, 287.
Alceste and Lyra, voyage of, 3.
Allen, Dr., 127.
Alphabet, the Korean, 48.
American mining interests, 254.
American Missions, 118.
Animals, cruelty to, 125.
Annexation by Japan, xii-xv.
Army, disbanding of the, 171.
Babies in Korea, 182.
Baggage transportation, 128.
Banks, 26.
Barley culture, 63.
Barrack life, 199.
Bean culture, 61.
Bear and deer hunting, 78.
Beet cultivation, 288.
Blair, Major, R. E., 190.
Books in Korea, 49.
Boys in monasteries, 94.
Buddhism, 88; the power cf, 96.
Buddhist retreats, 90.
Bureau of Forestry, 286.
Cabinet, the new, 239.
Chang-an, Monastery of, 83.
Characteristics of the Koreans, 178.
Chemulpo, history of, 18.
Children, rights of, 53.
China, encroachments by, 157.
Chinese domination of Korea, 12.
Chino-Japanese War, 138, 162.
Christianity in Korea, 89.
Chung-deung-sa, 141.
Church of England Missions, 117.
Church revenues, 88.
Claims, settlement of, 232.
Coal-mining, 282.
Confucianism, 94.
Consuls, powers of Japanese, 248.
Control of Korea by Japan, 220.
Convention, the, of 1905, 224.
Cooking in Korea, 64.
Corfe, Bishop, 117.
Costume, 30, 176. See Dress.
Cotton cultivation, 290.
Courtesans, 40.
Crime in Korea, 47. See Prisons,
Police.
Criminals in Korea, 185.
Cruelty to animals, 125.
Customs duties removed, 255.
Dancing girls, 35.
Dancing in Korea, 43.
Death penalty, the, 247.
Deer hunting, 78.
Diamond Monasteries, the, 86.
Diamond Mountains, the, 99.
Disbanding of the Army, 171.
Diseases in Korea, 112.
Divorce in Korea, 52.
Dress of the Koreans, 30. See Cos-
tume.
Drought and starvation, 108.
323
INDEX
Early voyages, 6.
Education in Korea, 26, 47. 205.
Education of to-day, 302.
Educational Department, the new,
279.
Entertaining in Korea, 202.
European invasions, 156.
Experiment stations, 256.
Exports and imports, 256, 258.
Exposition, the Seoul, 1907, 293.
Famine in Korea, 108.
Farmers, 55.
Farming, 57.
Farms and farmhouses, 69.
Fauna and flora, 5, 66.
Finances, 222.
Financial reorganisation by Japan,
238.
Fishing trade, the, 105.
Fishing villages, 104.
Flora and fauna, 5, 66.
Food of the Koreans, 64.
Foreign language schools, 307.
Foreign Powers, treaties with, 250.
Foreign trade with Korea, 257.
Forestry, 282, 285; Bureau of, 286.
Functions of new Ministers, 239.
Games in Korea, 49.
Gautama Buddha, 87.
German gold concessions, 75.
Girls' schools in Korea, 208.
Oisaing, 40.
Gold concessions, 75.
Gold-mining, 74.
Government, the new, 226.
Gubbins, Mr., 134.
Han River, the, 134.
Harbour works and extension, 266.
" Hermit Kingdom," the, 3, 156.
Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, 138,
154.
High .schools, 306.
Highways, 2G9.
History, 3.
Horse-breeding, 140.
Hospitals, 296.
Hulbert, Professor H. B., on Korean
philology, 47.
Hunting in Korea, 73.
Imports and exports, 256, 258.
Industrial encouragement, 285.
Industrial Exhibition, the, 1907, 293.
Industrial schools, 291.
Independence of Korea, 219.
Industries, 55.
Inheritance, laws of, 53.
Inns in Korea, 131.
Insect pests, 106, 132.
Interpreters in Korea, 181.
Invasions of Korea, 153.
Japan, over-population of, 310.
Japan and Russia in Korea, 168.
Japan Chinese War, 162.
Japanese administration, 233.
Japanese annexation, xii.
Japanese Consuls, power of, 248.
Japanese influence, 14.
Japanese invasions, 158.
Japanese relations, 217.
Judiciary, the new, 243.
Kang-song, 189.
Kang-wha, 137.
Korea an outlet for Japanese surplus
population, 310.
Korean independence, 219.
Kublai Khan, 153.
Land and Folk, 15.
Land of the Morning Radiance, the,
65.
Language, 48.
Language teaching, 304.
324
INDEX
Law reform, 243.
Laws of inheritance, 53.
Lay, Mr., British Consul-General,
191.
Legends of Buddha, 91.
Life in a monastery, 142.
Life in barracks, 199.
Light-house Bureau, 265.
Literature of Korea, 49.
Live stock raising, 289.
Lyra, voyage of the, 3.
McKenzie, F. a., on the future of
Korea. 310.
Malaria, 112.
Manners, 30.
Manufactures, 261.
Maritime undertakings, 265.
Mass, a nocturnal, 145.
Medical schools, 297.
Men, dress of, 31. See Costume.
Military, the Korean, 199.
Millet growing,*63.
Mines, wealth of, 253.
Mining developments, 260.
Mining in Korea, 73.
Mining interests, 254.
Mining rights, leases of, 281.
Missionaries, control of, 249.
Missionary Question, the, 114.
Missions, regulation of, 307.
Missions in Korea, 89; American, 118;
Church of England, 117.
Model farms, 287.
Monasteries, the Diamond, 86.
Monastery, life in a, 142.
Monks and Monasteries, 83.
Morals, 30.
Morse, Jas. R., concessions to, 274.
Motherhood, 35.
Mountain scenery, 70.
Mountains, the Diamond, 99.
Music in Korea, 50.
Navigation, 4.
Ni Dynasty, the, 157.
Normal schools, 305.
Nuns and nunneriea, 99.
Oat culture, 63.
Occupation of women, 35.
"Open door," the, in Korea, 174.
Oppert, and the buried treasure, 9.
Otori's visit to Seoul, 160.
Paddy fields, 69.
Patent regulations, 263.
Penal Code, reform of, 251.
Peony Mount, capture of, 187.
Ping-yang, capture of, 163; features
of, 182.
" Placer " mining, 76.
Plague Preventive Staff, the, 295.
Police, 222.
Port Arthur, attack on, 162; fall of,
164.
Postal administration, 271.
Poultry breeding, 289.
Printing Bureau, the, 280.
Prisons and prisoners, 184. See also
Crime.
Progress and Reforms, 215.
Proselytising in Korea, 121.
Providence, the British ship, 8.
Public Works, 278.
Punishments, 51.
Pu-ti-chong Pass, the, 90.
Quelpabt, the Isle of, 9.
Railroads in Korea, 20, 180, 269.
Reforms and Progress, 215.
Religious ceremonies, 93.
Religious sculpture, 92.
Residency-General, powers of, 225.
Resident-General appointed, 217.
Rice cultivation, 60, 2S7.
I Roman Catholicism, 114.
325
INDEX
Russia and Japan in Korea, 169.
Russian advances, 166.
Russo-Japanese War, 170.
Sammons, T., on trade conditions to-
day, SMS.
Sanitation, 294.
Scenery in Korea, 65.
School text-books, 304.
Schools, Industrial, 291; Korean, 205,
208.
Sculpture, religious, 92.
Seclusion of women, 38.
Seoul, described, 23.
Seoul Exposition, the, 293.
Sericulture, 288.
Servant and master, 129.
Shamanism, 94.
Shin-ki-sa, 97.
Silk industry, the, 288.
Slavery in Korea, 38.
Sondol-mok, 139.
Sorghum culture, 63.
Sorrows of a Coveted Kingdom, 153.
SpaTwehr, the Dutch frigate, 4.
Starvation and drought, 108.
State education, 208.
Stone-quarrying, 140.
Superstition in Korea, 10.
Superstitions about famine. 111.
Telegraphs, 269.
Telephones, 269.
Terauchi, Viscount, on reforms and
progress, 216.
Text-books in schools, 304.
Theatricals in Korea, 196.
"Three trial system," the, 246.
Tientsin Convention, the, 159.
Tiger hunting, 80.
Timber monopolies, 168.
Tong-haks, the, 159.
Tong-Ko-Kai, 71.
Trade, xiii; conditions, 268; with the
U. S. A., 259.
Trade-mark regulations, 263.
"Tragedy of Korea, The," by F. A.
McKenzie, 310.
Transportation of baggage, 128.
Travel in Korea, 83, 122.
Treaties with foreign Powers, 250.
Trollope, Rev. M. Napier, 141,
Tuberculosis, 113.
United States, trade with, 259.
Water supply, the, 298.
Water works, 294, 298.
Wei-hai-wei, 162.
Western influence, 17.
White Buddha, the, 195.
Women, dress of, 30; education of, 49;
seclusion of, 33.
Women's work in Korea, 36.
Yalu River, the, 137.
Y.M.C.A., the. in Korea, 192, 308.
Yu-chom, Monastery of, 89.
326
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