KOREA
AND THE
SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN








KOREA
AND THE
SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
BEING A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY IN KOREA IN 1891
By Captain A. E. J. CAVENDISH, F.R.G.S.
ist Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
TOGETHER WITH
AN ACCOUNT OF AN ASCENT OF THE WHITE MOUNTAIN
By Captain H. E. GOOLD-AUAMS, R.A.
WITH FORTY ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND TWO SPECIALLY
PREPARED MAPS
NEW EDITION
LONDON
GEORGE PHILIP & SON, 32 FLEET STREET, E.G.
LIVERPOOL: 45 to 51 SOUTH CASTLE STREET
1894


a 26-


INTRODUCTION
The following narrative of the way in which a few weeks'
leave was spent in Korea in 1891, does not pretend to any
literary merit or to be a detailed account of that little-known
country; it is simply an amplification of my diary during
that time.
It was at first intended that Captain Goold-Adams, R.A.,
and I should jointly publish the accounts of our journeys, but
as he is still in the Far East, the collaboration had to be
abandoned. However, Chapter viii. is a short narrative of his
ascent of the "White Mountain," in which, for reasons given
in my story, I was unable to accompany him. Unfortunately
his map, and notes of his observations for position during
his solitary journey, were lost by a friend to whom he lent
them.
My thanks are due to Mr. C. W. Campbell, of the Chinese
Consular Service, for kindly allowing me to make use of some
of the photographs which he took during his journey to the
"White Mountain" in 1889; also to Mr. Hillier and Mr.
Brazier for their photographs.


6
INTRODUCTION
The photograph of the lake on the summit of the "White
Mountain" is combined from three views taken by Captain
Goold-Adams; owing to the defective state of the films, our
Kodak pictures were, with this solitary exception, total
failures.
The native sketches were executed for me by a Korean
gentleman, and are, I think, interesting as illustrations of the
manners and customs of the country; it is to be regretted
that more of the artist's colouring could not be reproduced.
We cannot express sufficiently our gratitude to the many
foreign residents in Korea, Shanghai, and Chefoo, from whom
we received the utmost kindness and hospitality.
We shall never regret the time spent in Korea, amidst its
strange people, wild scenery, and lovely climate. The small
discomforts we had to undergo are inseparable from travel in
a country some three thousand years behind modern civilisa-
tion, and, in our case, these were reduced greatly by the
civility of the Mandarins and officials.
A. E. J. CAVENDISH.
Edinburgh, 1893.


CONTENTS
PAOK
Introduction 5
CHAP.
I. Hong-Kong to Soul II
II. Sofa 23
III. Soul to Won-san 5°
IV. Won-san 85
V. Won-san to Chang-jin 101
VI. Chang-jin to Kap-san ij'
VII. Kap-san to Po-chon '44
VIII. The Ascent of the "White Mountain" 158
IX. Po-chon to Won-ban 182
X. On Sport in Korea 202
Itinkrary 2°9
Index 2 • 5





ILLUSTRATIONS
NATIVE SKETCHES ILLUSTRATING MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
L
• II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVIL
xviii.
XIX.
XX.
Judicial Examination under Torture . . To face page 24
Starching and Ironing „ „ 26
Spinning Flax ,4°
Post- Mortem Examination in Suspected Case „ „ 46
Weaving Cloth. (In colours). . . . between pages 52 and 53
A Blacksmith to face paije 54
62
70
80
84
92
94
Tight-Rope Dancing
Threshing Grain ....
Dancing Girls and Musicians
Ploughing and Sowing .
A Hat-Band Maker
A Hat Maker
An Official on a Journey. {In colours) . between pages 114 and 115
Bridegroom going to Bride's House. {In colours) „ 132 „ 133
Bridegroom Pledging Bride in Wedding-Cup „ „ 134 „ 135
Boys at School. {In colours) . . . . „ 142 „ 143
A Hawking Party ....
Playing a Comedy. {In colours)
A High-Class Funeral. {In colours)
Service of the Buddhist Priests
•i
. to face page 146
between pages 180 and 181
192 „ 193
. to face page 200


10
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS.
Photo—Mr. Hilliek
to face
1. Koreans in winter clothing, > pjuli0
Fu-san >
2. ChemiUpho at low-tide from > phoUh_Ml Q W- Campbell
north-west . . . . )
3. Soul, looking south . . . „ —Mr. Hillier
4. Rough sketch of coolie pack-
frame .....
5. Ready to start ....
6. Rough sketch of water-mill . ...
7. Prefectural Yamen at Won-san. Photo—Mr. Brazier
8. Won-san, looking east-north-east „ . .
9. A tiger-trap „ „
10. Rough sketch of native cart . ...
11. Rough sketch of bridge at Teuk- >
sil-tong )
12. Settler's hut near Un-chong . Photo—Mr. Campbell
13. Hunter and guides, Po-chon
14. Distant View of Paik-tu-san or ( c,7 , . r, . . , „_ . ,
* . „ . >• Sketch—Captain Cavendish to fact
White Mountain . . . > r'
15. The Ainnok or Yalu near the j Photo_Mr Cumwx
"White Mountain" . . S
16. Korean hearers „ „
17. Chinese hunter's lodge „ „
18. The lake on the " White Moun-
Frontispiece
page 14
23
tain"
I „ —Capt Goold-Adams
19. Puk-chong, looking south-west. Photo—Mr. Campbell
20. Ham-heung Bridge, looking)
south-east ....)"
MAPS.
1. Map of Korea
2. Map of Part of Korea, showing the Author's Route .
to face page 11
» .. 214


i





KOREA
AND THE
SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
CHAPTER I. V.
HONG-KONG TO SOUL. - - "":
On Friday, August 28th, we reached Ch^mulpho, the maritime
port of the capital of Korea, after a journey of thirteen days
from Hong-Kong, having left that place on the 15th for
Shanghai. After staying at the Shanghai Club, which is the
pride of the Far East, and a luxurious haven of rest for the
traveller, for four days, during which time we engaged a cook
and a servant, we again embarked on the 23rd. Early morn-
ing of the 25th saw us at Chefoo, where we had to change
steamers; the landing with all our goods was accomplished
at 8 a.m. at a stone pier surrounded by coal-barges, on which,
as on many of the junks and sampans, the coolies were work-
ing stark naked. Having been armed with a letter of intro-
duction to Mr. Donnelly, a prominent resident, Goold-Adams


i2 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
and I were, by his kindness, enabled to make use of the club
while boarding and sleeping at the hotel close by.
Chefoo is the watering-place for Korea, Pekin, Tientsin, and
Shanghai, but the foreign portion of it is very small, with three
indifferent boarding-houses, but good pears and good bathing,
if you do not mind a naked fisherman or two about. The
chief exports appear to be straw plait for hats and bean-cake
for manure. Whilst here, we were most kindly entertained
by Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly, and with them and Mr. and Mrs.
Bejhngtt&,:.yve crossed the bay to visit a fort which was built
:ft«etii^:five;]yea"rs ago by General Snell, a German employe" of
the Chinese Government. No guns have ever been mounted
and the fort is rapidly falling into ruins; in any case, it would
be useless against artillery fire from men-of-war. A very fine
view of Chefoo is to be obtained from the dilapidated officers'
mess-house, which crowns the highest part of the hill on which
the fort is built. Chefoo rejoices in a garrison of 500 Chinese
soldiers, of whose drill and discipline I had no time to obtain
any idea; but their dress and equipment, judging from a brief
glimpse, is a strange medley of prehistoric and modern ideas
on weapons, drill, and costume.
Bellington, who is the Superintending Engineer of the
Tientsin Railway, told us some stories about the Chinese and
their extraordinary ideas on the subject of railways. The track
is not fenced in, and people kept crossing it to the danger of


HONG-KONG TO SOUL
'3
their lives; wherefore the local mandarins said the engine must
have eyes painted on it, to enable it to see where it was going.
A junk has to have eyes to see its proper course; why not a
railway engine? They were not satisfied when told that the
buffers did as well, but said a man ought to be sent on ahead
mounted on a donkey to warn people off the track. This might
do very well for some English and European railways, but on
this little line the ordinary speed is twenty-five miles an hour!
Once there was a collision and a good deal of rolling stock
was damaged; the mandarins wanted to leave the debris
where it was, and build a new track round the heap; they
were naturally much astonished when they found the line
cleared by the next day, a work which included the lifting of
two 42-ton engines.
The captain of the Tsurugu Maru, the steamer of the Nippon
Yusen Kaisha line, which conveyed us from Chefoo to Che-mul-
pho, Devenish by name, had been chief officer of the steamer
when it rescued some Chinese sailors from drowning. It seems
that these men (thirteen, I think) were capsized in their junk
while on their way from Chefoo to Ch^mulpho, and when found,
had been clinging to the bottom of their craft for eight days;
when brought on board the steamer, the instant the first man
stepped on its deck, he snatched a pipe from one of the Chinese
passengers and took a couple of hearty puffs from it. He and
his- companions all recovered from their exposure and were


M KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
sent back to Chefoo. In addition to their junk, they lost 200
dollars, which were in a locker in the hold, and could not be
got at. In recognition of his services and kindness, the Guild
of traders to which they belonged presented Devenish with a
square scarlet tablet, on which were set forth in gold letters the
story of the rescue and their appreciation of his humanity.

chkmui.pho at low tide, from north-west.
It was high tide at Ch^mulpho when we landed to pay
our respects to Mr. Ken-, the British Vice-Consul, and we
got ashore without difficulty. It being exceedingly hot (88°),
and hearing that a Japanese steam-launch would be going to
Soul next day, we decided not to go by land, a distance of
twenty-seven miles, although the road is good except in wet
weather, but to trust ourselves and our baggage in the


HONG KONG TO SOUL
15
Japanese craft, in spite of sinister rumours concerning its
habit of running aground, &c. Accordingly we transferred our
baggage to the steam-launch, a thing about fifty feet long,
and after lunching with Kerr, we went for a walk round the
place with Devenish, on the chance of getting a little snipe-
shooting, but we saw nothing. On our way back through the
native village, we were overtaken by the Prefect of Inchhon,
who is the Korean Superintendent of Trade here, borne along
in a box-like chair, preceded and followed by attendants,
some armed with pikes, some with trumpets, and some with
fans. A respectful demeanour is required from the bystanders
when the great man passes by, and we were amused to see
one of his "soldiers," every now and then, rush at a man
who had not left off smoking, seize his pipe, break it in
pieces and throw them away, at the same time whacking
the smoker over the head with his fan. After dining with
Kerr and Laporte, who is the assistant Customs officer here,
we passed the night at Steward's Hotel; Steward being a
Chinaman, who had been a steward on a ship, hence the
name he adopted for his hotel and store here and at Soul.
The hotel was primitive in its ways and the beds were mighty
hard, but we were most agreeably surprised to find anything
of the kind and so clean and comfortable in the place.
Inchhon is the name of the prefecture, of the second class,
whose magistrate resides five miles from Ch^mulpho, while


16 KOREA AND THE SACKED WHITE MOUNTAIN
the Chinese name for the latter place is Jenchuan, and the
Japanese is Jinsen.
Next morning at 7 a.m. we succeeded in getting on board
the steam-launch, which, however, did not start till an hour
later, and this delay was the cause of our subsequent troubles,
by making us miss the tide. Ch^mulpho at low water
presents a remarkable sight, for owing to the rise and fall
of the tide being thirty-six feet, very little water remains
in the harbour, only a narrow channel in the middle, just
wide enough for a steamer to swing in, while the rest of
the harbour becomes a vast expanse of mud flat, only broken
in one place by a small rocky island.
It was hot enough to-day (870) for the coolies belonging to
the junks and sampans, both Korean and Japanese, to work
stark naked, as at Chefoo. Whilst waiting on board the launch
we saw the late Russian Envoy to Korea, M. Waeber, getting
himself and his baggage on board the Tsurugu Maru, en route
back to Russia. Under his auspices a very fine embassy has
been erected in a good situation in Soul, compared with which
the new British Consulate-General in the capital is remark-
ably hideous. Our fellow-passengers consisted of "Brother"
Jones, a young American missionary, who had come with us
from Chefoo; Steinbeck, a Germau, who kept a store in
Ch^mulpho ; his servant; about fifty Japanese men and women,
and a few Chinese and Koreans; one of the latter smoked and


HONG-KONG TO SOUL
expectorated incessantly. This custom is, to an Englishman,
one of the most annoying habits of the Koreans; the Chinese
are bad enough in this way, but they apparently do not spit
unless they really have an obstruction in the throat, but
Koreans, after clearing their throats with a great deal of
disgusting noise, produce nine times out of ten nothing at all.
I timed this particular gentleman, and found he cleared his
throat on an average six times in five minutes during the
whole time we enjoyed his company on the launch, which, I
fancy, equals the performances of any Scotch loafer! Soon
after eight we started, and steamed slowly along the coast and
up the river Han with the tide, the influence of which is felt
a long way past the capital. The shifting bed of the river, its
shallowness, numerous sandbanks, and strong current at ebb-
tide render its navigation very difficult. Low rocky hills,
gradually merging into barren, brown, and dreary mountains,
enclosed the valley of the river, here from 100 to 300 yards
wide; every two or three miles, on either bank, a stone wall,
three or four feet high, ran from the water's edge to the top
of the hill, as a protection against invasion, while on every
eminence was a small stone fort, which, like the walls, was in
ruins; a dilapidated wall also ran along the right bank of the
river, broken here and there by small villages or ferry stations;
these fortifications were erected after the Japanese invasion of
1592. At noon we grounded on a sandbank, remaining fast
B


18 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
for fifteen minutes, but after much going astern of the engine,
we managed to get off and go ahead once more. However, at
3.30, by which time the tide was on the ebb, we grounded
once more, and nothing would move us. The Japanese in
charge of the launch, seeing some Koreans in a small boat
towing a junk down-stream, put off in their skiff and seized
the boat, not without a lengthy altercation with the owners
and some blows with a bamboo. Returning in triumph, they
made some of our Korean passengers get into the boat, with
the object of lightening the launch, but she had so much
cargo on board that this was in vain. After some time they
told us we should have to stop there for the night, and as
there was no accommodation of any kind and we wanted our
dinner, we prevailed on a Korean junk, which was gaily
sailing up the river, to take us on board; but no sooner had
we boarded her, than the owners said the current was too
strong and they must anchor. We would not allow this, and
took charge of the junk; but we were not enough to hoist and
work the huge unwieldy sail and likewise steer, so we put the
master of the junk to do the latter while we did the former.
By "we," I mean Goold-Adams, "Brother Jones," Steinbeck,
myself, Steinbeck's boy, and three Koreans; the rest of the
crew sulked and did nothing. However, after the steersman
had twice purposely let her fall away, we gave up and drifted
down to the launch, getting on board her again with some


HONG-KONG TO SOUL
19
difficulty. Very shortly after this, two naked Japs on board
a Japanese junk agreed to take us to Mapuh, the river port of
Soul, and we (as before) transferred ourselves to their craft.
We sailed merrily along until 6.30 p.m., when the wind died
away, and the current being too strong to row, or rather
"ulo" against, we had to anchor for the night about five
miles short of our destination. Goold-Adams and I were
tolerably hungry, as all we had had during the day was an
egg for breakfast, and some sandwiches and a bottle of beer
for luncheon. Fortunately Steinbeck had some bread, claret,
and brandy left in his basket, and he kindly shared what he
had amongst the four of us. The Japanese were very civil,
made us some tea, spread mats on the deck of the junk for us
to lie on, and stretched the sail over the boom to form an
awning to keep off the dew. We were very uncomfortable,
however, and although the junk was as clean as it could be,
yet, as the cargo consisted of matches, dried fish, and cabbage,
the smell was awful. One of the Koreans transferred himself
to a Korean junk, which anchored alongside us, and the two
others slept in their white cotton clothes on the roof of the
junk; they presented next morning a miserable spectacle of
wet, blue, and shivering humanity! We had each brought a
bag with us,- leaving the other things on the launch with the
servants, so we were able to make some sort of pillow for our-
selves, but we slept very little; that smell was too much!


20 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Rousing ourselves at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, we found
a dense fog hanging over the river, and had great difficulty in
getting the Japs to start before daylight; at last we got off, but
after they had "uloed" for half-an-hour, they swore they were
going down-stream. However, by dint of much explanation
through Steinbeck's cook, Avho could speak some Japanese,
we persuaded them that, as long as the bow pointed S.E.
according to their compass, we must be going right, and
that we had not again passed a cliff near which we had
anchored for the night. We stopped once or twice and let
down the anchor, while we inquired of a passing Korean junk
or sent the boat ashore to ask at a house where Soul was;
but the Koreans all lied, some saying it was in one direction,
others in a totally different one.
The day was now breaking, and the Japs recognising the
shore, finally landed us at Hang-pai-do, a ferry about two
miles from the regular landing-place, Mapuh, at 6.30 a.m.;
we each paid the boatmen one dollar for their trouble and
civility, except the Koreans, who, more suo, each paid
nothing, and after getting some men to carry our bags, we
walked the six miles into Soul through a most fertile country,
along a road which was now decent, but in wet weather
must be impassable mud in places. In every valley grew
castor-oil plants, rice, beans, maize, chillies, millet, tobacco,
"su-su," &c, right up to the suburbs of the capital. We


HONG-KONG TO SOUL
21
entered Soul by the west gate, an erection about forty feet
high, with the usual curled roof of tiles and official painted
ornamentation; the wooden gates were about twelve feet
high, and studded with iron nails, while the wall itself was
about twenty feet high and twelve feet thick. Through
terribly smelling lanes, Goold-Adams and I were kindly
piloted by "Brother Jones" to the gate of the house, where
Mr. Hillier, the Consul-General, was temporarily living while
the new Consulate-General was being built, and we thank-
fully got to a comfortable dwelling at 8.30 a.m. Mr. Hillier
was at church, but turned up in time for breakfast, giving us
a hearty welcome. After our toilette he took us to the Consular
office, where we were introduced to Mr. Scott, the Vice-Consul,
an ardent Korean scholar, and author of a vocabulary and
dictionary in that language. Afterwards we called on Mr.
Schoenicke, head of the Korean Customs department, and
also on the Italian Consul, where we met Lieutenant-Colonel
Nienstead, the instructor of the Korean army.
The Colonel arrived in Korea in 1889 as a captain, in 1890
he was made a major, and in 1891 he became lieutenant-colo-
nel; he told us some amusing facts about the Korean army,
but naturally made the best of it. Mr. Hillier most kindly
insisted on our staying with him while we remained in Soul,
and with Mr. Scott busied himself in getting an interpreter
and ponies for our journey to Won-san; he also sent a


22 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
"soldier" to show us round the town, but as the man could
not speak anything but Korean, we were not so much struck
with things as we might otherwise have been.
The streets were narrow and tortuous; on each side was a
gutter, into which the refuse and sewerage of the houses was
put; some of the cross lanes did not possess a gutter, in
which case the roadway was the receptacle of every species of
filth. The street leading up to the King's palace, however,
was sixty yards broad, bordered by the barracks of the garrison,
while the approach to the lofty entrance gate was a flagged
terrace thirty yards long and twenty wide, at the outer edge
of which visitors to the palace had to dismount from chairs
or ponies, and thence enter on foot. Near here is the great
bell, by which the hours of restriction, curfew, &c, have been
regulated since 1468 a.d.; at 6 p.m. the gates of the city
are shut, and cannot be opened again until dawn the following
morning, and after 8 p.m. no Korean man may be abroad
under pain of being arrested by the patrols and flogged.


CHAPTER II.
SOUL.
Soul, pronounced Sowl by foreigners, but So-ul by the natives,
is the capital of the country and of the province of Kytfng-

soCl, looking south.
kwi, and it is also called Han-yang, from the river Han
close by. It has over 30,000 houses, with a population of
about 250,000, and covers, within its walls, an area of ten


24 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
square miles. It is as much the heart of Korea, or rather
more so, as Paris is the heart of France. It is the object
of every Korean gentleman to live in the capital, for there
every pleasure and vice is more easy of attainment, the
chances of getting favourite posts by judicious flattering
and canvassing of superiors are multiplied, while the finest
and best of the native and foreign produce is to be procured.
There is to be found the fountain-head of official corruption
and "squeezing," for every member of the well-born class
spends his time in seeking his share of the loaves and fishes
of dishonesty (in a European sense); there lives the King,
the Lord of the 10,000 islands, the Son of heaven, the
Father of his people; and the sun of royalty is felt to vivify
and illumine each inhabitant of Soul, be he ever so humble-
The contempt shown for provincial life by all officials and
every Soul-born man is most amusing, and many were the lam-
entations we subsequently heard from town-bred men, obliged
to live elsewhere, over their sad and uninteresting existences.
The acceptance of office in the provinces is merely a means
to an end—that is, the amassing of wealth which may be
spent in the pleasures of this life in the capital of Korea.
The darkest side of the picture lies in the crowded collection
of hovels, swarming with human (and insect) life, absolutely
devoid of even elementary sanitation; where the use of soap
and water is confined to a few of the highest classes; where








SOUL
*5
disease and vice have lived in close partnership for several
hundred years; where dishonesty and oppression are carried
to their utmost limits; where torture and cruelty exercise
full sway, and where private and political intrigue hampers
and hinders any improvement in, or amelioration of, the con-
ditions of life of the great bulk of the community. But the
King is father of his people, and as such, the persons and
property of his subjects are absolutely at the mercy of his
parental will. Fortunately or unfortunately, the constitutional
weakness of mind and body, inherited from a long line of
debauchees, makes the King a mere puppet in the hands
of his Queen, a strong-minded woman, whose relatives and
adherents fill almost every appointment. The Queen only
tolerates one wife—that is, herself—and should she detect
His Majesty intriguing with any of the palace ladies, the
wretched female is promptly degraded and despatched to
some remote district, or else succumbs to some rapid and
mysterious illness!
The revenues of the country go into the royal treasury, and
are undoubtedly, in a great measure, spent in ministering to
the luxuries and caprices of an absolute monarch. Since the
officers of the Chinese Customs have administered the trade
duties, the King's income has been vastly increased, but no
material improvement in the condition of the people or country
has resulted. The net revenue from customs in 1890 was


26 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
over 500,000 dollars, but how much of this was spent in im-
proving the country 1 As examples of the King's extrava-
gance and of the universal corruption, the following tales
will serve. Some time ago the King imported, at great expense,
a small steam-launch for use on the lake in the palace-grounds,
which is nearly 100 yards in diameter; he used it once, but
did not like it, and it lies there still, rotting in the water.
Forced somewhat to keep pace with modern ideas, the King
started a Royal Hospital, and when a foreign physician visited
it, he found that although not a single patient had been ad-
mitted during the nine months it had been open, yet thirty-
two "Choosahs" (secretaries) and thirty servants, with all
their families, were living on the premises! Also, in the pro-
gressive mood, a Royal College was started, and a foreigner
was obtained to teach in it; but after he had been there two
years, he was told he was no longer wanted, as native teachers
now knew enough to do without him. Then came the
problem, what was to be done with the deposed pedagogue?
It was solved thus-wise: the Government kept him on for
three years at double salary but with no duties!
An American hospital here was presided over, during the
temporary absence of the physician in charge, by Dr. Wylde,
who was formerly in the English Army Medical Department,
and is voluntarily devoting his life and skill and fortune in
ministering to the many medical needs of an ignorant, dis-








28 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Mapuh by 9 a.m., and did a little business. Mr. Hillier had
obtained for us a "Toonsah" or interpreter, who was supposed
by some to be a Korean, and by others to be a Chinaman;
the truth probably being that some of the Chinese soldiers had
adopted him when a child, and taken him to China, where he
learnt the language. I believe he was employed by Mr. Yuan,
the Chinese Resident, to hunt down evil-doing Chinamen in
Korea, and he affected the Chinese dress, the pig-tail, and
shaven forehead. He could not speak or understand Eng-
lish, but proved himself to be a most willing and useful
attendant. The two Chinese servants we had brought from
Shanghai were perfectly useless, and professed to be in fear of
their lives; wherefore we decided to send them back there
under escort of Mr. Scott, who was proceeding to England,
and engage others. Steinbeck's boy came to see us in the
afternoon, and as we had seen how useful he was during our
passage from Ch^mulpho to Soul, we engaged him as cook.
Besides having a good character in that capacity, he could
speak a certain amount of English, Korean, and Japanese.
He had to go to Chemulpho to get his clothes from Stein-
beck's house there, and promised faithfully to be back by
September 2nd, on which day we hoped to be able to start,
if the rain, which might come on at any time, did not last
long; but in this we were doomed to disappointment, for next
day it came on wet at one o'clock, and we were weather-bound


SOUL
29
until the 5th. The cook, having been detained by the elements,
caused us some uneasiness, but turned up in the evening of
the 4th with his belongings; the latter comprised a large
canvas kit-bag with "W. R. Carles" painted on it, a large
box, a large bundle of rugs, an umbrella, a Japanese sword,
a pair of winter boots (something like half-Wellingtons), and
a battered old straw hat, which we thought an excessive
amount for one boy, but its weight increased afterwards.
To-night after dinner, which we had in the open air in spite
of the mosquitoes, came in Mr. Stripling, who has had a some- j'
what chequered career, and is now living on a small salary,
irregularly paid by the King, as a prospector for gold and
other minerals. Hearing we were in want of a servant, he
very kindly offered us his own boy, a Korean, who had
travelled with him a great deal in the interior, and could
speak a fair amount of English. What his complete name
was I have forgotten, but he answered to that of Yeung, one
of the four family names in Korea, and looked about twentv-
five years old; eventually we engaged him as servant and
interpreter, and he turned out most useful and willing, though
not over-scrupulous in some ways.
Thanks to the good offices of Mr. Hillier, we were supplied
by the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Prince Ming-yuen-shao)
with a letter authorising us to travel in the country, and call-
ing on all officials to supply us with ponies, accommodation,


3o KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
food, money, and servants whenever we demanded them.
We had brought letters to Ming-yuen-shao from his exiled
brother in Hong-Kong, Ming-yuen-ik, and he acknowledged
these by sending his card to us. We also obtained here our
passports for Manchuria, which the Consuls, both at Tientsin
and Newchwang, had sent; huge documents they were, and,
as it turned out, we never required them. We had our visiting-
cards printed, or rather painted, in Chinese characters on red
paper. Goold-Adams' name came out all right "Goot-a-dam,"
but mine as "Ka-fan-di-issl" had one character too many,
three being the correct number; another mistake was made
in the size of the characters, which were too small, thereby
detracting from our rank and dignity.
On Monday morning we visited the new Consulate-General,
designed with the usual want of taste shown in British official
edifices in the Far East. The Consul-General's house stands
on the top of a slight eminence, and is comfortable inside as
far as the size and arrangement of rooms go; the offices are
a little farther down the slope, separated from the house by
a terrace and lawn-tennis ground. Mr. Hillier, who is an
enthusiastic botanist, had many lovely plants and flowers in a
small greenhouse, and had laid out the ground already avail-
able with much taste and care; his fruit-trees were promising
well, and the previous season he had had a large crop of straw-
berries. The original Consular buildings, a cluster of Korean


SOUL
3*
houses, were to be pulled down when the new ones were
finished and their sites turned into garden. Next to the
Consular compound was a large garden with some fine pine-
trees in it, which was the property of the Queen, but nothing
would induce her to part with it to the British Government.
The Koreans are great lovers of nature and admirers of
scenery, and are also great pedestrians; they—that is, the
men, who always seem to have plenty of time to kill—often
make pilgrimages to places whence a fine view may be
obtained. In the Diamond Mountains on the east coast there
are eight celebrated views, to which the most high-sounding
names have been given, and nnually they are visited by
hundreds of Koreans.
We waited about at the Consulate for two and a half
hours for the owner of the ponies, from whom we wished to
hire some. When he did come, he asked such an exorbitant
rate that he was promptly sent away, Mr. Hillier telling " Mr.
Kim," his interpreter, to see if he could not knock down the
price a little. His services were not called on in vain, for
next day he managed to procure ten ponies to take us and our
baggage to Won-san for thirty-four dollars, and one dollar as a
present if we were satisfied with the behaviour of the " mapus"
or pony-attendants. With this offer we closed, and spent the
day in overhauling our kit and pitching the tent to show
the Toonsah how it should be done. The tent was a single


SOUL
33
hands, generally 11 h to 12 hands, are of all shapes and colours,
bad tempered and very indifferent hacks, accustomed to carry
packs weighing from 200 lbs. in easy country to 120 lbs. in diffi-
cult parts; their pace is a slow walk of two to two and a half
miles an hour, unless driven on, when they can do three to
four miles an hour on a fairly good road. Of trotting or can-
tering they have only rudimentary notions, but they are as
surefooted as goats or cats, and get their loads safely over the
most terrible places, and round dangerous corners in a manner
perfectly marvellous. The constant ascent and descent of
hills tends to make the loads slip about, and horrible galls are
common, but unless it is a very bad one indeed, a Korean
does not take his pony out of work for a mere gall; in other
respects they are kindly treated by their masters. The ponies
are never gelded, and no care is taken about breeding, but
every now and then one comes across a well-shaped animal. A
riding-pony can do a sort of shuffle of four to five miles an
hour, but this pace is only used by riders of inferior station,
for in the case of an official of high rank, etiquette requires
that his steed should be led, and, on great occasions, that an
attendant on either side should support the great man's knee;
of this we saw an instance when we were looking at the
King's palace.
The forage ration consists of about 2 lbs. of beans and
millet boiled in water, and the whole poured out hot into a
c


34 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
trough; the average feed is two gallons of this mixture, given
three times a day, and supplemented by 2 lbs. of chopped
straw (rice or millet). Ponies are not allowed water at other
times, nor do they seem to wish for it. I do not believe they
are ever used for draught purposes, and the average price for
a good pony is about £$ or 20,000 cash.
Other means of transport are found in donkeys, cattle, and
coolies. I have seen donkeys (which are from 10 to 11 hands
high, and are also used for pack and draught purposes) can-
tering along at a good pace, ridden by a stalwart Korean,
sitting in a huge wooden saddle, which, with its trappings, left
little but the animal's tail and ears to be seen. Bulls, and
occasionally cows, are used as pack and draught animals; they
are of large size, 13 to 14^ hands high in the south, and 12 to
13 in the north. Some are very handsome beasts, of a short-
homed breed, but inclined to fall away in the hind-quarters.
Their load varies from 150 lbs. in the mountains to 250 or 300
lbs. on the plains. Their pace is about two miles an hour,
but as time is of no value to a Korean, this is quite fast enough
for him; and we often met a native peacefully journeying from
place to place, either following behind, or perched on the back
of a bull, quite contented with a day's march of twelve miles.
Cattle are also used for bringing in the harvest or firewood
from the mountains, harnessed to rough carts or sleds; the
price of a bull is about £2, 15s., or 10,000 cash, but two years


SOUL
37
above, and Mr. Trollope, a nephew of the novelist, who had ^
left a curacy in Norfolk to follow the fortunes of Dr. Corfe,
the English Missionary Bishop of Korea, and, while admiring
his disinterested devotion to the good cause, we sincerely
pitied him for the life he had marked out for himself, a
well-educated man of the world and a thorough sportsman.
I saw Colonel Nienstead several times, and talked to him
about the Korean army, but his natural enthusiasm for his
profession no doubt carried him on to make the very most
of very little.
Strictly speaking, Korea has no army: she does not want
one, nor has she pecuniary resources wherewith to provide one
in a modern and Western sense. For centuries a bone of
contention between China and Japan, Korea finds her safety
in the jealousy between these two countries. Though conquered
by the former, and now nominally her vassal, she is practically
independent as far as her internal affairs are concerned; the
Japanese have long coveted the country, and indeed, after
several invasions, held it tributary for many years, but Korea,
with the aid of China, long since emancipated herself from
that yoke. Both her neighbours are eagerly competing for
the lion's share in the direction of her affairs, for while the
work of collecting the Customs duties at the treaty ports is
administered by officers of the Chinese Customs service, the
postal and banking arrangements, which are almost entirely


38 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
for the benefit of the foreign section of the community, are
controlled by the Japanese. The continuance of Korea as
a kingdom depends, not on her military or naval resources,
but on her geographical position and the jealousy of her
neighbours. Any real danger there may be lies in the
proximity of Russia, but even here her safety is assured by
the necessity for Japan and China to unite against the
annexation by Russia of a country so situated as, in the hands
of a hostile power, to command their main trade routes.
Moreover, other Powers would not regard with equanimity
her acquisition by Russia, for it would be a standing menace
to their trade, and the safety of their colonies and possessions
in Eastern waters. At present the harbour of Wladivostock
is closed by ice for four or five months of the year, the
Trans-Siberian railway is by no means near its completion,
and it will be some years before Russia, if she ever means
aggression to the South, with the object of obtaining a better
outlet on the Pacific, such as Won-san, will find herself strong
enough in the Southern Ussuri region to take the field against
Korea and her probable protectors.
With regard to the Trans-Siberian railway, although the
Czarewich opened a section of it with great eclat in 1891,
even the portion laid for the ceremony will have to be remade.
Soldiers and convicts are set to work on sections of line, and
about a verst's length of roadway has been made in a few


SOUL
39
places; but there appears to be no competent engineer in
charge of their labour^ and much of the cutting and filling
will have to be done over again when the construction of the
railway is seriously undertaken. As an example of how the
work is carried out, I was told that a Russian contractor
for part of the line, hired 800 men from Odessa, and sent
them out to Wladivostock, but neither went there himself
nor sent money to pay their wages; the agent there put them
to work on the railway, by way of recouping himself for his
preliminary expenses, but they refused to work without
wages; as they had no money wherewith to return to Russia,
and the agent had no money wherewith to pay their wages,
they have to remain living at the expense of the inhabitants
of Wladivostock.
With these assurances of freedom from molestation, Korea
has no pressing need of a regular army; she has, indeed, as a
nucleus, some troops trained to a certain extent with firearms
by foreign officers, but these are, for the greater part, simply
appanages of state. There is, moreover, a theoretical military
system, based on compulsory service, by means of which it
might be possible, under proper guidance, to expand this
nucleus into a large army; but as a matter of practice, the
service of any Korean officer or soldier is purely voluntary
and limited by the dictates of his own sweet will.
The population of Korea, which is steadily though slowly


4o KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
increasing, is about 14,000,000, and of this number about
1,000,000 are considered to be fighting men. For official
purposes the population is reckoned by families, and on the
number of families in a district the revenue due from culti-
vators and occupiers of land is assessed; also, following the
Chinese system, every family occupying a house, or in the
poorest districts every two families, has to supply, when called
on, one able-bodied man for military service. Of the numbers
put down as fit for fighting, not a hundredth part ever per-
form any duties of their military calling.
Each official has according to his rank (there are 8 Gover-
nors of provinces and 332 Prefects) a certain number of atten-
dants, such as secretaries, seal-bearers, and "soldiers," and
he increases the numbers of his retinue in proportion to his
wealth. But the business of the majority of these soldiers
is not fighting, but rather that of police, messengers, tax
gatherers, &c; in short, the outward symbols of the rank and
importance of the individual from whom they receive, or
should receive, pay. The fact of being a-"soldier" confers
a certain distinction on a man, and gives him considerable
advantages. In the first place, he has achieved, in a lowly
way, that which is the ambition of every Korean, viz., an
official position; and in the second place, by virtue of this
official position he has opportunities of effecting "squeezes,"
that is to say, the levying of black-mail, the receiving of








SOUL
4i
bribes from persons having business with his master, the right
to travel on his master's business, and frequently on his
own, at the expense of the public, and general pickings of all
kinds, which are denied to the vulgar herd. It is the object
in life of every one to be enabled to live a life of comparative
ease at the expense of his fellow-countrymen, and it is no
exaggeration to say that 20 per cent, of the whole population
are idlers, supported by the labours of the remainder; hence in
a great measure the poverty of the country. With this object
hundreds of youths journey annually to the capital to compete
at the public examinations, the passing of these as a test of
merit being a sine qua non for the aspirant to preferment.
The final test is, I am told, the composition of a poem on a set
theme from the Chinese classics, and the King is the judge;
all the compositions are at a fixed time thrown into a heap,
and His Majesty is supposed to select the writers of the best
odes as successful candidates. However, the candidate who
pays best, or has most interest, is generally selected! He has
then to flatter and fawn on his superiors till he gets some
minor office, whence, if he be discreet, and a relative or
adherent of the party in chief power, he may rise to important
and lucrative posts.
According to the military scheme, the affairs of the army
are conducted by the "Board of War" or "Bing," one of the
six Departments of State, consisting of a President, a Vice-


42 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
President, and a Secretary; these three are members of the
General Council of the King, but the practical work of ad-
ministering the army is under three other chief officers. Each
province has by tradition its army, commander-in-chief, and
a fleet; the capital having an army and two fleets. Naval
affairs are nominally administered by Admirals, Right, Left,
and Centre, under the President of the Board of War; the
Korean fleets at present are non-existent, even to war-junks,
beyond two small transports of 800 tons called the Hairiong
and Chi-riong, which are used to bring produce down to
the treaty ports from unopened ports in the north; the
Government hopes, however, to procure a stern-wheel steamer,
drawing two feet of water, and steaming twelve knots an hour,
for protective service on the Lower Han river. As there is no
army to speak of, all the above offices are in abeyance or mere
sinecures.
A number of real " fighting " soldiers are kept up as guards
to the King and governors of provinces; such is the garrison
of Soul and the "army of Phydng-yang." The latter is from
1200 to 1500 strong, composed of reliable men of good
physique, trained to fight after the native fashion with sword
and gun, and part of it is invariably brought to the capital in
case of any national danger. In Soul alone is any training,
according to modern and Western military methods, performed;
in other places such "soldiers" as are intended to do any


SOUL
43
fighting are trained to shoot with bows and arrows, and up to
120 yards they are for the most part very good archers. Nearly
every prefectural town has its archery ground, on which, in
former days, very frequently the Prefect would exercise his
men, but now only very seldom does he do so. "Soldiers"
armed with the muzzle-loading gun of native or Chinese
manufacture, also practise occasionally at a mark.
In every province there are "hunters," men who wear a
particular kind of hat (a rough felt one with a conical crown),
and a dark-blue coat, which are renewed annually by the King,
and who also receive a small allowance of money, powder, and
bullets from him; they are supposed to repay him by the
skins and bodies of the game they slay. When the ravages
of a man-eating tiger become too great, the King sometimes
orders the hunters of several districts to join in an expedition
against the monster. However unwilling to face it, they are
obliged to go, and generally two or three of them get killed
before the brute is despatched. They are liable to be called
out for war, and in battle are selected to bear the brunt of the
fighting; but preference is shown for those of the two Northern
provinces, as being more inured to hardships and fatigue, and
of better physique than those from the more Southern pro-
vinces, where the conditions of life are less rigorous.
The whole power of the State is vested really in the Prime
Minister, who is of the Ming family, and a near relative of the


44 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Queen, whose influence over the King is very great. Korea
was only opened to foreigners in 1882, and the King has a
"Foreign Adviser," General Le Gendre, an American, who
prompts the King on matters of foreign policy. Strenuous
efforts have been made to raise a Korean loan in America,
but so far General Le Gendre and his royal pupil have not
been able to offer sufficient security to get it taken up. The
King likewise has a "Military Adviser," an office filled by
General Dye, also an American, and, under the auspices of
these advisers, foreigners of various nationalities have been
brought to Korea to instruct the army. The present in-
structor at Soul, Colonel Nienstead, gave me much interesting
information on Korean military matters; but, as I have before
hinted, his enthusiasm for his duties led him to paint things
in too glowing colours, and throw too favourable a light on
the military administration (or maladministration) of the
country.
The strength of the garrison of Soul is about 5000 men,
divided into three divisions, each under a General, and there
are five large barracks, in addition to smaller ones, for their
accommodation. Theconditions of service are purely voluntary,
and although each man is supposed to do duty throughout
the year, with the exception of the annual holiday before the
drill season, which begins after the summer rains are over,
about September, the duty actually performed is very little.


SOUL
45
Three days on guard, three days in the country with his
friends, then three days' drill, three days in the country, and
so on, is not a very severe tax on him, especially as there is
no punishment for failing to return to military duty. Each
man receives a monthly allowance of pay and rice, but each
General draws the pay for all under his command, and gives
Treasury orders, generally six months in arrears, to his sub-
ordinates. As no questions are asked as to the numbers
actually present and doing duty, I understand the General is
expected to draw the full pay for his division and keep any
balance arising from absentees for himself! Recruits learn
simple movements very easily, and as they have a good ear for
music,find no difficulty in learning bugle-calls. It is impossible,
however, to teach them to march straight on a point. They
are splendid pedestrians, as the following instances will show.
At the funeral ceremony of the Japanese Envoy, a year or two
ago, when the body was taken by land from Soul to Che"mulpho,
for shipment to Japan, the troops marched 25 miles in six hours.
Again, on the occasion of the obsequies of the Queen Dowager
in I/890, 600 men were brought from Phy5ng-yang by sea to
Ch^mulpho, thence they marched to Soul, 24 miles, in six hours,
and, without halting, proceeded in the cortege to the tomb, a
further distance of 20 miles.
The officers must be of good birth, and pass through the
Cadet College, as there is no promotion from the ranks; the


4 6 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
only exceptions to this rule having been made in the case of
two non-commissioned officers, who were made officers in
1888 as a reward of special merit; one died shortly after-
wards of cholera, and the other becoming a Lieutenant,
was appointed a magistrate. This employment being more
profitable and congenial than soldiering, he declines to return
to military duty. Of course, if any pressure were put on him
by Korean authorities, he would show his wisdom by returning
to his duty, rather than undergo the ignominious and painful
ordeal of being conducted through the streets of the capital,
while stalwart executioners beat him on the shins with cudgels,
this being the punishment of delinquent officials. The duty
of officers is nominally forty-eight hours in barracks or on
guard, then forty-eight hours' leave, but practically they per-
form no duties at all, except to suit their own convenience.
The general opinion of the value of a Korean as a soldier is
that he would be no good in the open, but would fight bravely
behind cover, as was shown in the attempted American and
French invasions in recent years. They are, in general, a
well set-up race, of good physique, especially in the North, but
are addicted to strong drink and debauchery, whenever they
can afford such luxuries. The curse of the country is its form
of government, which is modelled on the Chinese system, and
is equally, if not more, antiquated, unwieldy, and corrupt.
The people, to a foreigner, seem good-humoured, and display








SOtJL
47
very little of that insane hatred of "barbarians" which is so
conspicuous in China; but they are as conservative in their
notions as the Chinese, and, seeing the small extent of their
civilisation and industries, one wonders that they originally
taught the Japanese the art of making pottery. Sanitary
arrangements are entirely wanting, but the natives do not
seem to suffer from the deficiency, and the country is by no
means unhealthy.
The trade of Korea is steadily increasing, as may be seen
from these figures. In 1888 foreign imports were valued at
$3,046,443, and in 1890 at $4,727,839; exports to foreign
countries for those years were valued at $867,058 and
$3,550,478 respectively; while the net revenue from Customs
dues in 1888 was $267,215, in 1890 it was $514,600, but 1890
was a year rejoicing in a favourable harvest of cereals, while
the rice crop in Japan was bad. Of the imports in 1890, it
may interest Britons to know that 57 per cent, were of British
origin, 19 per cent. Japanese, 12 per cent. Chinese, and the
rest German, American, Russian, French, and Austrian. A
good deal of trade is done in the export of fish, salted, dried,
or for manure, which amounted in 1890 to over $434,000 worth.
The seas round Korea swarm with fish, and near Won-san I
was told the water was at times literally stiff with the little fish
used as manure by the Japanese, and which appears every two
years; but the natives are so very lazy about sea-fishing, that


SOUL.
49
is not as yet equal to the demand, though mills are in course
of erection near Soul; the export trade in this commodity in
1890 amounted to 149,891 lbs., value $26,244. Mills for
cleaning and hulling rice have been erected at Ch^mulpho
and Fu-san.
As a sign of the increase in foreign relations, the nationality
of the foreign residents in the three treaty ports is shown in
the table below.
Chemulpho.
Fu-san.
Won-san.
Total.
American
4
4
Austrian
3
3
British .
7
4
2
13
Chinese . j
425
(in 1888-242)
47
45
} 5i7
(in 1888—31)
(in 1888—26)
Danish .
1
t
French .
2
...
2
German
19
2
2
23
Italian .
I
I
2
Japanese -j
1616
(in 1888—1359)
4I30
(in 1888—2711)
689
(in 1888-453)
}6435
Spanish
I
...
1
Total .
2078
4184
739
7001
D


CHAPTER III.
SOUL TO WON-SAN.
On Saturday, September 5th, twenty-two days since we left
Hong-Kong, we were able to start on our land-journey, a really

READY TO START.
clear sky giving promise of better weather. To our surprise,
for we had been told that ponies never turned up at the
time agreed on, our animals arrived early, and we had all
our baggage loaded by 8 a.m., after much wrangling about
S°


SOUL TO WON-SAN
the division of the loads, the total weight of everything coming
to about n00 lbs. The pack-saddle consists of two arches
joined at the sides by cross-pieces of wood; this frame is
placed on a pad stuffed with straw, and then the boxes are
put on in this fashion :—A large loop is made in a rope and
laid across the saddle, a box is lifted to each side, the loop
passed over one box, then the ends of the rope through the
loop, under the box on the other side, and up to the end of
the loop, pulled tight and fastened in a knot. On the top
of the saddle other smaller articles are placed, and then a hide
surcingle is put round the whole and securely tied. There is
a good deal of art involved in getting the load to balance
equally and in tying it to the saddle. A breastplate and a
crupper serve to keep the load from slipping forward and
back to a great extent. However, galls where the weight
comes on the shoulder and loins and at the root of the
tail are usual. We found that our pony-bridles were much
too large for the small ponies we were to ride, while the
delay was increased by the breaking of Goold-Adams' girths.
My pony was certainly not more than eleven hands high,
and was destitute of withers and shoulders, but did not stum-
ble frightfully, like Goold-Adams' beast, which, on the other
hand, could walk faster. Having got repairs executed to the
girths and reefs taken in our bridles, we mounted, and, after
two photographs of our cavalcade had been taken by Mr.


52 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Hillier, we were fairly off by 9.35 a.m. Mr. Hillier's temporary
abode was built on a terrace cut in the hillside, whence a
flight of about twenty steps led to the outer yard and entrance
gate. Notwithstanding theclever way the loaded ponies walked
down these steps, we could not at starting harden our hearts
enough to ride down them, so we walked down and mounted at
the entrance-gate, waving farewell to our kind and hospitable
host and the Italian Consul. Slowly we threaded our way
through the narrow muddy streets to the east gate of the city,
jostled continually by the numerous ponies and bulls passing
along, laden with dried fish, country produce, or brushwood
for fuel for the "kang" or stove. These animals were in
strings of from two to six, following at uncertain intervals
one as a leader who seemed to know his way, while the
drivers stopped every minute to light their pipes, to exchange
a little gossip with an acquaintance, or to snatch a mouthful
of food in one of the numerous booths for the sale of curious
and not-to-be-inquired-into-too-closely-looking viands. The
main streets, running to the four points of the compass, are
fairly wide, but booths and shanties are allowed to encroach
a great deal on the road space, and reduce the width materially.
However, when the King goes out in the city, these structures
have to be removed by their owners.
The east gate is a somewhat imposing structure, occupying
about 40 yards of the city wall, while the passage in the











SOUL TO WON-SAN
53
centre is about 30 feet wide and 20 feet high to the top of
the arch; above the arch, which is on a level with the top of
the wall, here about 15 feet thick, is a wooden gallery, with
a curled roof of tiles, whence the surrounding country can be
watched; the woodwork is painted in bright colours, with
royal and official emblems, and on the whole, when compared
with the squalid huts and cabins beneath it, the gate is not
without dignity and stateliness. A mound of earth 15 feet
high faced with stone starts from the right-hand side of the
gateway, and coming round in an arc, forms a kind of outer
traverse to the entrance. We passed through this gate at
10.15 a.m., leaving the capital of Korea with its 250,000
inhabitants behind us, and journeyed along the plain, through
which a tributary of the Han flows, until 3.50 p.m., when we
stopped for the night at Wi-erh-mi, a little village of twelve
houses and an inn. The fertility of this valley surprised us,
for we had been told that Koreans cultivated as little ground
as possible; but here were rice-fields in endless succession,
giving promise of a good harvest, though the quality of the
rice is not equal to the Japanese; excellent hemp in patches
beside the numerous small hamlets of two to six houses
which we passed, each patch enough for the requirements of
the owners, with a small margin for trading purposes ; tobacco
7 or 8 feet high, with long coarse leaves bearing witness to the
want of care in its cultivation, while castor-oil plants bordered


54 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
the little garden plots of chillies, cabbages, and turnips,
which we found outside each house or collection of houses.
Besides flax, maize, and cotton, there were fields of the small
millet (Setaria italica), substitute for porridge, and of the tall
millet, Susu or Kaoliang (Holcus Sorghum), with stems 8 to
12 feet high and as thick as a man's thumb, turning to golden
yellow or bright mahogany colour; from the latter kind the
Koreans make the coarse cloth of which their rough garments
are composed, when they do not use Manchester shirtings;
also fields of beans, food for cattle and men, and the founda-
tion of Japanese soy and our Worcestershire sauce. Many of
the houses had their roofs covered with gourds, while here and
there were patches of melons. In the villages, a little way
off the road, we could see fruit-trees, pear, persimmon, and
peach, but in those on the road very seldom did we come
across any. All the fruit except the Ham-heung pears was
hard, dry, and tasteless. The valley of this tributary stream,
being some 2 miles wide and shut in by bare foot-hills 50 to
300 feet high, overlooked by equally bare mountains 300 to
1000 feet in height, and besides having a very slight fall towards
the sea, is very liable to floods, which, however, subside as
quickly as they rise. At the base of the foot-hills the road winds
about, rapidly narrowing about 15 miles from Soul to a mere
bridle-path, and we found our chief obstacles in the constant
climbing over the water-channels which are constructed to








SOUL TO WON-SAN
55
carry off the water from the hills, and whence the irrigation
of the rice-fields is conducted. Some of these were 10 to 30
yards broad, with a few inches of water flowing over a sandy
bed; others were simple dykes.
Up to 2 p.m. we pursued a north-easterly course along the
Soul-Won-san high-road, which is a tolerably good track in
fine weather, but was now very muddy and boggy in places,
its course marked by the telegraph line. At that hour we
stopped at a little hamlet to obtain some fresh shoes for the
ponies, and just after leaving again, our "mapus" or drivers
branched off the high-road towards the N.N.E., taking one
which is known as the " short road." As this looked infinitely
better than the main track, we did not notice the divergence,
although along the latter were still coming strings of bulls and
ponies. Altogether during our day's march I counted over
300 ponies and 160 bulls bound for the capital. The reason
for this deviation we ascertained at Won-san afterwards, and
this was that the "mapus" thought they would be paid more
by us, as the time occupied this way would be greater than
by the proper road. However, they were deceived in their
expectations.
On arriving at Wi-erh-mi, which was reckoned as 60 li
or about 18 miles from Soul, we pitched our tent in a grave-
yard, on a mound 20 feet above the road, and close to the
little inn. The Koreans, like the Chinese, generally bury


56 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
their dead on the spur of a hill, raising a circular mound of
earth over the grave, some 4 feet high and 6 feet in diameter;
this and the surrounding ground is planted with grass and
carefully kept clear of brushwood; occasionally carved stone
images are placed on each side of the grave, and often they
are at the extremities of a grass terrace in front of it. We
observed that these graves protected the trees in their imme-
diate vicinity from the destruction which the demand for
firewood in populous districts caused; for we very frequently
found a ring or copse of large pines or oaks surrounding a
grave, when there was not a single tree more than 3 feet in
height anywhere within sight, except at similar sacred spots
on the hill-tops. We carefully inquired if we should hurt
the feelings of the natives by encamping here, but learnt it
was a matter of absolute indifference to them; wherefore we
unloaded our ponies on the newly-mown grass, and, after
showing the servants how to pitch the tent and arrange our
beds and baggage in it, we left the cook to get dinner for us
at 7 p.m. Goold-Adams taking a rod and I a gun, we went
down to the river, about 300 yards off, across the rice-fields.
It was a lovely evening, with a soft warm breeze from the
south-west. The river, a tributary of the Han, was about 40
yards wide, not more than 2 feet deep, flowing about ii miles
an hour over a sandy bed. We could see that it was easily
fordable in several places, but an embankment about 4 feet


SOUL TO WON-SAN
57
high ran along our side of its bed, about 40 yards from the
water's edge, and up a small stream flowing into it, to keep it
when in flood from sweeping away the rice-fields, which lay
between it and the foot of the hills. From the small tributary
stream Goold-Adams took two tiny trout, which he gave to a
little boy, whom we had bribed to carry our produce of the
chase. Alas! I only saw a water-hen and two wood-pigeons,
which were too wily to come within shot, and we returned
hungry and disappointed to our camp. The mosquitoes were
troublesome in the early part of the night, but later a
mist rose from the damp fields and lessened their attacks.
At 9 p.m., when we went to bed, the thermometer showed
68° out of doors.
Notwithstanding that our three servants slept outside the
tent, under a shelter improvised from the tent-ropes and a
couple of waterproof sheets, they did not hurry themselves
next morning very much about preparations for starting;
what with the slowness of the cook about our breakfast, the
time they consumed over their own subsequent " chow," and
the quarrels of the "mapus" over the different loads, it was
8.45 a.m. before we were started. Later on we rectified this
waste of time to a great extent, but it was impossible to
obviate it entirely, as a Korean is absolutely ignorant of, or
indifferent to, the value of time. We began to ascend and
descend the low spurs running down to the river, which


58 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
till 10.30 a.m. continued to flow on our right in a southerly
direction. Much to our astonishment, after passing through
a small wood and stream, and over a stony spur certainly
not 100 feet above the main stream, but stretching down to
it, we arrived at the bank of a river exactly like the one of
last night, but it was flowing to the north. Our maps did
not help us, and the only solution of the mystery we could
arrive at, without searching for their sources, was that the
stony spur stretched across the valley and formed the water-
parting between the two streams, each rising from the hills,
the first on our left and the new one on our right. We
crossed the stream, a tributary of the Im-jin, and again at
1 o'clock by a ford i\ feet deep, where the water was flowing
at the rate of 3 miles an hour, over a bed of slippery boulders.
We halted for luncheon at a small village on the right bank,
and going immediately a little way down-stream, enjoyed a
splendid bathe, though the water was not deep enough to
swim in without knocking oneself against the stones, which
again were too slippery to stand on. As we had gradually
forged ahead of our baggage-train, being unable to endure the
slow pace at which they went, we had to dry ourselves by the
aid of the sun's rays and our pocket-handkerchiefs. Our
luncheon of corned beef, hard-boiled eggs, and whisky was
brought to us in a small clump of trees close by, and at
3 o'clock we were off again. We were so disgusted at the


SOUL TO WON SAN
59
slowness of the "mapus," who strolled along at the rate of
8 li an hour, that we adopted the plan of walking for an hour
and then riding for an hour, accompanied by one "mapu,"
who drove our ponies after us, and we found we could
maintain easily an average of 10 li an hour. On almost
every road we travelled, we met, 10 li apart, wooden posts,
stuck up by the roadside, surmounted by a grotesquely
carved human face, with an inscription giving the distance
from the capital and the nearest town. These li-posts, called
Chang-sung, are marvels of hideousness, and are said to be
dedicated to a very strong man, and a noted robber in olden
times, whose spirit is supposed to haunt the road.
Still through cultivation, and getting nearer the main chain
of mountains which traverses Korea from north to south, we
pursued a rough path until 6 o'clock, when shortly after cross-
ing a deep, swift stream, we had to climb up a path cut in
the face of a precipice overhanging the river Im-jin—a most
dangerous corner, where the ponies had some difficulty in
getting up the slippery rock; safely passed, we turned away
from the river, down to a few houses in a small valley beside
a rivulet. In one of these we saw a naked boy four or five
years old taking the natural nourishment of infancy from his
mother, as she sat engaged in some household occupation at
the open door. Again surmounting a rocky and wooded spur,
we descended to a ferry over the Im-jin. The mountains had


6o KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
now closed in on us, and these cliffs were all on the left bank
of the river, which here made a great bend. After some parley
between our "mapu" and the ferryman.we got on board the boat,
which, rectangular in plan, was composed of a flat bottom of
planks, with upright sides about two feet high, the ends being
sloped off to admit of its being got near the banks, and to
facilitate the embarkation and disembarkation of cattle and
ponies, whose cleverness in getting in and out, though heavily
laden, is remarkable. One man "uloed," that is, he propelled
the boat by means of a long sweep working in a hollow in the
end of the boat, another poled us along the bank up a back-
water formed by the swift current impinging on a projecting
rocky bluff. As we got into the current, it caught the front end
of the boat (bow and stern being exactly alike), and we crossed
the river, here 100 yards wide, diagonally and downwards,
until we got into another back-water on the opposite side,
which brought us safely to land opposite our starting-point.
Like all the ferry-boats, this one leaked at a rate most alarming
to us, but after a time this leaking, with many other things,
we came to regard as part of the day's work. On landing we
gave the ferryman a silver Japanese 20-sen piece, worth about
eightpence, at which he grumbled, not knowing what it was, and
passing through the little hamlet near the ferry, we waited
on the top of the hill for the rest of our party. In half-an-
hour I saw them crossing the river, and walking down to the


SOUL TO WON-SAN
61
ferry, found everything safe, but the ferryman was still object-
ing to the silver coin; so I gave him instead 100 cash or about
sixpence, at which he was pleased. Going a mile farther, we
came to the little village of Ghan-go-ra-ni, and again found an
excellent camping-ground in a graveyard with two graves on
a hillock overlooking the village and the river. The inhabi-
tants with one accord turned out to inspect us and our tent,
which was an object none of them had ever seen before; so
intense was their curiosity, that, even when we closed the
doors to change our clothes, we could not look up without
finding an eye glued to a hole in the lacing, and every few
minutes a stampede told us the crowd of sightseers was
being chased away by our servants. Our ponies and "mapus"
put up at the inn in the village.
We found that as we got farther from Soul and nearer the
main chain of mountains, the hills began to lose the desolate
and shaven appearance we had hitherto noticed, and their
sides and summits to be clothed with pine-trees of no great
height, while the lower slopes had a small growth of stunted
oaks and pines two or three feet high; the rivers no longer
meandered through an alluvial plain, covered with rice-fields,
but began to flow between an old river-bed on one side, and
a more or less precipitous hillside on the other. The fertility
of these river-beds was surprising, and we were astonished not
to find more animal and bird life amongst the fields and trees,


6z KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
for only a few snipe and a wood-pigeon or two rewarded our
anxious searching. We suffered a great loss to-day; owing
to the carelessness of one of the " mapus," his pony, in fighting
with another, kicked a case of whisky, and alas! broke a
bottle.
Soon after leaving Chan-go-ra-ni next morning, we crossed
a small stream, and had a stiff climb of 200 feet up a very
rocky path on to a small plateau of lava, which gradually
descended towards the river, and four hours later we stopped
at 11.30 a.m. for the midday halt at a small village on the
bank. We painfully toiled over the boulders to the edge of
the water, fortunately finding a stranded tree on which to
sit, and here we bathed and had our luncheon. The water
being delightfully cold, freshened us up immensely, for our
ablutions, morning and night, from pressure of time and
space, and the numerous male and female eyes vigilantly
on the watch, were somewhat limited, the apparatus available
being, besides soap, &c, a small tin basin and a minute
supply of hot water for each. After luncheon we endeavoured
to find a place of rest, but in vain. The people do not,
except on rare occasions, use seats, but squat on their heels,
while their habits in sanitary matters, and the cultivation
of every available scrap of ground, render it almost im-
possible to find a patch of grass on which to sit. We were
tormented here by flies in shape and size like the ordinary








SOUL TO WON-SAN
63
house-fly, but grey in colour, which took a special liking
to Goold-Adams, biting him through his breeches and
stockings in a most ferocious manner, the wounds remain-
ing sore for days after; these flies were only near the
river-side villages, and in two days we ceased to meet with
them.
By 2 p.m. we were again on the march along the fertile
valley of the river Im-jin, and during the afternoon we
crossed the stream no less than seven times, but towards
sunset we left it on our left, and crossing a plain about
two miles wide covered with blocks of lava, we ascended
a pass in the hills which was 785 feet above the sea. At
the summit we saw, for the first time, a tree dedicated to
the spirit of the hills, one of a group of pine-trees, with
numerous scraps of rag fastened to its branches and a heap
of stones at its foot, which formed the votive offerings of
travellers. We descended to the village of Hang-na-dou-
che-ra-noup, finding a camping-place on the side of a hill
at its farther boundary, just above the inn, the graveyard
this time failing to afford us level ground. It was quite
dark before our tent was ready for us, as the baggage-
ponies did not come up until 6.30 p.m. Che-ra-noup being
a place containing thirty houses, we were soon surrounded
by a crowd of gaping villagers, perfectly good-humoured,
but determined to see everything they could. The head


SOUL TO WON-SAN
65
shallowness of the soil; the oak leaves were in some cases
12 inches long and 5 inches broad, and wild rosemary and
strawberry plants covered the ground. I saw. one or two ripe
berries of the latter, but did not dismount to gather them,
and perhaps it was as well I did not, for at Won-san we were
told they were called " snake-strawberries," and were poisonous
to mankind. We stopped for luncheon at Phyong-yang-hwa,
a small and dirty village, and stayed there till 1 p.m., utilising
part of the time by crossing the stream, which was flowing to
the south on our right beneath the edge of the plain, by a
rough causeway of boulders, to look for pheasants, but failed
to see any. On resuming our journey, Goold-Adams and I
walked on along the main track for an hour, till our "mapu"
caught us up with our steeds, and told us we were going
the wrong road, having passed the right one, which was a
little bridle-path to the left, just after leaving the village.
He knew what he was about, for he led us across country in a
N.N.W. direction to a river flowing east, evidently the Hoi-
yang river, a tributary of the Han; the river was deep, rapid,
and perfectly clear, and we kept along its right bank for some
time. In its winding course, the river was rapidly eating
away the cultivated land on one bank, but in compensation
adding stones and sand to the opposite one. We had to cross
this stream twice, and had some difficulty in finding a ford
shallow enough for us to do so in safety. Turning away from
E


SOUL TO WON-SAN
67
his journey in 1884, mentions the same peculiarity on the part
of our cook, who accompanied him, and gives his age then as
about fifty-five! To us he did not look as if he was sixty-two,
but the age of a Chinaman is very difficult to guess without a
long acquaintance with the people. Our dinner, however, in
spite of his age and bruises, was not the less well cooked.
There appeared to be some hesitation amongst the servants
about sleeping outside the tent, no doubt influenced by the
cold wind and our proximity to the mountains, which were
reported to be infested with tigers.
The following morning, hearing from the villagers that there
were many pheasants around the village, we took our guns,
and started at 7.30 to look for them. Yeung had procured a
man who professed to know where the birds were likely to be
found, but our labour was in vain, for not a bird or beast did
we see. After beating many fields of beans and millet, and
crossing many rivulets hidden in swamp and long grass which
soaked us to the waist, we gave up the pursuit in disgust
after an hour's fruitless toil, and returned to the highroad, to
find that our "mapu " had taken our ponies on with the others,
instead of waiting for us, as we had told him to do. We had
therefore a weary tramp of one and a half hours along a lava-
strewn path, varied by bogs, through which we had to wade the
best way we could. Our tempers when we found our " mapu"
quietly sitting smoking at a wayside inn were none of the


68 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
best, and Yeung, whose cotton trousers and socks were wet
and muddy, required little urging to give him a broadside of
Korean abuse. We stopped for two hours at 11.30 a.m. for
midday feeding, and the sun coming out, kindly dried our wet
clothes. Just before 4 p.m. we reached the edge of this great
plain of lava, which terminated in the gorge of a river flowing
north, into which we were about to descend; on our left was
a huge cliff going sheer down to the river some 500 feet
below. Whence this vast lava plain, many feet deep and
miles wide, could have come from, we were unable to conjec-
ture, for we could see nothing approaching a crater amongst
the mountains in sight; but as this plain rises towards the
chain of mountains here, and that on the northern side falls
away from it, their origin must have been hereabouts. These
lava plains are not wholly destitute of cultivation; here and
there, near the rivers which bordered them, we saw fields of
millet and beans, and on the farther banks were many small
hamlets and some considerable villages; but our attendants
professed entire ignorance of the names of these, and of the
rivers and mountains in sight; neither had they any idea
where the gold-washings, which we knew were not far off,
could be found. This ignorance was annoying, as the road
had not previously, as far as I could learn, been travelled by
a European. The difficulty in ascertaining names of localities
is intensified by the playful habit the inhabitants of each dis-


SOUL TO WON-SAN
69
trict bordering on a river or a chain of mountains have of
giving their own names to them; hence a river may have five
or six names in a course of a hundred miles, and after a
little we gave up asking the names, and by keeping a watch
on the formation of the surrounding country, we managed to
identify the main streams which we passed.
Through a narrow cut in the edge of the plain, we wound
our way down a rough path, which we found most toilsome to
travel on foot, and after descending 400 feet we came upon a
gateway of wood some 6 feet wide and 8 feet high, with a
gallery above as a look-out, placed in a stone wall about 6 feet
thick and 10 feet high, running from the cliff above the river up
a spur to the top of the ridge on our right. This fortification,
dilapidated of course, marked the boundary-line between the
provinces of Kang-wbn and Ham-gyong, which latter we now
entered. Passing through this gateway, we kept along the
gorge of the river, about 200 feet above it, but it rapidly
narrowed, forcing us to descend to the right bank, past a
couple of houses, which, from the number of beehives
posted about the rocks, appeared to constitute a bee-farm.
The hives consist of a log of wood two feet long, partially
hollowed out, and placed on end in a crevice in the rocks
with a piece of board on top, kept in place by a large
stone, a small hole being left for the bees to go in and out.
There must have been, a hundred of these about, but on


70 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
offering to buy some honey, we were told we could get none
till next moon.
The river, which, as we heard, had the day before been
quite impassable owing to the rain, was still flowing swiftly
about 2\ feet deep over a bed of boulders; the water too
was icy cold, and my little rat of a pony was nearly swept
away, as he was submerged as far as half-way up the saddle-
flaps. Getting safely over, we waited to see the whole train
across, and every instant expected to see a pony and some of
our precious stores swept away; but the "mapus," tucking up
their trousers as high as they could, waded beside the clever
little beasts, encouraging them by much voice and a little
whip, and everything came over safe and dry. We now
learnt that one of the baggage-ponies was stone blind, and we
marvelled how he managed to get across the river and through
the next day's march as he did without falling. The cook,
being a bad pedestrian, had been left some way behind in the
descent, and on arriving at the brink of the ford, found his
pony had already crossed; there was no help for it, so he had
to strip to the waist, and pick his way across barefooted.
The disgusted expression of his face sent us into such fits of
laughter, that, to avoid hurting his feelings, we moved on.
Twice more had we to ford this river in the twilight, and
just as it became dark we stopped at the village of Tan-ga-ni,
which was perched on the left bank, on a terrace formed in





SOUL TO WON-SAN
7i
ancient days by the river deposits. Every inch of soil being
cultivated, we had to pitch our tent on the village threshing-
floor in front of one of the houses; the ground was covered
with fleas, and these, with the talking in the house a few
feet away, kept us awake for some time. Across the river, on
the same level, 25 feet above the stream, at intervals, were
similar cultivated terraces; towering some thousand feet above
us were the mountains clothed with sombre pines, and here
and there near the water a small oak-tree.
"Just the place for a tiger," said we, and were not surprised
at being told the inhabitants often saw one in winter, or at
our servants preferring to sleep in a house. It was just as
well they did so, as it poured during the night. We, however,
enjoyed a sound sleep, disturbed only by a stray pony falling
over our tent-ropes, which projected into the roadway, and
nearly bringing our canvas house about our ears. I noticed
here that the village curs were shut up at night, significant of
visits from tigers and leopards. We afterwards learnt that
the mountains between us and the sea swarmed with these
beasts, and that several deaths had occurred from care-
lessness in moving about after dark. Some travellers,
who had been visiting the Buddhist monasteries in these
mountains to the south-east, just about this time, told us
they had been shown the place where a monk had been
seized and devoured by a tiger, only a few days previous


72 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
to their visit, and traces of the accident were still plainly
visible.
The answer, next morning, to our daily inquiry as to
halting-places, was that there was only one inn in a space of
130 li, that the road was very bad, and therefore we. would do
the day's journey without halting. The result was that we did
not get off until nearly nine o'clock, and we soon found that
"very bad" was far too good a description of what was called a
road! We were absolutely unable to ride for more than a
quarter of a mile during a march of four and a half hours!
I may state here that roads, as understood by Western minds,
do not exist in Korea; the communications by land consist of
bridle and footpaths, worn by traffic to such degree of pass-
ability as they possess. Only stern necessity ever causes any
repairs to be executed on a road; though, in a few instances,
I noticed the track was being widened, and holes in the soft
soil filled in, to permit the sleds to pass along in winter, with-
out undue strain from contact with the uneven frozen surface.
Generally the track follows a watercourse; though, on the
coast, where the rivers are mostly shallow and with wide beds,
it has to cross the streams.
The track wound along the left bank of the river, shut in
between the mountains, which increased in height as we pro-
gressed ; up rocky spurs, fifty to a hundred feet above the river,
and down again to its bed, we had one continual clamber over


SOUL TO WON-SAN
73
rocks and boulders; now a few feet above the water, now along
a shelf in the cliff twenty to fifty feet above it; overhanging
rocks, in places where the river was slowly eating away the
cliffs, or where the loosening effect of severe frost, heavy
rains, and burning sun had caused recent landslips, seemed
oil the point of falling on us, and on this account we were
rather pleased to leave, at length, the river gorge. In compen-
sation for our toil, the scenery was magnificent in its savage
beauty; granite mountains on either bank towered 1500 feet
above us, some bare of trees to their summits, others clothed
with pine-trees, all covered with a carpet of tall coarse grass
and weeds, down to where they abruptly ended in precipices,
with the rushing, noisy river bathing their feet. Down in the
narrow lateral glens, scored by the mountain torrents, small
oaks and maples found a precarious footing in the rocky sides.
At one place a dyke of granite almost bridged the stream,
leaving only one narrow gap 10 yards across, through which
the river, here 50 yards wide and 8 to 10 feet deep,
boiled, a mass of foam 20 feet below, the roar of its
passage echoed and re-echoed rendering conversation almost
impossible. A summer flood here would indeed be a grand
sight!
About noon we turned up a glen along a zigzag path
newly cut in the mountain-side, the old path, now become
the bed of a mountain torrent, having to be abandoned.


74 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
We thought it high time we got a little value out of our
ponies, so made them carry us half-way up the ascent of
800 feet, but we had to walk the remainder. At the top
we rested awhile to give men and ponies time to get
breath, and thence, by a fairly good track, reached the
little village of An-pybn, the prefectural town of that name
being some distance to the north-east. Here for the first
time we came upon a real bridge. We had indeed crossed
two torrents by means of four or five planks laid side
by side, but this village possessed a single-arch bridge,
built of rough stone with no mortar. Whilst waiting for
our baggage-ponies to come up, we were invited by the
villagers to rest in their houses, offering us at the same
time unripe pears and peaches, with which the trees were
loaded, and seemed much puzzled at our refusals; their
perplexity was relieved when they saw our tent pitched
in the centre of the village, on the only level spot we could
find. After carefully sweeping the ground, we sprinkled
it with a strong solution of permanganate of potash, and
then powdered it with Keating's insect powder, for the fleas
and flies were in myriads. After luncheon we went a little
way down the stream to a sandy spot near a water-mill,
and enjoyed a delicious bathe, not without being spied out
by the village children, who watched us from the bank.
This mill (Mul-pang-a) was the first of the kind we saw, as


SOUL TO WON-SAN
77
The walls of the house were of wattle and daub, between
rough-hewn uprights, while the mud floor was covered with
straw-mats; the roof was supported by heavy timbers, out
of all proportion in weight to the uprights, and vastly in
excess of the strain imposed by the light thatch roof. Behind
the house was a little garden, where grew a patch of chillies,
some cabbages, turnips, and gourds.
We staved off the curiosity of the villagers by shutting the
doors and windows; but as the good lady of the house had
lighted the "kang" and it was a hot afternoon, we were
half stifled. Hastily swallowing our luncheon, we sallied forth,
accompanied by Yeung and a man who said he could show
us heaps of pheasants. Our guide carried us across the river,
which was about two feet deep, one by one on his back, then
we tramped over several hills and through fields without find-
ing a trace of anything, forded another stream, and finally were
told by the Koreans, of whom two more had joined us, that
they knew of a place where a big tiger was seen every day by
a boy as he went to his work; they even pointed out the place
to us, a low sandy hill partially covered with pine-trees; but
when we announced our intention of going to look for the
animal, they began to prevaricate, saying they were not sure
on which hill or when it was last seen, and finally refused to
come with us. We had intended to walk to the An-pyon
monastery, some 10 li farther on, a large place with a very


78 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
fine avenue of old trees, which we could see at the foot of the
mountains, across what is called the An-pyon plain; but it was
now (five o'clock) too late, so we turned off to look for the
tiger, accompanied only by the unfortunate Yeung. In passing
over the hill indicated to us, we came upon the fresh track
of a leopard going towards the plain, but soon lost it in the
scrub, also one pheasant, which, though winged, we lost in
the grass. There were numerous tracks of tiger-cats and deer,
but we saw nothing of the beasts themselves.
Returning to our house, we found it still so unbearably
hot that we had to open all the doors and windows, and
change our wet clothes in full view of the passers-by. The
thermometer being at 85°, and no means of ventilation exist-
ing, we asked to have the "kang" put out, which with great
difficulty we got done, as our servants wished to enjoy the
warmth of it. The "kang" is a simple and inexpensive way
of warming the house, universal in Korea. A small fire of
brushwood is lighted in a small furnace at one end or side of
the house; thence numerous flues under the mud floor con-
duct the smoke and hot air to an upright chimney or a hole
in the wall at the opposite end or side, and very little fire
suffices to thoroughly heat a large house. The Chinese "kang"
is on the same principle, but the flue forms a raised bench
along one side of the rooms. I was not surprised, later on,
to find that coughs and colds were very common, for an


SOUL TO WON-SAN
79
indoor temperature between 70° and 80°, and an outdoor one
of 0°, form very trying extremes. Moreover, the constant
warmth serves to keep alive the numerous flies, fleas, bugs,
and cockroaches, with which most of the houses swarm.
Saturday, September 12th, was occupied by our eighth
march, in doing a distance which ordinarily by the right road
takes five or six days! However, at Soul we had met two
German officers who had just come overland from Won-san
by the high-road, and they had been kept five days at one
place by a swollen river; so at any rate we had more luck
than they. We started at 7.45 a.m., and forded the river at
once, as usual in the deepest and most difficult part of the
ford, an almost invariable custom on the part of our " mapus."
Having despatched the baggage on in front, and whilst wait-
ing for our riding-ponies by the water's edge, I noticed a
Korean woman crossing the river with a baby slung on her
back at a different part of the ford, the water barely reaching
her knees in the deepest part, while our ponies were flounder-
ing in water deeper by a foot. The method of carrying infants
is simple: the child is seated in a strip of cloth, the ends of
which pass round the mother's neck and cross over her breast,
the child's legs embracing her waist.
Climbing up the steep river-bank, we came out on to the
continuation of the lava plain we had crossed yesterday, which
was about 500 feet above the sea, and gradually sloped down-


80 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
wards in a northerly direction. Two miles off, on our left, was
the upper part of the river we had just crossed, and on the
farther bank I remarked an odd formation in a cliff above it;
the granite strata were horizontal, but apparently a column of
some other rock had been forced vertically upwards, causing
the face of the clitf to assume a somewhat strange appearance.
On this plain was pointed out to us the site of a great battle
between the Koreans and the Japanese during the invasion
by the latter in 1592. Huge grass mounds, still carefully
tended, mark the resting-place of the fallen warriors on both
sides, and Yeung told us 1 S,000 men were killed in this battle.
A curious little book, by a Japanese, which I bought in Yoko-
hama, in giving extracts from the history of Korea, states that
the tribute paid to Japan for many years consisted of one
gold box containing ginseng, three beautiful horses, forty
white falcons, one gold casket ornamented with pearls and other
precious stones, which contained rolls or letters in the Korean
language, and forty tiger-skins, the hair of which was a finger
long; while the tribute to China, which she no longer enforces,
owing to the poverty of her vassal, was 100 ounces of gold,
1000 ounces of silver, 10,000 sacks of rice, 2000 pieces of
silk, 300 ditto of linen, 10,000 ditto of drill or cotton, 400
ditto of flax-cloth, 100 ditto of fine flax-cloth, 1000 rolls of
two leaves each of large paper, 1000 rolls of small paper,
2000 good knives, 1000 bullock's horns, 40 mats with de-








soOl to WON-SAN
81
signs, 200 lbs. of dye-wood, 10 bushels of pepper, 100 tiger-
skins, 100 deer-skins, 400 beaver-skins, and 200 blue mole-
skins.
About 11 a.m. we came to the edge of this plain, and de-
scended to another covered with rice-fields, stretching inland
to the hills about three miles on our left and for five or six
miles round the bay, which was about three miles off to our
right front. Large villages lay under these hills, and the road
wound its dusty length across the plain, its course marked by
the telegraph poles, the reappearance of which we had hailed
with joy about two hours earlier. A small sluggish stream
furnished the means of irrigation, but we could see that with
heavy rain it flooded a great deal, in spite of the embankments,
five or six feet high. We saw and heard snipe in all direc-
tions, and numerous storks and cranes were wading about in the
rice-swamps. Soon the hills came nearer the shore, and the
road wound about under them, shortly emerging on to another
plain of rice, at the end of which we were glad to see the
native town of Won-san. But before reaching the place we
had to be ferried over two rivers, as the bridges were only
just being put up again after the summer rains. The rivers
being subject to heavy floods, the superstructure, and often
the piles, are removed and stored away from May to September.
The general form of bridge consists of a series of pairs of piles
driven into the river-bed, bratticed together by cross-pieces,
F


82 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
while the superstructure consists of timber baulks, with a
roadway of poles or rough planks, not fastened down except
by a few large stones, and a surface of straw and earth on top
of all. Traffic soon works this crust loose, and it falls through
the interstices of the loose planks, &c.; frequently the crust
is wanting, and the corduroy surface works into gaps; but as
long as it is possible for a beast or a man to find sufficient foot-
hold, no repair is considered necessary.
At the second river, some eighty yards across, were
numerous thrifty Koreans, who, to save the loss of money,
and possibly of time (though time is of little value in Korea),
involved in taking the ferry-boat, preferred to strip to the
waist and wade across. They formed a curious sight with their
large black hats, white coats, long pipes, and naked legs.
Higher up I saw three or four women also wading across,
apart from the men, and from their shorter stature they had
on nothing but their "shoulder jackets." The dress of the
lower order of native women consists of a very loose pair
of trousers or long drawers of native cloth or Manchester
shirting, reaching to the ankles, and fastened round the waist
by a cord; over this is a petticoat of the same material,
reaching to the calf; on the shoulders is a jacket with sleeves,
which covers the chest, but is so short that it leaves the breasts
exposed to view. This peculiar dress often caused a shock
to our feelings by exposing to our view terrible sores on the


SOUL TO WON-SAN
83
breasts, sometimes dressed with a blue ointment, but more
often neglected. North of Won-san we did not observe nearly
so many sores, though the dress still afforded the same
facilities for doing so. Girls of a marriageable age (when
one sees them, which is not often, as they are kept in seclusion)
have a sort of belt round their bodies hiding their breasts.
The women plait their hair into tails, which are then wound
round the head. Of feminine dress of the higher classes I
know nothing, as they are kept carefully secluded from
masculine view ; and even of the peasantry I saw but very few
girls between twelve and sixteen, and those only in the
remoter districts. The female Korean to a Western eye is
hideous, even in childhood, though the boys are often veiy
handsome, as indeed are a few men. The woman in Korea is
merely a useful machine to provide for the wants of the man;
marriage is a bargain, and chastity is expected only from
the wife; the husband may keep concubines or indulge in
others forms of vice, but the wife must be chaste under pain
of death; her part is to bear children, to rise early, to get
to bed late, to keep the fields, gardens, house, and stables in
order, and, in short, to be the woman of all work. What
wonder then that amongst the labouring classes they become
wrinkled and haglike at an early age? This does not apply
to women of the upper class, who, kept in rigid seclusion, do
nothing at all, and see no one but their husbands, parents, and


84 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
female friends. The remarriage of widows is strictly forbidden,
which occasionally leads to scandals and the death of the
woman. The soil is in general so fertile, and the wants of
the Korean are so few, that the male peasant has on an
average eight months of the year in which he does nothing
but gossip and smoke, while seed-time and harvests fill up the
other four months; but women and children are always at
work, indoors or out. Koreans lay great stress, as points of
beauty, upon the small size of the hands and feet; because, I
fancy, showing high-breeding, brought about by long-continued
ancestral immunity from manual labour. We did not observe
that the mandarins affected the long talons of the Chinese, as
evidence of belonging to the intellectual and aristocratic drones,
in distinction to the inferior species of man, who is so de-
graded as to have to do hard work with his hands, and must
therefore have short nails. But what we did observe was the
scrupulously clean, carefully tended, well-shaped, soft white
hands of the Korean swell mandarins; and in contrast we
felt most painfully conscious of the size and muscular de-
velopment, as well as the sunburnt and dirty appearance, of
our hands and nails. Do what we could to keep them clean,
a short supply of hot water, and much handling of dirty
saddlery, guns, Rangoon oil, cartridges, boxes, and packages,
with constant exposure to dust, hot sun, and cold winds,
rendered our hands terrible sights.








CHAPTER IV.
WON-SAN.
We have at last reached the native town of Won-san. Being
the tenth day of the moon, it was a marketrday (for a market
is held every fifth day), and buying and selling was in full
swing when we entered, causing us considerable difficulty in
forcing a passage through the crowd. Having at length got
through the town, which contains 15,000 inhabitants, we saw
about a mile in front of us European-looking houses, flag-
staffs, and a steamer lying in the harbour. Ere long, after
fording another river, we came to the Japanese settlement,
with neat little wooden houses, roads laid out, and carefully
tended gardens, and finally brought up at the custom-house,
where we were cordially received by Mr. Brazier, the assistant
Customs officer. He told us that Mr. Oiesen, the acting
Commissioner, whom I had met before on a voyage to Ceylon,
was to start that afternoon on six weeks' leave to Japan, but
had placed his house at our disposal. Thither we betook
ourselves, and after luncheon (how good the beer was!) we
went with Mr. Oisen to call on the Prefect of Tok-won, who is
85


WON-SAN
87
our leave and went home to wash and dress. What a luxury
it was to get into a comfortable room, a large bath, and clean
easy clothes, after eight days of shooting-boots and breeches!
Mr. Oiesen's house was built by his predecessor, in the
Korean style, the roof composed of immense beams, morticed

PREFECTURAL YAMEN AT WON-SAN.
into small uprights, with a verandah in front; on one side
was a small conservatory, and in front of the house a
flower-garden, while behind were the stables and a kitchen-
garden. The house stands on the slope of the valley of a little


88 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
stream, and faces about east by south, the low hill behind
and on each side keeping off the bitter north and north-west
winds in winter: about twenty yards lower down on the left
is the Yamen, and about fifty yards farther, on the right,
is Brazier's tiny house, built on a shelf cut out of the hill-
side; on each side of the stream are vegetable gardens belong-
ing to the Koreans or Japanese, also the live-stock yards of
the two Europeans. Oiesen had a stork and a large quantity
of geese, ducks, and fowls, while Brazier had a crane, a deer
(Muntjac), and a lot of poultry. About fifty yards farther still
was a little Japanese house, which, with the stream, has a
gruesome tale told about it. When the cholera was pretty
bad at the Treaty ports in 1890 (140 Japanese died at Fu-san
out of 180 attacked), Oiesen had the Commissioner of Cus-
toms from Fu-san with his wife and daughter staying with
him. One evening they were all sitting on the verandah,
when Oiesen saw some Koreans carry something out of the
Yamen down to the stream and begin washing it. He had
heard that one of the Prefect's servants had been very ill
with cholera in the morning, and now saw that what they
were washing was the man's dead body! Hastily making
some excuse about dinner being earlier that night, he
hurried his guests indoors. Next morning he learnt that
the Jap who lived in the little house below was dying of
cholera, and then he remembered that the Jap's wife had








WON-SAN
89
been cleaning vegetables for her husband's supper in the
stream just at the time the corpse was being washed a few
yards higher up!
The native town of Won-san is at the southern end of
Port Lazaref, and is the great emporium for the east coast and
inland trade; beyond it, the plain stretches to the east, ending
in the sand-hills on the seashore, and this expanse in winter
is the haunt of millions and millions of wildfowl. Here, as
in other towns on the coast, one finds for sale, besides the
native produce, consisting of straw sandals, hats, wickerwork,
fruit, fresh and dried fish, bundles of charcoal, tobacco, cottons
and grass-cloth, pipes and cheap trinkets, such foreign goods
as Manchester shirtings, German needles, Japanese matches,
cheap mirrors, small bottles of dyes, kerosene oil, cigarette
papers, and occasionally Japanese cigarettes.
In the foreign settlement we found a store kept by Mr.
Ah Sin, an enterprising Chinaman, where we procured some
tins of soup and jam, packets of candles, also 50 lbs. of flour,
20 lbs. of sugar, and some other cooking ingredients for which
the cook was clamouring. Our biscuits were too full of
weevils to eat, and we only took them along with us in
case of emergency. To last until the cook could bake some
bread-stuff for us, we took some fresh loaves, and had a
few others made into toast. Mr. Ah Sin also kept a small
hotel, where the tide-waiters of the Customs messed together,


go KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
though each had built himself a small house, Mr. Knott having
two, one for summer and a smaller one for winter habitation.
About 700 Japanese live in the settlement under their
Consul, who has a very nice-looking house and offices, built
in European-Eastern style; he has some Japanese police under
him, armed with rifles and swords; the Japanese also have
a bonding warehouse, the office of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha
line of steamers, and the post-office. Won-san has a mail by
the Japanese steamers vid Nagasaki every fortnight in summer
and about once in five weeks in winter; there is also an
overland mail from Soul by runner occasionally, for official
despatches which it would not be safe to send through the
Japanese post-office, where I am told that, through the care-
lessness of the employes, envelopes occasionally become un-
fastened, and so the contents of letters get known to people
not entitled to the information!
The Chinese are about fifty in number, under Mr. Woo, the
Consul, who I believe was in England with Marquis Tseng,
the ambassador; they also are forming a small police force
to act as a check on the Japanese.
Korea is run by the Japanese and Chinese, and it is diffi-
cult to say which race the inhabitants hate most; they are,
however, more frightened of the Chinese, who always assume
superior airs, as belonging to the dominant power. The King
of Korea is a vassal of the Emperor of China, but they both


WON-SAN
91
rejoice in the title of "King of Heaven." In 1884 there was
a kind of revolution in Soul, caused by the intrigues of the
two factions in the capital, which are the Progressive, urged
on by the Japanese, and the Conservative, supported by the
Chinese. The Progressives made an attempt to overthrow the
Ming family, of whom the Queen is one, all but murdered
Ming-Yuen-ik, the Minister (whom we met at Hong-Kong,
and who kindly gave us letters of introduction to his relations
in Korea), and nearly obtained possession of the palace, but
not of the King, who escaped by a back-door. Many lives
were lost in this emeute, and it ended in the Japanese being
forced to fly by night to Ch^mulpho, and take shelter in a
British man-of-war, the burning of their new Consulate, and
the triumph of the Chinese Conservative party. Yuan, the
Chinese Resident in Soul, keeps a body-guard of about 200
soldiers, ostensibly his servants, but they are all trained men,
and he has an ample armoury. The Japanese Minister also
has a body-guard of about the same strength. In 1887 there
was some idea of another similar movement, and the Japanese
were detected in the act of smuggling some of their marines
and a field-gun into the city. A treaty was made in 1885 be-
tween China and Japan, by which neither country can keep an
army in Korea, nor can the one land troops without informing
the other of the intention beforehand; but this treaty is evaded
by both parties keeping up these body-guards and police.


92 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Immediately after breakfast on Sunday morning, we paid
off our "mapus," giving them the $15 still owing, but not the
extra $1, as we had fined them that for allowing the bottle of
whisky to get broken. We now found out why they had taken
the most difficult road, for they demanded extra payment
because they had been so long on the road! However, they
did not get it. The distance by the main road from Soul to
Won-san is reckoned at 525 li, easily done in good weather
in six days, while we had taken j\ days to do almost the same
distance. I had written some time before to Oiesen, asking
him to see if he could hire some ponies for us, and telling
him when we would leave Soul. Finding we did not turn up on
the sixth day, he had telegraphed to Soul to know if we had
left, and the answer that we had done so on September 5th
exercised his mind considerably as to the cause of the delay.
The Won-san-Soul telegraph goes to Ch^mulpho, and I
believe a submarine cable is being, or has been, laid to Chefoo
or Tientsin: a cable already exists from Fu-san to Nagasaki.
It is proposed to extend the Soul line to Ham-heung and
Wladivostock, and we saw the poles lying in heaps by the
roadside; but many of them have been removed for firewood,
and other heaps have been set on fire through wanton mis-
chief. The telegraph at Won-san is worked by a Korean, the
office is in the Yamen, and the English language is employed,
as it is at present impossible to signal Chinese symbols!








WON-SAN
93
The hire asked for ponies going to the north was each 130
cash for 10 li, or, reckoning 80 li as a day's march, exchange
being 555 to the dollar, nearly two dollars a day. This we
would not give, nor would the livery-stable keeper or pony-
man come down in his price. However, the Prefect promised
to get the hire knocked down a bit, for it appeared that Mr.
Woo paid 80 cash for 10 li when travelling, while the
Japanese Consul said he had paid as little as 40 cash. Traffic
to the north not being great, and the food obtainable being
of worse quality, caused the difference in prices, for from Soul
we had only paid 39 cash; and remembering Grosvenor's
story of travel in Western China, we had offered 80 cash for
10 li, but in vain. The story is so thoroughly typical of
Chinese and Korean inaccuracy, that I may be pardoned for
repeating it. He was told that the distance between two
places depended upon which end one started from; thus from
A to B might be one mile, while from B to A would be three
miles! An intelligent native thus explained this to him.
Carriage being based on so many cash per mile, a coolie ought
to be paid more if the road were uphill; but as it would
be troublesome to adjust the tariff according to the gradient
of the road, it is more convenient to assume that, according
to the difficulty or precipitousness of the road, the objective
is farther off. On Grosvenor urging that, at this rate, wet
weather must elongate the road, which would also be longer


94 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
by night than by day, he was met by the answer, "Very true,
but a little extra payment will adjust that!" He found that
the scale was about the following:—On level ground, one
statute mile equalled 2 li; on ordinary hill-roads, it equalled
5 li; but on very steep roads, it ran as high as 15 li.
On Sunday night Brazier gave a dinner-party, consisting
of the Prefect, Mr. Woo, the Japanese Consul, and ourselves;
a strange mixture of races at one table, Scotch, Irish, English,
Korean, Chinese, and Japanese! The Prefect ate his dinner
like a man, and drank of everything, but only one glass of
each kind of liquor. He was magnificently dressed in blue
and crimson silk robes, with white trousers; from his hat,
woven of fine hair, hung a long chain of amber beads which
went round his neck. The seals of office, without which an
official dare not move, were deposited under his chair by the
seal-bearer, a boy of sixteen with a huge pig-tail, round whose
waist were slung his master's tobacco-box, spectacle case, and
purse. After dinner the Prefect had his long straight-
stemmed pipe with amber mouthpiece lighted, and puffed
away at some of our tobacco with great appreciation of its
strength. Korean tobacco is very mild, and by no means
first-class in quality, but the best makes very fair cigarettes.
The poorer classes smoke unmanufactured stuff, just the leaves
dried in the sun and broken up a little. I was several times
given some of the common kind by the natives, and tried to


WON-SAN
95
smoke it, but the smoke of burning weeds was quite harmless
and pleasant in comparison.
The Prefect's spectacles were about two inches in diameter,
made of pebbles, set in a large amber frame, worth altoge-
ther about 15 dollars or 7500 cash; officials wear spectacles
partly as a protection from dust and glare, &c, but chiefly as
a sign of dignity. Another article brought into the dining-
room was a round brass pot, the use of which we did not at
first comprehend, but afterwards we learnt: was the custom
for the guest to bring his own pot-de-chr.mbre. The Prefect
belongs to a rich family in Eoul, and lives at Tok-won, about
three miles to the south-west, and thither he started about
10 p.m. in his chair, accompanied by a dozen or more attendants
carrying paper lanterns. His suite includes about seventy
"soldiers," who do odd jobs for him and show off his state
and dignity. One of these warriors the Prefect kindly said
he would send with us, to look after, show the way, and lend
an air of importance to our party.
We had a little difficulty about getting money here, as the
branch of the first National Bank of Japan was unable to
make advances on our letters of credit. The difficulty was
solved by our giving cheques on the Hong-Kong and Shanghai
Bank to Mr. Hintze and Mr. Knott in the Customs service, in
return for 300 Japanese "yen." A hundred of these we turned
into cash at 555 to the yen, but even this was not enough


96 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
for our requirements. According to the Prefect, the "mapus,"
and "Collected Administrative Regulations" or "Tai-jon-Hoi-
thong," a Korean official book, the distance from Won-san to
Chang-jin, whither we were bound, was 800 li, whereas we
estimated it at 650 li. There is no reliable map of the
country, as it has never been surveyed; the best is the
Russian staff-map, which is based on the Japanese official
one published in 1875, but it contains the same errors, with
a few more on its own account. In Soul the Italian Consul
showed us an old Korean map on a very large scale, two or three
miles to the inch, in eighteen sheets, on which to some ex-
tent the Japanese map relies as regards the interior, but the
constant trading journeys of the Japanese merchants have
corrected much of the erroneous representations of the country.
The li, which properly measures about 486 yards, varies
greatly, according to the proximity of the capital; the farther
one recedes from the "Heart of Korea," the longer grows the
li, until in the extreme north and south it measures as much
as 555 yards, while in mountainous country it shortens to
about 430 yards; consequently it is impossible to form any
reliable estimate of the distance between two places until one
has travelled the road. The Koreans also are extremely
stupid and ignorant about distances, and appear to take no
note of the time it takes them to get from one place to
another. The Prefect succeeded in knocking down the


WON-SAN
97
pony-hire to n0 cash for 10 li per pony, to which we had
to agree, but decided to reduce the number of ponies to eight,
Goold Adams and I to ride turn about, while the servants and
soldier were to walk. The "mapus" demanded an advance of
pay for each pony of 7000 cash, or prepayment for 636 li,
which we had to give; consequently another twenty yen had
to be converted into cash. The currency of the country is
copper cash, of which, at the time of our visit, 550 to 560
were equal to a Mexican dollar or Japanese yen; but Soul has
a currency of its own, consisting of new copper cash, coined in
1890, one of which is, by royal decree, equal to five of the old
ones, but intrinsically they are each worth less than one old
cash piece, and so brittle that if let fall they often break. The
rate at which we exchanged dollars for these in Soul was 650
five-cash pieces to one dollar, but these cash were not accepted
at Won-san or Fu-san.
The day before leaving Won-san we paraded our ponies, and
a sorry sight they were; the galls were too sickening in some
cases, and we had to reject two or three animals as quite too
bad to go with us.
We heard several stories about tigers and leopards here,
for in the winter many of these beasts come down from the
mountains to the plains for food. On the An-pyon plain,
stretching from the Prefecture of that name to Won-san, they
are often caught and killed in traps. In 1890, seven leopard-
G


98 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
skins, thirty tiger-skins, and three live tigers were sent away
from here by sea; and as evidence of these animals being
common in the country, in the same year sixty-seven of these
skins were exported from Che'mulpho. One winter's night a

A TIGER-TRAP.
tiger passed close under Oiesen's bedroom window and tried
to get at Brazier's poultry; another night a tiger seized one of
Knott's dogs and carried it off. Knott was aroused, and going
out with his gun, saw the thief standing on the hillside just


WON-SAN
99
above his house. He tried a charge of AAA at it, but apparently
did no harm. Another time Brazier was out shooting j ust behind
the settlement, and encountered a leopard making its way
across the plain, but he wisely left it alone. Yet another
story. Mr. Woo had some fine geese with a very fierce gander,
which he did not very carefully shut up at night, saying the
gander was strong enough to take care of itself! Shortly after,
a tiger visited his poultry-yard, removed his gander and two
geese, devouring them on the hill above his house. He has a
native tiger-trap, which consists of a cage made of logs of wood,
and firmly fastened together; at one end a space is partitioned
off by a strong paling and weighted down with earth and
stones, and in this is placed a pig; at the other end is an
opening for the tiger or leopard, attracted by the cries of the
pig, to enter, and as soon as he is fairly inside, he presses
against a string which releases another cord holding up a fall-
ing door, which in its descent closes the trap; the animal is
unable to turn owing to the narrowness of the trap, cannot get
at the pig, nor can he escape, and eventually dies by starva-
vation or the spear-thrusts of the natives. So destructive of
human life are these beasts, that when the natives have to go
out to collect brushwood for fuel, they do so in parties, and
appoint a rendezvous near the village before separating in the
evening. The carriers returning each with an enormous load of
fuel, are carefully counted to see if any are missing, having


ioo KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
been killed by a wild beast on the mountain-side. In spite
of this, whenever we asked about tigers, the natives invari-
ably denied any knowlege of them, as soon as they suspected
our wish to go in search of the beasts.
A Russian coasting steamer came in the day before we
left, bringing the news that sixteen convicts employed on
the Trans-Siberian Railway had escaped, and were murdering
people in the neighbourhood of Wladivostock for their clothes
and money; a French naval officer, some Chinese and Japanese
had already fallen victims, and the inhabitants were in a state
of panic, while revolvers were not to be obtained for love
or money. We were cautioned that very possibly we might
meet some of them working their way down to Won-san.
When I returned here later on, I learned that all the fugitives
had been captured, after having murdered the bandmaster of
the band which played at the funeral of the French officer.
Several were hanged, and others sent to the island of Sag-
halien, to many a more severe punishment than death, as it
ranks next to the quicksilver mines in its horrors.


CHAPTER V.
WON-SAN TO CHANG-J IN.
PIaving ordered our ponies to come at 7 a.m. on Tuesday,
September 15th, we were glad to see them arrive at 10 a.m. A
grey mare about fourteen hands high was produced for us to ride,
and after much haggling about the loads, which the "mapus,"
egged on by our servants, declared were too heavy, we started
at 10.20 a.m. We vainly pointed out that in coming from
Soul eight ponies had carried all our baggage and the three
servants, while now seven ponies were to cany the baggage
only, or about 400 lbs. less. The real reason for the grumbling
was that our servants did not wish to walk, and they took
measures to ensure riding without our knowledge, as I shall
explain a little later.
Our project now was to go to Chybng-phyong, thence
branch off to Chang-jin, and so to Sam-su on the Yalu, calcu-
lating we could do this distance, barring accidents, in fifteen
days' travel; then making Sam-su our base, we hoped to get
some shooting on the other side of the Yalu in Manchuria,
gradually working our way by Hyei-san to Po-chon. G.-A. and


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN 103
avenue of Scotch firs, 400 yards long. Here we had to ford the
river, as the bridge was only now being put up again for the
winter. I got over on the mare, while G.-A. crossed on a
man's back. We left the cook, the interpreter, and the soldier
behind, as they were loitering for a purpose of their own.
This alluvial plain, stretching from the seashore four or five
miles inland, continues more or less as far as the Yeung-
heung river, cut here and there by low spurs running to the sea.
It seemed to us that the granite hills here owed their shape in
a great measure to glacial action. Many enormous boulders,
grooved and carved in a manner no weather could effect, lay in
situations only to be accounted for on this supposition. More-
over, in the centre of this plain, where the foot of the glaciers
would have been, we noticed piles of boulders, which we
took to be remnants of moraines.
The road was broad and good-going, except where the
overflow of a rice-field had turned it into a quagmire, and after
passing the village of Ti-kyong we halted for the night at
Mun-chon. After we had pitched our tent on the left bank
of the river, G.-A. took his rod, and we strolled up the river
for a mile or so. The heat of the day made us long for a bathe,
but we could not manage it, there being too many people
about, women washing clothes, and boys spearing fish with
wooden tridents. The accuracy with which these naked brown
imps speared the small fish, which we could see darting about


io4 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
in the clear water, was astounding. We also saw a man carry-
ing a freshly speared salmon, but he refused to sell it, and the
river yielded no return for G.-A.'s efforts in angling.
While we were at dinner to-night, the cook produced a
"pony-letter," an official document authorising the bearer to
be supplied with a certain number of post-ponies. This, he
said, had been given to our servants by the Prefect of Tokwon.
We guessed there had been some underhand work about this,
and accordingly, two days later, from Yeung-heung, sent back
a letter to Brazier, asking him to find out the meaning of it
When I returned to Won-san a month later, I found the
Prefect thirsting for the blood of our servants. It appeared
that our interpreter had dropped behind at the Tok-wbn Yamen,
obtained access to the Prefect, and demanded in our names
a pony-letter, saying those we had were not enough. The
Prefect not suspecting anything to be wrong, and knowing we
were in such a hurry to get on that it was possible we had no
time to come ourselves, granted a letter for three ponies only,
though it was afterwards found the rascals had added two
strokes to the character (.£_) and made it five (i). When
G.-A. brought back Yeung and the interpreter later on, the
Prefect had cooled down, and did not punish them, as he
told me he was going to do.
While walking this afternoon near a clump of rocks, we
heard something crying and making a noise, rather like the


WUN-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
hoarse miauling of a cat. Investigation showed us on the
other side of a broad muddy ditch a wretched frog, caught by
the hind-legs by a small snake, which was trying to twist its
tail round the grass stems to get a purchase, and pull the
frog, which was clinging to the reeds with all the might of its
poor little arms, on to dry land. We were forced to leave them
to settle the matter themselves, as the ditch was impassable
for us, too wide to release the crying victim with our sticks,
and for a wonder not a stone small enough to lift was to
be seen.
As a result of the forged letter, which unfortunately we
could not read, we found, at starting next morning, our
train of ponies augmented to thirteen by the addition of five
post-ponies. There was a little beast for me about eleven hands
high, which was too small to carry me over the small river
beyond So-rai-won. On account of this, and some obscure
process of reasoning, a naked Korean was impressed by the
soldier, and obliged to carry over the river on his back,
not me, but G.-A., whose larger pony I rode over, although
G.-A. is two stones heavier than I am.
After stopping i\ hours at Ko-won for luncheon, we passed
the Tbk-chi river by ferry-boat, and about 4 p.m. a thunder-
storm with heavy rain came upon us from the mountains on
our left; but this, the only storm we met with on our travels,
only lasted half an hour. Crossing two ranges of low hills,


io6 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
one of which separates the two branches of the Yeung-heung
river, we descended again to the fertile plain, growing rice
and millet in profusion, and about six o'clock came to the
prefecture! town of Yeung-heung, containing about two
hundred houses. Just at the entrance and a little way off
the road, we found an official building which was intended
for use by the archers when practising shooting under the
superintendence of the magistrate, and a range of 150 yards
long, marked out in front of it by boundary-stones, though at
present the ground was under cultivation. Incautiously we
selected a bare patch in front of this building for our camping-
ground, but regretted it bitterly afterwards, when we found
the inhabitants came in swarms, and finding such a convenient
shelter as the building afforded, remained for hours watching
our movements. However, it made a good kitchen, and sleep-
ing-place for the servants.
We were detained here for a whole day by rain, which
lasted well into the next night. Two expeditions to the river in
search of game revealed only the sight of three widgeon, two
pink ibis (Ibis Nippon), specimens of which lovely bird we
had seen the day before, a golden oriole, and numerous cranes,
storks, and cormorants. However on Friday morning it cleared
up, and we were able to resume our journey. Before starting
we despatched the letter to Brazier by a runner, who had the
impudence to ask him for 5000 cash, which he said we had


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
promised him. As we had requested Brazier in the letter to
give the runner a suitable reward, he did not accede to the
demand.
Leaving at 7.45 a.m., we forded one channel of the river,
but were brought up a hundred yards farther on by the main
channel, which was deep and running swiftly after the rain.
After much shouting, we learnt that the ferry-boat had been
removed, and we should have to wait for some considerable
time for another. We decided to go round by the ferry
lower down, which we had noticed the day before, but the
men in charge of the baggage-ponies could not be induced
to follow us. Passing through the town again, we got to
the feriyjust as the boat was pushing off with four fine heavily
laden bulls on board, and our soldier forced their owners to
disembark them, in spite of my protestations. These the
Koreans did not, or would not, understand in the least,
for, according to their code of etiquette, because we were
travelling with a certain amount of officialism, we, or rather
they on our behalf, were entitled to bully the peaceable
inhabitants as much as possible. Having safely crossed the
stream, we rode up the other bank to the ferry where
we had left our baggage-ponies, and found they also had
got across, the ferry-boat having been produced shortly after
we turned back. Our "mapus" were so angry at having
had to go 10 li round, that one of them "went for" the


io8 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
ferryman, who took to his heels, and after an exciting chase
eventually escaped.
About 11 a.m. we came to a low range of hills, and on
the side of one spur by the roadside we saw an outcrop of
graphite; it seemed of good quality, and Yeung informed
me it was "all same stuff put in pencil." We now came to
the Keum-ha-won gold-diggings or washings; the valley had
a small stream running through it, and the beds of this
and its tributary rivulets had been dug up in all directions
to a depth of eight or ten feet. In the centre of the valley
was a collection of miserable mud-houses, the shelters for the
washers, and the road wound about the pits in a very bad
state, as it had constantly to be shifted before the advance of
the diggers, who, owing to their feeble appliances for keeping
out the water, had to abandon their excavations on reach-
ing the above depth. We were told all the gold had been
sent away the day before, but a considerable quantity is
obtained from this and other washings in the Yeung-heung
district. The amount of gold exported in 1889 from the
three Treaty ports was valued at $982,091 (about ^157,135),
of which Won-san, which taps the Phybng-an province, sent
away $543,844 (about ,£87,000), while in 1890 the total
amount was $749,699 (about ,£120,000), of which Won-san
exported $556,904 (about ^89,100). Of these amounts
China took in those years $373,677 (about ^59,800), and


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
log
$474,600 (about ,£76,000), while Japan took $608,414 (about
,£97,335), and $275,099 (about ,£44,000). In 1891 the total
export of gold was about $690,000 or about £110,400 worth,
but it is considered that nearly as much more left without
being declared or was smuggled across the borders.
Crossing a pass 600 feet above the sea, we came upon
some more gold-washings, which appeared to be nearly
worked out; and after being ferried over the Sh6-chin river,
we came to Ko-san. Here we were baulked in our efforts to
avoid the native curiosity, for no sooner had we sat down
some distance out of the village to have our lunch, than
down came the rain, and we were forced to take shelter in
a house. The rain leaving off about 3.30 p.m., enabled us to
start with fresh post-ponies, and another stretch of amazingly
fertile plain, about ten miles in length, brought us to a small
suburb of Chyong-phyong, at the junction of the Ham-heung
and Chang-jin roads. A large graveyard with Scotch firs
was on a slight eminence above the road, and here we pitched
our tent. The villagers came in such crowds that we fled to
the top of a neighbouring hill, and waited there half-an-hour,
in spite of the tormenting mosquitoes. During this time a
flock of teal went whistling overhead from the north, but we
could not see them in the dark. Returning to the tent, we
changed our clothes, for the adult curiosity was engaged with
the cooking operations, but the juvenile sightseers kept


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
111
streams had been dug up to their sources. Five li farther on
we crossed a low range of hills 400 feet above the sea, and
came down to the wide Ham-heung plain. Skirting this and
the foothills in a general north-west direction along a very good
road, at noon we passed the village of Tang-ye, about twenty
houses, but our "mapus" said there was no accommodation

ROUGH SKETCH OF NATIVE CART.
for ponies there, so we went on. All day up till now we
had been accompanied by a Korean trader, whose bale of
goods was carried by a coolie; he could speak a little English,
and by this means and through Yeung, who knew him, we
learnt he was on his way from Won-san to Wladivostock


ii2 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
by land; he could speak Russian, and had a brother settled
there, and came this way to avoid Ham-heung and its officials.
For the first time we saw carts actually in use for carry-
ing the harvest, which was now just commencing about here.
The construction of these carts, of which during the day I
counted fifty, is simple in the extreme. The circumference
of the wheels is divided into four equal arcs, fastened
by trenails to cross-pieces; the nave is wedged to the axle,
which turns with it; the shafts fit on to the axle by means
of two stout pins, fastened by straw rope; the framework
consists of two narrow boards, and the ends of the shafts are
fastened to a curved yoke, which is tied to the bull's neck
by a straw cord.
After crossing several streams, we came about three o'clock
to Orichun, a small place of fifteen houses, near the fork
of the So-chon river, and on the high-road from Ham-heung
to Chang-jin. From here Ham-heung was distant about 45
li,T and as we reckoned we had done 70 li to-day, we had
saved, by our short cut, 25 li and the delays inevitable had
we gone to that town. Little did we dream how much time
we should waste by coming this way!
The valley of the river was about five miles wide, and
there were three or four stony channels, through which
shallow narrow streams now flowed, though we could see
that in summer flood these would be full and the width of


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
water increased tenfold. Orichun was protected by an em-
bankment from these floods, and so was Kut-yang, another
little village farther up the valley.
We baffled the curiosity of the inhabitants by hanging
up towels and waterproof sheets, at the expense of sitting
in a very hot tent; but next day rain came on, and we were
able to wash and dress with open doors.
The animal produced to-day for my riding was a sturdy
little stallion, in better condition than most ponies, but the
neighbourhood of G.-A.'s mare was too much for him. If the
mare went in front, he pulled my arms off trying to get
near her; if she went behind, then he walked as slowly as
possible, squealing and yelling all the time. Once or twice
when the two met he kicked the mare, narrowly missing
G.-A.'s leg; and after a time I got tired of all this trumpet-
ing and fuss, so I walked 60 li out of the 70 we did. In
subsequent marches, for he accompanied us to Kap-san, he
was relegated to pack duties, and his constant yelling was
a valuable guide to the whereabouts of the baggage-train.
A walk along the river to Kut-yang and back in search
of game was fruitless, for I saw only a crane, two kingfishers,
and a snipe, which got up a hundred yards off. I managed,
however, to get a bottle of very good honey here, which formed
a welcome addition to our fare, or rather my fare, as G.-A.
could not agree with it; so he ate jam and I ate the honey.
n


ii4 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Next morning at i a.m. it began to rain, and a steady
downpour continued all day until 8 p.m. G.-A. shot two
teal (?Baikal teal), large handsome birds, male and female;
steel-blue bodies, wings dark blue lightening to azure blue,
with the two longest feathers tipped with i \ inches of white,
breasts white, and beaks scarlet; the male had a chestnut
crest, the female's head was steel-blue without a crest. It
being impossible to procure eggs or chickens here, we were
glad to get a change in our bill of fare. This difficulty about
food is one which every traveller in Korea encounters, and
it is a moot-point whether it arises from unwillingness to
sell or fear of not being paid, on the part of the inhabitants.
On the 7th, 8th, 9th, nth, 15th, 16th, 18th, and to-day we
could not obtain any, although we were at such large places as
Nam-san, Mun-chon, Yeung-heung, and Chyong-phyong, and
saw cocks and hens in numbers wandering about, besides
being wakened in the morning by the crowing. In Korea,
when an official of any rank travels, he and his attendants
pay for nothing except their lodging, and by right the persons
and property of the inhabitants of the villages are at their
disposal. Consequently the visit of an official is a very
expensive matter to a small community, and it is perhaps a
fortunate thing that it is not part of the duty of the governors
and mandarins to make personal inspection of their provinces
or districts. Two German travellers arriving at a village in














n6 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
mometer being only 49°, we were glad to walk to keep our-
selves warm. After passing the boundary of the Phyong-an
province, which consisted of a ruined stone-wall about two feet
high, running from the river up the mountain-side, having a
wooden gate like a Japanese "torii," with the crest of the
province at each end of the cross-beam, we began to ascend
a pass in the Paik-un mountains, which form the watershed
of Eastern Korea. In i£ hours we climbed 2800 feet up a
steep forest path, obstructed by fallen trees, mudholes, and
boulders, where the only sounds besides those we made were
of trickling streams and the rustling of cheeky little grey
and white striped squirrels.
I noticed some magnificent beeches three and four feet in
diameter, also Scotch firs, pines, oaks, birch, and maple, the
latter just beginning to turn red. From the top of the pass
we had a fine view down the valley we had come up as far as
Broughton Bay, but to the right, left, and behind us the view
was restricted by mountains. Korea is so mountainous that
it is but very rarely one gets an extensive view in any direction
in the interior. On the top of the pass we left the province
of Phyong-an by passing through a narrow gateway in the
boundary-wall which ran along the crest of the pass. De-
scending 200 feet to a small stream flowing to the west, we
very shortly had an ascent of 400 feet by a forest path, which
was very muddy and at times boggy. From this height we


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
117
followed an abominably stony track down to Kot-e-su, a dirty
village of twelve houses, on the right bank of theChang-jin river.
On the northern side of the pass the change from early to late
autumn was most marked; the oaks, beeches, &c, were in
their yellow and brown dress, many of their leaves had already
fallen, the bracken was brown, while the maples were a blaze
of scarlet. A little trickle of water from the top of the pass,
the beginning of the Chang-jin river, accompanied us on our
left hand, and in five miles it had become a stream fifty yards
broad and three or four feet deep. Much wood had been cut
down by the inhabitants of the scattered houses we passed,
but the young growth on the mountain-sides presented a mag-
nificent sight with its scarlet maples glowing amidst the
browns and yellows, the effect being heightened by the dark
green of the pines. Here we saw our first crop of Korean
oats, and roofs of the houses made of strips of birch bark or
thin slats held down by large stones, with the smoke of the
"kangs " going all day.
Leaving Kot-e-su after a stay of three hours, we went on
along a plain about a mile wide, evidently formed of the debris
brought down from the mountains by the river, as we passed
several of its former beds. For some 20 li the river flowed on
the far side of the plain to our left, but it then crossed towards
us and began to spread itself out into a series of bogs and
reedy lakes. Shortly after this change of course, we passed


n8 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
some gold-washings, places of small extent, and kept along
a path cut in the hillside to Sa-seu, which we reached at 5.30
p.m. All the afternoon we had a cold south wind with heavy
showers, and this decided us on venturing to pass the night
in a Korean house, as the ground was so wet.
We had espied some duck on a small lake about a mile
from Sa-seu, and as soon as we had settled on our night's
lodging, I took my gun and went after them. I had to cross a
swamp about 200 yards wide by stepping from one tussock of
grass to another, and having executed a stalk to within fifteen
yards of the unsuspecting duck, I spoilt it then by slipping
up to my knees in a hole, the splash of course frightening
them away before I recovered foothold enough to fire. Wet,
weary, and disgusted I returned to Sa-seu. A liberal use of
Keating's powder kept away the fleas, but the room was
so heated by the "kang" that we had to sleep with the
door open.
From this village in the swamps we pursued our way next
day, at first over a plain of the same character as before, but
about two hours after starting we crossed over a hill to the
north-east, and came down again to the river, which had made
a large bend. Soon after this we were ferried over to the left
bank at Fut-jen-ye, and had to take shelter there from a
smart shower, which delayed us for half an hour. An old man
was fishing from the bank, and we inspected his tackle—a


i2o KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
the pliant end tied back to the top of the pole by a horse-hair
line, knotted in some curious way to catch birds by the feet;
a few days later we saw an unfortunate magpie caught in this
way by the recoil of the sapling.
A few yards from us some corn-mills groaned a lullaby for
us all night; in this country each of these machines has a
stream of water to itself, but in Japan there were, as a rule,
two, four, or more opposite each other, and the same runlet
filled them alternately, thus saving half the waste of time
and water-power involved by the Korean method.
This morning, before we started, we witnessed the shoeing
of a pony, which happened to be the obstreperous stallion.
The "mapus," tying his fore and hind feet together, cast him,
then putting a pole through the lashings with one end on the
ground he lay there helpless, half on his back, while they cold
shod him. This is the invariable method in use, and the
shoes are curious things in their way. The hoof is pared but
very little, being nearly as hard as flint; the shoe is not fitted
to the hoof, and more often than not it is in two pieces, which
are very firmly nailed on with long square-headed nails, three
on each side. This is economical, for if one half is worn down
more than the other, it can be taken off and replaced without
removing and wasting the other half.
Another short march on September 24th brought us to
Teuk-sil-tohg at 11.30 a.m., when we had to stop for the


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
121
night, as there was said again to be no halting-place nearer
than Chang-jin. From Tjen-6-su the valley narrowed to the
width of the river in flood-time, there just being room for the
road between the left bank and the mountain, though some-
times we had to climb over spurs whose precipitous cliffs
forbade any attempt at road-making at their feet. Close to
Teuk-sil-tong there is one road over the hill to the village
for flood-time and another by the river-brink over planks
and brushwood hurdles at the foot of the cliff for low water,
and the lower road we followed. By the drift-wood in the
trees we could see that the river in flood was some 20 feet
above its present level, thereby rendering the whole road
here impassable.
The magnificence of the colouring of the mountain-sides
beggars description; the trees I noticed in varying autumn
foliage were maple (several kinds), beech, oak, birch, poplar,
Scotch fir, mountain ash, willow, sycamore, crab-apple, wild
plum, wild cherry, and walnut. From the number of shrubs,
the show of azalea blossom in spring must be very fine in
this valley.
Teuk-sil-tong is a little village of fourteen houses on a
small spit of land deposited at the junction of the two rivers,
the Chang-jin and another whose source we had crossed
on the top of the pass in the Paik-un mountains on the
22nd. A rough road on each bank of this river came from


i22 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
the south-west from villages in Phyong-an province. There
were numerous fish-weirs in this stream, and apparently no
lack of small trout, judging from the results obtained by
several old men, who were fishing with their primitive tackle.
In the afternoon we took advantage of the long halt to have
a really good wash with hot water, a luxury we had not
enjoyed since we left Orichun. In the evening we crossed
the Chang-jin river in a dug-out, and, guided by a hunter,
visited a bean-field about a mile off, where he said there were
always deer and pig to be found. Just before we reached
it we saw a fallow-deer disappearing over a low hill out of
shot, having seen us too soon, and this was the only result
of the expedition, on which Yeung accompanied us, armed
with the cook's Japanese sword, though what he expected
to do with this weapon we could not make out. During the
day we had noticed some very pretty dark blue kingfishers
and large flocks of light blue jays with white waistcoats, but
the latter seemed to affect places where there were ash and
willow-trees in abundance. I was much struck with the
beauty and variety of the dragon-flies; with plain wings,
there were green, gold, dark blue and dark red flies, while
with black tips to their wings I saw scarlet, brown, blue,
yellow and purple ones.
At Won-san, before starting, one of our " mapus" had com-
plained of sickness arising from a congested liver, and we


123
gave him relief with three Cockle's pills. To-night he came
again, saying he was very bad and felt very cold. Having
first given him a strong mixture of essence of ginger and
whisky to warm the cockles of his heart, we administered
three Cockle's pills, and in a day or two he was fit again.
Like most uncivilised people, the Koreans have great faith
in the medicinal skill of the white man, but they like their
remedies strong. Some days later a Korean came to me to
heal his eye, which was much inflamed, and he was much
offended and puzzled when I told him to wash and bathe
his eye well with hot water, and tie a bandage over it to
keep the cold out, the only disease being a cold in it. To
appease him, after he had washed it well, I gave him a weak
solution of whisky and water to bathe it with, which pro-
duced just enough smarting to satisfy him, and if it did no
good, it did his eye no harm. Their own remedies are
rather startling, I believe, like the Chinese, who apply a
counter-irritant in an opposite part in most diseases, and
in fever they burn the neck and throat with a hot iron.
Other medical performances of oars consisted in recom-
mending cleanliness, and in applying carbolic oil to cut
heads and limbs of men, and sore backs of beasts.
Next morning, leaving at 8.15 in a thick mist, we crossed
the tributary river by a curious bridge. 42 yards long, made in
three bays; the road-bearers were spars about 36 feet long,


i24 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
and tapering from 2 feet to 6 inches in diameter; these rested
on cross-beams wedged and bolted to a single pile, having a
long tie upstream. The roadway consisted of small spars laid
on loosely, and here and there kept in position by large stones.
A similar bridge, of four bays, gave access to Chang-jin.
About 5 li from Teuk-sil-tong we came to a small village

Direction of stream.
Section on AB. Scale. y(j^
ROUGH SKETCH OF BRIDGE AT TEUK-SIL-TONC.
on the right bank of a small river flowing into the main stream
from the west, and after another 35 li of rough work, having
had three times to cross over hills 200 feet above the river,
and at other times make our way along a track overhanging it,
and over planks spanning spaces between projecting buttresses
of rock, we turned north-west up another affluent of the Chang-


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
"5
jin river, which now took an E.N.E. direction. Fifteen li in
this new direction brought us at 2.30 p.m. to Chang-jin on
the left bank of the stream, at its junction with another stream
coming from the south-west, along which goes the Chang-ge"
high-road.
In the valley near Chang-jin a young woman came along
a path at right angles to the one we were pursuing, and, in
spite of the shouts of the "mapus," passed in front of us, which ,
caused a volley of abuse to be hurled at her. We were then j
told that it is very unlucky for a woman to cross one's path
in Korea; which shows that the country is not unlike other
countries in some ways. We also saw here a hideous old
hag, naked to the waist, working in the fields, and by far the
ugliest woman we met in this country of ugly women.
Chang-jin is a town of 300 houses, governed by a Prefect
of the second class, and is situated on a small plain at the
junction of the river; all round the mountains rise 1000 feet
and more above it. As we required both cash to pay our
"mapus," and fresh post-ponies to replace the five we had
brought from Chyong-phyong, we sent our cards early in the
afternoon to the Prefect, and about 5 p.m. started to pay our
official visit. Meanwhile we had been trying to come to terms
with our " mapus," and induce them to come on to Sam-su with
us; the latter they agreed to, but regarding the money, we
were hopelessly at variance. Having at Won-san estimated the


i26 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
distance at 800 li, they now called it 700 li; we, who had
estimated it at 670 li, found it to be 550, but we had been
stopped two days by rain, which made them two days' food
out of pocket, so we allowed for 570 li. Ultimately the Pre-
fect decided we should pay for 590 li; which made 6490 cash
to each pony, but having already paid them 7000, the " mapus"
now owed us 610 cash on each pony, which they said they
could not pay. The difficulty was got over eventually by a
further advance of 10,000 cash, which, with the balance,
made 1760 for eight ponies, or prepayment for 160 li (8 x 510
= 4080, add 10,000= 14,080, divide by 8= 1760, divide by 11
cash per li = 160 li); in addition, the cook's bill against us
came to 8818 cash.
We walked through the main street of the town to the
Yamen, preceded by our soldier and followed by Yeung, the
interpreter, and most of the male population; the large gates
were thrown open for us, and after crossing the courtyard, we
were ushered into a very dirty little side-room, where the
"pusa" was squatting on the floor; there being no chairs, we
had to do the same. On the way to call, we had met his
present of fresh venison and two chickens coming for us, and,
after thanking him for these, and inquiries about his health,
we asked him for money and ponies, both of which he pro-
mised should be ready the next morning. We were told that
the road to Sam-su, only 120 li distant, was very bad, had no


WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN
127
stabling on it (this was not true), and we must go round by
Kap-san, distant from Chang-jin between 270 and 390 li,
according to the varying estimates. With a promise from
this civil old gentleman, whose name was Kwo-i-sung, to call
on us next day, we returned to our camp by the river, about
150 yards from the town, under a very fine walnut tree
measuring 3! feet in diameter five feet above the ground. Till
after eight we were besieged by curious sightseers, to whom
a white man was a rarity, and a tent a complete novelty. Mr.
Carles was here with our cook in 1884, but the people told
us no other white man had ever visited the place.
Next morning, at a little after seven, we heard the trumpets
and singing of the Yamen runners, and found the "pusa" was
coming to see us. As we were not dressed, we had to send him
a request that he would defer his visit to a little later in the
day. About 11 a.m. he came again in his state-chair, which
was covered with a leopard-skin, and sat down (with care) in
one of. our chairs in the tent. We gave him a cheroot, and
some whisky and water; both before and after drinking he
eructated long and loudly, in accordance with the code of
Korean etiquette. He promised to lend us 10,000 cash, on
the strength of the Foreign Office letter we had, by our giving
him I.O.U.'s to be paid through the Governor of the province
at Ham-heung, and also four ponies, but the latter he had
to get in from some distance, which would detain us till the


128 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
next day. Making the best of this delay, we then asked him
about game, and his answers ran as follows :—" Oh, yes! there
were tigers. One lived on the top of a mountain on the north
side of the river; yes, some of his hunters had seen it lately.
His hunters could not say when they had seen it, and could
not point out the place. He would give us men to beat for
the tigers. On second thoughts, we had better beat for deer, as
his hunters were afraid to encounter a tiger," &c. &c. His
suggestion to have a deer-drive in the afternoon delighted us,
in the absence of anything more exciting, and gratefully ac-
cepting it, we sent him off again, while we had our luncheon
in peace. What a drive it was! Outside the town we
were met by six hunters with " tiger-guns ;" one of whom had
a new one (there is a manufactory of these here), which he
tried then and there by firing across the river in the direction
of the town at a stone about a foot in diameter, which lay at
the water's edge at a distance of sixty yards, and, amidst excla-
mations of admiration of his skill, he hit the mark. The
"tiger-gun" consists of an iron tube bound by brass bands to
a kind of wooden stock, which is not really a stock, but merely
a sort of pistol-handle; there are no sights, and these weapons
are discharged by means of a flint-lock, and when firing may
be expected, the hunter keeps a slow match burning to ensure
ignition of the priming should the flint-lock fail to act, as it
frequently does. From the inferior quality of the powder, one


. WON-SAN TO CHANG-JIN r29
is not surprised at the natives being generally unskilful in the
use of firearms. "Tiger-guns" are so named, not because they
are intended to shoot tigers with—in fact, that is the last animal
the owners would wish to face—but because they are such
powerful weapons, the tiger in Korea being the emblem of
strength. One gun-stock had the brass base of a twelve-bore
Ely central-fire cartridge let into it as an ornament; the
bullet-pouch is often the skin of the head of a crane, the beak
being kept closed by a ring till a bullet is wanted.
Climbing a thousand feet up the mountain above the Chaug-
ge" road, we were posted some distance apart, and, after waiting
half-an-hour, we saw the Prefect come out in his chair and
take up a position to watch the sport in a fiehi in the valley
below. As I had seen quite fresh tracks of deer leading into
a large patch of thin wood between us and the town, we anti-
cipated at least the sight of an animal. Now began the
beating of a gong and the blowing of the Yamen trumpet in
the direction of the wood, and the two performers on these
instruments constituted the beaters, though they did not enter
the wood. After waiting two hours in vain, we were told
the drive was over, and we gladly returned home to dinner.
Thanks to the Prefect, our diet was quite varied here, and we
now did better in the way of food than at any other time of
our travels, though we always had enough to eat. Here is our
bill of fare for the 26th and 27th :—Breakfast: eggs, sausages
1


130 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
or grilled chicken, honey, jam, cocoa and milk, or coffee and
milk; luncheon: hard-boiled eggs, corned beef or grilled
chicken, honey, jam, lime-juice and water; dinner: soup, fresh
salmon, venison, preserved vegetables, roast pheasant (shot at
Teuk-sil-tong), poached eggs; whisky and water and tea before
we went to bed. The salmon had been caught in the Chang-
jin river and was perfectly fresh, which shows that this fish is
found on the west coast of Korea; although it was a red fish,
it was good eating by way of a change.
On Sunday morning, the Prefect having changed his mind
about the money, probably fearing that much of his 10,000
cash would be absorbed in passing through Ham-heung before
it reached him, sent us 10,600 cash for 20 yen, and Yeung
having changed 13 yen for 6730 cash, we were fairly well off.
The Prefect sent us a bottle of honey, but it was not so good
as what we had before; the only return we could make for his
presents was a bottle of brandy and five Manilla cheroots, which
he was pleased to accept.


CHAPTER VI.
CHANG-JIN TO K APS AN.
It rained so hard during Saturday night, and so gloomy was
it on Sunday morning, that we feared we should lose another
day; but about 10 a.m. it cleared up a bit, and we sent for
the ponies. Our disgust was great when, instead of the
fresh ponies for which we had been waiting, we found four
out of the five we had brought with us, and which we had
been told must go back to Chyong-phyong, and this after the
Prefect having said he had obtained three fresh ones for us
from the fields, and a fourth which he had to send 10 li for!
However, we got off at 11.15 A-M-> and then found we had
to go back as far as Tjen-b-su before branching off to Kap-san.
In by no means good tempers we pursued our way back to
Teuk-sil-tong, where we encamped for the night. Our hunter
friend met us, and made himself useful in many ways. I can
hardly think the 100 cash and four drams of powder which we
had given him before was the only reason for his civility,
so I put it down in a great measure to the national good-
temper. He told us a large black bear had been seen on the


i32 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
hill across the river north-west of the village on the night
of the 25th, and the men watching the crops there had had
some difficulty in driving it away with fires and torches. We
saw many tracks of wild pig here, and were told they were
a great nuisance amougst the crops.
Once more saying farewell to Teuk-sil-tong, we arrived
at Tjen-o-su between 9 and 10 a.m. on September 28, having
seen many wild duck, widgeon, and wood-pigeons on the way,
and after a meal of hard-boiled eggs and venison, we were
ferried over the river, and travelled north-east up one of its
small tributaries till we came to the Memel-ryong (pass),
passing a small inn 20 li from Tjen-o-su. Just by the ferry
there was a magnificent poplar, 6i feet in diameter at a height
of five feet from the ground, standing solitary in the valley.
While waiting for our ponies to catch us up, we met an old
man fishing for trout, who, with his primitive tackle, had killed
three weighing about lbs. When, by signs, we asked to see
his catch, he was at first much alarmed, thinking we wanted
to take them from him, but our friendly manner, I suppose,
dispersed his fears, and he exhibited the fish with some pride.
Before reaching the pass we met a marriage procession,
apparently the newly-married couple going to the house of
the bridegroom's father; the bride, dressed in bright coloured
silks with brilliantly painted face, was carried in a chair, while
her friend or bride's-maid, almost equally gorgeously attired,


I





I'M?


CHANG-JIN TO K APS AN 133
bestrode a miserable pony; about twenty Koreans in clean
white suits of Manchester cotton escorted them.
As we began to ascend the pass, we got into the forest
again, though the greater part of it had been burnt at no very
remote date, but there were still uninjured some large Scotch firs
and beeches two to three feet in diameter; the rest of the forest
was a young growth of pines, birch, beech, black alder, poplar,
and a few maples. Some of the fallen trunks, which, rotting
away, covered the mountain-side in hundreds, were of very
great size. At the top of the pass, 5300 feet above the sea,
there was a small joss-house, and our atttendants duly paid
reverence to the Spirit of the Mountain, some by bowing, some
by spitting. The silence in this elevated forest was only
broken by the rustling of the cheeky little squirrels, who
showed no fear of us at all. Up here large quantities of stag's-
horn moss carpeted the ground. The road down the east side,
through what had once been a fine forest, but was now chiefly
bare, charred poles, and young growth five years old, was quite
horrible,; it was composed of boulders piled one on top of
another, and the whole partially submerged in bog. Wher-
ever possible, a deviation from the path (!) into the forest was
made, but the spongy soil, fallen trees, and interlacing branches
did not often allow the baggage-animals to do this, and we
hurried on to avoid seeing, as we expected, the destruction of
our property by the falling of the ponies. Our relief was great


i34 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
when, at the end of the march, no damage was reported. The
sureness of foot of a Korean pony is something marvellous.
Assisting at the birth of a tiny rivulet at a height of 5000
feet, we followed it E.S.E. down a narrow stony valley, till,
about 5 p.m., we reached Sul-mul, at its junction with a larger
stream called the Sha-phyong, flowing to the north-east, hav-
ing on our way passed another small inn at the foot of the
pass, 40 li from Tjen-o-su. Sul-mul is quite a small place of
eight houses, and we had some difficulty in finding a level
place for the tent, but at last we occupied the threshing-floor
of the village. "Sul" means wine, and "mul" means water,
but I do not imagine these meanings were attached to the
name of the village. The wind was from the north, and very
cold, which accounted, I expect, for a large fire lighted by our
servants outside the tent, though they said it was to frighten
away the tigers; to further keep out the cold they piled oat-
sheaves round the tent.
After leaving the Ham-heung plain, the cultivation of rice
had ceased, and at these altitudes beans, barley, oats, millet,
and potatoes of poor quality were the chief products of the
stony fields; chillies and pumpkins were in profusion, and
occasionally we saw su-su and tobacco.
The thermometer marked 410 when we started at 6 a.m.
next morning, and before we had time to get warm by walk-
ing, we had to be ferried over the river, 2 li farther on;


I











CHANG-JIN TO KAP-SAN
135
this operation, as the ferry-boat was composed simply of two
dug-outs tied together, involved unloading the ponies and a
delay of twenty-five minutes. Whilst waiting on the other
side for the ponies, an old Korean cross-questioned us as to
our business, thinking we were Chinamen, as no "white man"
had ever been this way. He was much struck with our short
wooden pipes, out of which he wanted a whiff, but the sight of
his mouth and its green fangs made us obdurate. However,
he told us the river Sha-phyong, which now ran north, joined
the Yalu, or Amnok, as the Koreans call it. We slowly as-
cended the bank of a small stream to the north-east till we
got to another pass, the Sorin-ryong, which was crossed at
10 a.m. On the summit, 5770 feet above sea-level, was
another small joss-house, also a wooden post showing that
here was the boundary of the Kap-san district. One or two of
our "mapus" deposited a cash each in the joss-house, and we
were told that any offering was sufficient to appease the Spirit
of the Mountain—a piece of rag, or even a stone. All the
offerings can be taken by passers-by, and generally small boys
from the nearest house visit the shrine occasionally to see if
there is anything to pick up. Here again we found abundant
traces of forest fires, for the mountain-sides looked quite
melancholy, all bristling with the white and black skeletons
of trees.
After admiring a very fine solar halo, we went down 900


136 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
feet by a bad path to Tong-kol-at, a village of ten houses,
where we halted two hours for luncheon. G.-A. and I started
off again at 3 P.M., and walked till 4.30 p.m. along an exceed-
ingly rough path in the Ho-chhon river valley, which here
and there became wide enough for a small field of oats or
potatoes. We then sat down, and had to wait forty minutes
for the ponies, the lazy "mapus" having made a midday halt
of 3! hours; but the lateness of the hour at which they got
in, and their fright in travelling after dark, formed a fitting
punishment for them. Clambering along the mountain-side,
at times 50 to 100 feet above the stream, with a perpen-
dicular cliff above and below us, and a narrow slippery path
beneath our feet, we held on until 6.30 p.m., when we came
to a clearing with a couple of huts, which looked so un-
inviting, and were besides destitute of stabling, that we
decided to push on to a better place, which the inmates of
the wretched shanties told us was 7 li farther. When we
had done this 7 li, we crossed the river by a rough bridge,
finding a couple of huts, but no stabling, and were told the
place we wanted was only 3 li farther. As it was now
quite dark, we got torches and walked on, leaving the soldier
to procure more torches and bring on the baggage-ponies
when they came up. Stumbling over rocks and clambering
along the river-bank, we went on and on, the 3 li lengthening
into 10, until, at 7.30 p.m., we got to Sesidong. The instant


CHANG-JIN TO K A PS AN 137
we lighted on this place, our guide with the torch bolted
home, for fear we should chastise him for telling us lies about
the distance. We were glad to get into a house and sit by
the fire in the smoky kitchen till the others came in about
an hour later. A solemn-faced old man sat staring at us,
but nothing could rouse him from his stolid apathy; two
women, one of them young with a finely developed figure,
a girl of six and a baby, completed the party. The old man
gave us his room, but there being no door between it and
the kitchen, the smells were pretty bad, and the prying eyes
of men, women, and children rather embarrassing; fleas and
bugs. too were plentiful. In small hamlets like this, the
kitchen is also the stable, and the inmates of the house, as well
as the " mapus," sleep on the " kang " in the kitchen. Slumber
is rather disturbed by the jabbering, spitting, coughing, &c,
which goes on for hours, and by the stamping, kicking,
squealing, and fighting of the ponies.
A Korean is destitute of a pocket-handkerchief, even a
paper one, and is not troubled by many scruples on the score
of decency or modesty; consequently the various gaseous
and more solid excreta of the human animal of both sexes
are parted with in the most convenient and degage manner
possible.
Snakes appear to be plentiful, for I had killed a brown
adder every day since leaving Chyong-phyong. The natives


i4o KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
none in the post-house. Past a small hamlet of six or seven
houses, where the " mapus " wanted to stop for luncheon instead
of going straight to Kap-san, we hurried on till, at 11 a.m., we
again struck the Ho-chhon. Along this stream, now 40 to
80 yards broad, we pursued our way on a road at times posi-
tively good, but mostly infamously bad, till, after climbing 200
feet over a projectiug cliff, we came to a ferry which trans-
ported us to the right bank. Three li farther on, between the
river and a small village, was a grove of very fine poplar and
willow-trees, which were of course in process of destruction
for firewood.
On the other side of a cliff, which, jutting out into the
stream, formed a small bay, while the full force of the current
striking against it caused a whirlpool in midstream, the valley
opened out on both banks; the ground at the foot of the
mountains, sloping at an angle of 50 for about a mile on each
bank, was chiefly volcanic dust, with many blocks of lava and
tuff. The mountains shutting in the valley were of granite
and liberally sprinkled with blocks of lava. Close to Kap-san,
which we reached at 3 p.m., the road ran through a thick
deposit of ironstone by the river-side. We had sent on our
soldier, and he got us put up at an official building, a single-
roomed house, in which lived one of the Yamen secretaries.
By the side of this, raised two feet above the ground on a
platform of lava blocks, was an open shed, which appeared to


CHANG-JIN TO KAP-SAN 141
be a storeroom for spears, pikes, &c, used in processions.
We did not venture to pitch the tent, owing to the curiosity of
the inhabitants; so we accepted the use of the house, which
was very dirty and- swarming with bugs. The inhabitants
came in shoals to gaze at us, and we were forced to close both
doors, though the heat of the sun and the "kang" made the
room suffocatingly hot.
About five o'clock, having previously exchanged cards
with the Prefect, we proceeded to call on him, and this time
the big gates were not opened for us. He received us, seated
on a black wood stool, over which was thrown a leopard-skin;
for G.-A., a chair of black wood was produced, and a stool for
me. Beneath each of our seats was a leopard-skin, one a
magnificent specimen in the way of winter fur, except that it
was rather spoilt by the paws, ears, and whiskers being cut
off, and the face trimmed round. The Prefect, in response
to our requests for ponies and copper cash, promised the
former, but declined to give us any of the latter. As our
"mapus " would not take Japanese yen, and we owed them over
20,000 cash, besides having to pay our way to Po-chon and back,
it was absolutely necessary for us to get cash. The exchange
for yen in the town we found to be 450 cash, and for sycee
475 cash to the dollar or yen; but as this was too much of a
"squeeze," we sent Yeung after dinner to the Prefect with
Mr. Woo's "shoe," with a request that he would kindly


i42 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
endeavour to sell it for us at a better price, otherwise we could
not pay anybody or for anything. Yeung returned with the
welcome news that the Prefect would get a reasonable price
for us, but that he himself had no money, as he had only been
a year in the place, and in that time he had rebuilt the city
wall and part of the Yamen, which had exhausted his re-
sources. The unusually neat appearance of the city wall bore
out his statement.
Kap-san appeared to be miserably poor, with 300 or 400
houses inhabited, but others deserted and in ruins; the town
was much cleaner than Soul, and the whitewashed wall sur-
rounding it gave it quite a smart appearance. The district
round about is full of minerals of various kinds, gold, silver,
lead, and copper; but the appliances for working the mines
are so primitive and clumsy that only a bare living can be
obtained by the miners, the cost of transport to the coast
further handicapping any mineral trade.
About ten o'clock next morning the Prefect came to call,
and as he crossed the threshold his satellites shouted some-
thing, no doubt laudatory of his "Pusaship," then, following
his example of kicking off his shoes, they proceeded to fill the
room. We gave him a cheroot, but the poor man had some-
thing wrong with his internal arrangements, and, after a puff
or two, handed it to an attendant to be kept for a future and
more auspicious occasion; he did not, however, object to a














CHAPTER VII.
KAP-SAN TO PO-CHON.
We decided to lighten our loads and leave some things in the
magistrate's charge, thereby being able to get on with nine
ponies, of which only two were hired. Owing to the civility
of the Prefect, we got 41,000 cash for the " sycee," or a rate of
cash to the dollar, and we were enabled to get away by
2.30 p.m., accompanied by a soldier of Kap-san, who was to
act as guide, the Tok-won warrior leaving us here without
any warning, because, as we afterwards found out, he did not
get on with our rascally servants.
A short way from Kap-san we for the first time came upon
a fenced-in graveyard, having some carved images surround-
ing the grave; in this district too we saw several tiger-traps,
but all were falling to pieces, the poverty of the inhabitants
probably preventing them from risking a live bait. For two
hours we kept along the Ho-chhon river in a N.N.W.
direction, till it trended W.N.W., when we left it to follow up
a tributary coming from the north-east. By 6 p.m. we got to
Tong-in, and had to put up in a tiny hot and stinking room,
'44


146 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
pass, where there was a cluster of huts, down the valley
towards Un-chong was a peculiar one, the hillsides being
cultivated wherever the soil would stand without slipping,
and the chessboard appearance made it look like a distant
bird's-eye view of the Midlands of England.
Our course was now north-east along a stream, which 15 li
farther on turned north-west to join the Ho-chhon river. Arriv-
ing at Un-chong at 11 a.m., the head-man of the village, who also
hailed from Soiil, invited us to his house and to dinner, but
the latter part of his invitation we refused. Two villainous-look-
ing Chinamen, probably smugglers of gold over the northern
border, came in and watched us while we ate our luncheon.
There are about thirty Chinamen here, the biggest black-
guards possible in appearance, and we understood they were
soldiers discharged from the Manchurian army and now
getting a scanty living by trading, gold-digging, and smug-
gling. Some of these gentry in 1890 robbed and murdered
a Korean, and Mr. Woo had to come up here, and, after in-
vestigation, deported about twenty of them. The head-man
had a silver-handled knife and fork in a silver case of Ham-
heung workmanship, which he carried slung to his girdle,
and in a little bag in his purse he had five or six ounces
of gold, probably obtained from the washings here, though
he denied having obtained any of it in the district. He
produced some samshu, a muddy fluid, which smelt and



, * ■ ■


149
for half of it was a corduroy track. It was a fine sight to
look back on our long line of torches winding through the
silent forest. Our guides, on nearing every settler's house,
uttered loud and prolonged shouts of " Hurrl iri onera—bring
lights here," as a warning to bring out more torches. These
are of birch-bark, or a fir pole beaten and split like a very
coarse birch broom, and are a fruitful source of forest fires.

SETTLER-S HUT NEAR UN-CHONG.
It is a regular custom of the country for parties travelling at
night to requisition torches from every hamlet and village
passed, and the inhabitants light one's path without any
thought of remuneration. We tried at first to pay for this
service, but found it impossible, as the torch-bearers disappeared
into the darkness the instant fresh lights appeared. We


150 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
stopped for a few minutes to collect the party in what must
once have been a frontier-post (judging from its surrounding
parapet and official gate), containing a couple of huts occupied
by some wicked-looking Chinamen, who absolutely declined to
help us in any way. In former days these little forts were
erected all along the Chinese frontier, but are now in ruins.
It was amusing to see these Chinamen taking stock of the
interpreter, and trying to make out what he was, for, unlike
the cook, he did not greet them kindly.
At Po-chon we again put up in the head-man-s house, which
contained two rooms and a kitchen. After dining at 11 p.m.,
and asking for bearers to carry our impedimenta to the "White
Mountains," we were very glad to get to bed by midnight. The
head-man asked our pel-mission to leave his boxes in one of
our rooms, to which of course we agreed. These boxes were
of large size, of some dark red wood, bound and ornamented
with quaint brass fittings. I cast longing eyes on some of the
furniture of the houses we visited, for the chests were very old
and quaint, while there were some curious cabinets, which
looked as if they might be any age. In Soul they make a
good deal of brass-mounted furniture of this description, which,
with small low tables on which they place the dishes contain-
ing their food, satisfies the modest wants of a Korean, who
sleeps on the floor and squats on his heels at other times.
Next day, being Sunday, we felt must be a day of rest, so


K A PS AN TO PO-CHON 151
we got up late, and leisurely divided and packed our stores,
for G.-A. and I had to part here. Owing to the harvest,
which was now in full swing, we could not get more than six
bearers, while we wanted nine or ten for the pair of us, as
every scrap of food had to be carried on men's backs; where-
fore I decided to return to the coast, as I had to go to Japan

HUNTER AND GUIDES, PO-CHON.
on my way back to Hong-Kong, whither 1 had pledged myself
to the General to return as soon as possible.
Po-chon is a little bit of a place of twelve houses, partly on
an island formed by the debris brought down by the river,
which here runs west and falls into the Yalu at Ka-rim. The
tops of the hills about are all on the same level, 4000 feet


152 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
above the sea, and ages ago the "White Mountain" must
have poured forth a tremendous flood of lava in a south and
south-west direction; the rivers have gradually worked out
in this deposit valleys to the depth of about i000 feet, and
I saw hardly any boulders or stones except of lava, tuff, or
pumice.
After luncheon we ascended by a steep path the hill to the
north of the village; near the top was a long deer-fence, about
four feet high, in which at intervals were openings, each
having a noose carefully set to catch the animals attracted to
the enclosure by a patch of beans therein. Having outstripped
G.-A., I came upon a fallow hind, which got up about five
yards from me, but it only went ten yards and then stopped
to gaze at me, going on feeding as I remained still, though
evidently very suspicious of me. As I had no gun, after
watching the animal for ten minutes, I went on across the
flat top of the hill, about 500 yards broad, and from the
northern edge we could see the "White Mountain." Where
we stood was as nearly as possible 4000 feet above the sea,
and a careful observation with a clinometer showed that all
the ridges to the north, west, and south-west were about on
the same level; and assuming the distance to the "White
Mountain" to be thirty-three miles, as we made it out to be,
the height of the mountain came to about 8600 feet (G.-A.
subsequently with an aneroid made it about 8900 feet).





KAP-SAN TO PO CHON 153
Its jagged peaks, gleaming white for the most part, though
here and there streaked with black, towered far above any-
thing in view from north-west to north-east. Below the
peaks we could see a huge black lava cliff seamed with water-
courses, which appeared to fall vertically into a black chasm
beneath; between us and the " Paik-tu-san" was apparently a
plain, covered with small larches, but we knew there must be
numerous valleys in it, worn by the many feeders of the Yalu.
The white appearance of the mountain, as we could see
through a telescope, did not arise from snow, but was caused
by pumice-stone and loose ashes. A thousand feet below us
was the valley of the Yalu, or Amnok, as the Koreans name
it, winding amidst the lava hills; here and there on the
Manchurian side was a Chinaman's house in a clearing of the
forest, surrounded by a high fence and piles of lumber, the
cutting of which for floating down the river forms one means
of livelihood, while smuggling and hunting help to support
life. There is a good deal of trade across the northern border
into Chinese and Russian Manchuria in the way of smuggled
gold, but it is impossible to estimate its amount.
We returned to Po-chon with the intelligence that there was
no snow on the "White Mountain," but were not believed, as
it is a fixed conviction, embedded in the mind of every Korean,
and sanctified by the tradition of- ages, that the mountain is
always covered with snow. The interpreter and Yeung were


154 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
evidently in a desperate fright at going to the mountain,
accounting for it by saying there was no joss-house on the
top, and that although once upon a time a Korean did get to
the top, yet the Spirit was so offended at his presumption, that
he caused his neck (other accounts say his leg) to grow a yard
longer! Yeung gave me a farewell letter to his wife to take
down-country, thinking his last days were come, and his bones
would be left on the "White Mountain." This letter I sent
on to Mr. Stripling at Soiil from Won-san, but I never heard
if Mrs. Yeung received it.
A close cross-examination of the villagers produced nothing
but a denial of any tigers being found near here, though Mr.
Campbell in 1889 was told by a Chinese hunter just across
the Yalu that there were a great many; the people owned to
bears, deer, and pheasants, but of tigers and leopards they
denied having any knowledge, though they admitted their
existence in the forests nearer to the Paik-tu-san; and in
this they were correct, for G.-A. found numerous fresh tracks
of tigers on his way to and from the "White Mountain."
In questioning the natives, we found that Yeung, a Soul-
bred man, had some difficulty in making himself understood
here, where the dialect differed very much from that in use in
the south, even to our uneducated ears. The word used for
tiger hitherto had been "ho-rangi; " here this was not under-
stood, as the word employed was "poom." The natives


156 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
As these were by far the ugliest presentments of the human
countenance we had yet seen, we photographed one of them;
the inscription showed it to be the 1330th li from Soul, which,
vid Puk-chong and Ham-heung, is fairly correct, though by the
way we had come it was the 1617th. This photograph, like
nearly all we took, turned out a failure. At Ka-rim we were
kept waiting three-quarters of an hour, while G.-A.'s bearers
bought, with much difficulty and at great expense, some little
packets of rice, which they had been unable to procure at
Po-chbn. This rice was to be boiled on the "White Moun-
tain " to propitiate the evil spirits who would come, and, after
smelling the savoury odour of the mess, leave the adventurous
party to eat their rice in peace. Whether our cook, whom I
was taking down-country with me, could not get a sufficient
price for it, or whether it was pure "cussedness" in not
owning up to its possessiou, I do not know, but all the time
he had some rice which he had brought from Won-san; for
that very evening he gave me some excellent curried chicken
and rice for dinner. On getting under way again, we crossed
the Yalu in a dug-out, and found ourselves in Chinese Man-
churia. Here G.-A. and I parted, much to my regret, as I had
attained neither object of my journey—a visit to the White
Mountain or tiger-shooting—but we had wasted so much time
in one way and another that we had little hope of G.-A.
getting to the mountain, as he was six days later than Mr.


KA PS AN TO PO-CHON 157
Campbell, who had been stopped by snow in his ascent in
1889, and by the feigned sickness of his guide.
Crossing back into Korea with the Kap-san soldier, I
climbed up the face of the mountain we had been on the day
before, hoping to get a shot at deer, of which the tracks were
plentiful. It was a hot and stiff climb over lava boulders and
fallen trees, and once when clinging to the face of the cliff
with one hand on the dead leaves, a brown adder glided out
from beneath it; unluckily the soldier was carrying my gun,
so the poisonous reptile escaped. Of course I saw no game
on the top, but had a very fine view of the Paik-tu-san.
Athough there had been five or six degrees of frost the
previous night, there was no snow on the mountain, which
so far augured well for the success of G.-A.'s expedition,
though much might happen in the six days his journey thither
was expected to occupy. I spent the afternoon in packing the
stores, which the head-man had agreed to look after for G.-A.,
and in getting ready for an early start the next day, as I wanted
to get back to Won-san as quickly as possible.


CHAPTEE VIII.
THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN."
The little farm-house in which we stopped at Po-chon was
most picturesquely placed on the north side of the stream;
it was a quiet spot, not to say retired, and the inhabitants
must lead very quiet lives. Their only little excitement
during the year is a visit from a man-eating tiger, or when
the droves of cattle accompanied by their drivers periodically
pass through on their way to China or Wladivostock; on
these latter occasions, I understand, the place is en f-Ste,
and as much wine is drunk as whisky is at an Irish
wake.
In making preparations for the ascent of the "Paik-tu-
san" or "White Mountain," I found that no longer could the
faithful but ugly pony be used for transport work; the coolie
took his place, and I had to walk, a slower but decidedly safer
means of progression. Alas! only six coolies could be found,
owing to the harvest having to be gathered in, and this
number being far too few for us both, very much against my
wish, my travelling companion, Cavendish, decided not to


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 159
accompany me. I also learnt that there were two ways to
the mountain, and that it was 200 miles high; the route
on the left bank of the Amnok or Yalu was that traversed
by Mr. Campbell in his attempt on the mountain in 1889;
accordingly I decided to take the one on the right bank.
When we started from Po-chon on October 5th, my party

THE AMNOK OR YALU, NEAR THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN."
formed a motley crew, the coolies dressed in deer-skin breeches
and coats, with conical felt hats with broad brims, my Korean
interpreter (Yeuug) in a long flowing coat, which had at one
time been white, and the ordinary horse-hair Korean hat—
he never could be induced to put on the more useful country-
garb, he was far too great a town-swell for that! I myself


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 161
These Chinese are from the province of Shan-tung, and speak
with that peculiar brogue, akin somewhat to the Irish, for which
they are noted; they are a slovenly, diity, cut-throat-looking
lot of blackguards, and how they come to be so far from their
own province I do not know. Some say they are discharged
soldiers, and others that they are bad characters banished to
the basin of the Amnok instead of to that of the A moor.
They occupy themselves in felling the magnificent trees
which abound on both banks, Korean and Chinese, of the
Amnok, although they have no right to do so on the Korean
side. Notwithstanding these trees being property appertaining
to the Korean king, the authorities of that country are very
loath to enforce any powers they may have against these
plunderers, for fear of giving offence to their suzerain lord,
the Emperor of China. Hence, far below Po-chon, in Korea
itself, one finds Chinamen felling trees, which they have no
right to touch, and this leads to much bad feeling, and not
unfrequently to bloodshed. The trees thus felled, whether
on the right bank or the wrong, are made into rafts and
floated down to the mouth of the river, whence they find
their way to various parts of China.
A few miles beyond this Chinese hut our path suddenly
turned due north up the slope of the hill, and we found
ourselves in the forest which extends all the way to the
White Mountain and for miles beyond it. The moment we
L


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 163
no streams to be met with, so we had to content ourselves with
burying a tin can in the moss and letting the water (for the
ground was very boggy) overflow the edges. Trees were soon
felled, and a large fire fifteen yards in length made up: the
cold being intense, we much wanted a blaze. For food I had
nothing but Liebig and brandy, except for weevilly biscuits
and what game I shot. I was kind enough to offer the biscuits
to my Koreans, but they politely refused to have anything to
do with them; as I could not eat them myself, I threw them
away, and had to fall back on] boiled millet (the only food \y
carried by the coolies). On this stuff I subsisted for seven-
teen days, an experience I do not want to again go through.
Before, however, we could sit down to our magnificent
repast, the spirit whose domains we were invading had to be
propitiated; for this purpose the rice had been brought. A
miserable little pinch was cooked, spread out on the trunk
of a fallen tree, and allowed to remain there for a quarter
of an hour or so, until half cold; my men in the meantime
(though professed Buddhists) standing in front, muttering,
shaking their hands in Chinese fashion, and now and then
expectorating. Their incantations finished, the rice was
brought back to the fireside and solemnly eaten. They ex-
plained to me that the Spirit being such, could not eat rice,
and only required the smell, so there could be no harm in their
consuming this tiny luxury.


i66 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
exhilarating. The sun was shining brightly, and not a cloud
in the sky, though the wind was cold and piercing, and above
all, the Paik-tu-san was in sight.
I was rather disappointed with it, for it looked so long, and
without any corresponding height to carry off its length. It
appeared so close that I fancied we might reach it by the next
day at least; but 1 was very grievously mistaken, for now our
troubles began. Hitherto we had been following a path used
by cattle-drovers in taking their beasts to market in Manchuria
from the Korean side, and we had progressed in the forest so
far along this route that we were now actually abreast of the
mountain on its west side; but before we could reach it we
had to cross three ranges and three valleys—no mean under-
taking without a path of any kind. My coolies were most
unwilling to tread the sacred ground of Paik-tu-san, as it is
considered to. be unlucky, not to say dangerous. The natives
firmly believe that dire punishment befalls those who intrude
on the seclusion of the resident Spirit; even my highly edu-
cated interpreter (Yeung) was not above this foolish supersti-
tion. The coolies lost their way, or at least said they had, and
begged me to return. "What more is wanted?" said they;
"you have seen the mountain, and surely that is enough; you
cannot possibly want to get to the very top."
Things very nearly came to a dead-lock, as they continued
to press me to return, and dinned it into my ears that they


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 167
had lost their way. However, one could not admit that the
way was lost when our goal was absolutely in sight, and at no
very great distance in a straight line.
After a time one of the men vouchsafed the remark that he
knew of a sable-trapper in the vicinity, who might put us on
our way. Accordingly he was sent in search of him, and, after
about three hours, he and his friend the trapper made their
appearance. I must say I was very much relieved, for certainly
this man must be able to direct us.
We now made straight for the mountain, first, of course,
descending to a valley where the trapper lived. The little
valley he took us to was surrounded by hills, nearly 2000 feet
above the hut, and formed a triangle. It reminded me some-
what of the description of the Hollance in "Robbery under
Arms," it being quite fiat, about ten acres in extent, and inter-
sected by streams. There was, however, an absence of animal
life which was most depressing. Perhaps the only living
things to be found, after search, were woodpeckers, beavers,
and sables, with a few pig and a bear or two, and now and
then in the winter a tiger or a leopard.
Night was fast falling when we arrived at the trapper's
little hut, but before anything could be done, the rice trick,
with the same solemnity as before, had to be performed, for
we were now under the special sway of the divinity of the
Paik-tu-san. To further propitiate him, I was asked as a


168 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
special favour, in a hardly audible whisper, to discharge a
shot in the air. I need hardly say I was rather annoyed
with the day's proceedings, and above all at this ridiculous
proposition from a number of grown men. It was the case of
the importunate widow, however, repeated for the millionth

KOREAN BEARERS.
time; so I discharged, not one, but both barrels in the air,
after which we had our millet and went to bed.
The following day our route lay along the edge of a
stream, of which the banks were fully 200 feet high. There
was now no chance of our missing the way, as we took the
trapper with us, leaving behind my oldest coolie in the
solitary little hut to look after the traps in the owner's


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 169
absence. All the coolies were fine stalwart fellows, but the
hard work and bad food had told on them much. I therefore
thought it advisable to leave behind the one most exhausted,
so that he would be ready for work on my return journey.
Poor old fellow! one night after arriving in camp, he was
too exhausted to eat his millet, so I persuaded him to have
a glass of brandy. Instead of drinking off, as most people
(Europeans at least) would have done, he handed the mug
round to all his fellow-coolies, each taking a sip, which left
not very much for him. However, little as it was, it did
him good, I was glad to see. His fellows were very good
to him, carrying in turn his load in addition to their own,
whenever he got fatigued; he also was never expected to
cut down the dead trees for firewood; his business was to
wash our millet and make the fire. I do not think I ever
met better-natured men or more hard-working.
It was not always possible to see the stream we were
following, but now and then, where the banks did not over-
hang, one could catch a glimpse of a roaring torrent, leaping
over and circling round enormous boulders, which formed its
bed, and carrying along on its current quantities of timber.
My trapper told me this stream was a tributary of the
Amnok; but this it could hardly be, as we were now on the
northern slopes of the Chang-pai mountains, which in this
part drain into the Sungari, to the north.


170 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Landslips into the stream must be of daily occurrence,
for many fractures in the soft volcanic soil looked quite
fresh. Moreover, on more than one occasion I saw a tree or
two with a quantity of earth gracefully glide down the bank
and disappear in the water beneath. Numbers of trees which
had only slipped a short way were to be seen standing on
these precipitous banks in drunken-looking attitudes, and it
was a marvel how they managed to stick there. The trees
at this elevation, 6600 feet, were stunted in their growth, but
towards evening we encamped at 400 feet lower. The weather
had become intensely cold; it froze hard day and night, and
a piercing wind was always blowing from the north-west; so
much so, that none of us slept at night as we lay huddled
round the fire, first warming one side and then the other.
Another day's travelling, and we found ourselves actually
on the mountain we had come so far to ascend. During the
day we met an ancient Korean trapper, with a flowing white
beard and long grey hair. He presented a most uncouth
appearance as he approached us with a hearty laugh, which
made one start, so incongruous did it appear amidst these
silent mountains, where no sound but the soughing of the
wind through the tree-tops or the trickling of water far down
below was to be heard. This old man kept my retainers all
laughing for some time at his anecdotes, and eventually my
aristocratic friend, Yeung, from the capital, began to chaff him


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 171
as being a countryman. However, be got the worst of it; for,
quite in a friendly way of course, the old trapper set upon him
with his stick and trounced him right royally, both laughing
all the while, but I could see that Yeung did not like it at all.
I was delighted, for I had long wished something of the sort
would happen, as all Koreans from Soul are most bumptious

CHINESE HUNTER-S LODGE.
and overbearing in their dealings with their less fortunate
countrymen.
A constant ascent all day brought us at nightfall to a
plateau 6200 feet above the sea, along which we walked for
some miles through pleasant groves and very high grass, of
which the greater part was now, being late autumn, lying on
the ground. About 6 p.m. the solitary hut which belongs to a


174 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
part, if it ever existed, having been blown out long ago. The
crater thus made is now full of water, and forms a large lake
some dozen miles in circumference and nearly circular in shape.
Arrived between two of the twenty or more peaks which stud
the circumference, one unexpectedly finds oneself in presence

THE LAKE ON THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN."
of this lake; so suddenly does it come into view, that one is
quite startled.
It was a striking scene; the absolute stillness and intense
blueness of the lake contrasted strongly with the hurricane
raging about me and the grey and white slopes beneath me.
The stillness of the surface was accounted for by the protection
afforded by the peaks, for the lake lay 250 or 300 feet below


176 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
that chastisement which he so richly deserved for all his lies,
for having quarrelled with all my coolies, and on our way up
to Po-chon driven away without our knowledge, and the poor
man's douceur, a Yamen runner or "soldier" kindly lent to us
by the Prefect of Won-san. T accordingly did so, the trapper
looking on griuning. Yeung served me much better after this,
though, like all interpreters in China and Korea, he could not
help lying.
They resent being asked questions very much, and will give
any reply, if they think one will believe it, so that they need
not bother themselves to ask for the required information.
On one occasion I asked him the name of a mountain close to
our path, and he replied at once with a name out of his own
head. I asked him how he happened to know, never having
been in the locality before: his only reply was, "Why do
foreigners always ask the name of this place and that moun-
tain? What good can it do? There is the place, and there
is the mountain: what more do they want?" It was the
same with regard to the two hideous li-posts outside Kirin;
they stood ten feet in height; the heads were roughly but
ludicrously carved, and had real hair, eyebrows, and moustache
stuck on with gum; the noses were painted red, and the
eyes had a bloodshot appearance. They were quite new, and
had lately been consecrated with "wine," for the splashes were
still to be seen on the yellow wood. Yeung told me they


THE ASCENT OF THE ' WHITE MOUNTAIN" 177
were "joss-pidgin," i.e., sacred, and the inscription showed this
was the 1330th li from Soul, but he could not translate more
of it than that. Why they should have been put there, I could
not understand, unless to serve as an imaginary gateway from
one district to another. In passing from one province to
another, one always finds a gateway, generally consisting of
two poles and a crossbar, like a "torii," but there is no gate,
and as often as not the road passes some yards off on one side
or the other. However, Yeung was equal to the occasion, and
his ready lie was, that whenever an official of high rank
changed his name, he put up one of these gateways as an
offering to the particular spirit of that region. This I know to
be an absolute falsehood. My Chinese interpreter was just the
same, I am sure, but as he could not talk English nor I Chinese,
I cannot say I actually convicted him of lying.
To resume my story, just after reaching the hut, the sky
became overcast, and in a short time down came the snow. It
was fortunate that it had held off so long, for had it come on
twenty-four hours sooner, I could not have made the ascent. As
it was, it had all along been touch and go, for we started on
our expedition much too late in the year, but this we did not
know until we arrived in Korea; it was the snow which
stopped Mr. Campbell in 1889, and he was six days earlier
than I was.
It had been my intention, after having visited the " White
M


THE ASCENT OF THE "WHITE MOUNTAIN" 179
I determined to remain at Po-chon for a few days to recruit
a little, and until ponies could be procured from Un-chong,
the nearest posting establishment. What an abomination a
tinned sausage is, or even tinned beef, unless one has gone
without meat of any sort for a fortnight.
I amused myself here by fishing for trout with a native
angler. His rod was most primitive, simply a fairly straight
stick with about ten feet of gut fastened to the end, and an
artificial fly was attached. I examined this curiosity intently,
whereupon the owner proceeded to produce a naked hook
from some fold of his garments, plucked out some hair from
his deer-skin coat, placed it round the hook, tied it with
some fine gut, and the fly was made. The hook I learnt,
through my interpreter Yeung, the fisherman made himself.
This was evidently untrue, for it was finished and japanned,
and he probably got them through Wladivostock or Won-san.
After a couple of hours' fishing we had killed over forty small
trout between us, averaging under half-a-pound each, but the
Korean landed the major portion. I had been told that
foreign flies were no good in Korea, and they certainly do not
seem to be so effective as the native monstrosities. The native
fly I tried, but could do nothing with it, and had to give it up.
After a few days' rest, and my ponies having arrived, I
started for Kap-san. My coolies came to see me off, bring-
ing eggs and honey as presents. I really hardly knew them,


i8o KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
they looked so fresh and clean in their quaint Korean hats
and long-flowing, cotton-quilted white coats; moreover, they
had washed, and were no longer brown, but white.
The Northern Koreans are not the same race, I am certain,
as the Southern, for they are not the same idle, good-for-
nothing set, but, on the contrary, are as hard-working and
industrious as possible. Besides this, from Kap-san to the
northern border the natives have long features, with aquiline
noses, and the almond-shaped eye and high cheek-bone so
noticeable in Korea farther south, are almost entirely absent;
as might be expected, the dialect differs also in a marked
degree.
I took it very easy on my journey to the coast, only
doing half marches, which annoyed Yeung very much, as he
was in great haste to get back to Soul, to be present at his
sister's wedding; at least, so he said. The truth was, I found
out afterwards, that having used our names, without our
sanction, to impress transport for himself on the journey up,
he feared the authorities at Won-san would be on the look-
out for him, and if they caught him, they would doubtless
"paddle" him, a process very repugnant to the feelings of
a self-respecting Korean. It consists in laying the culprit
on his face and administering chastisement with a very long
and broad flat stick to the place where his nether garment
should be, but is not on these occasions.





6> * % t





184 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
appreciate how strikingly this mountain stands out above its
surroundings. As far as the eye could reach on this brilliant
sunny day, from north-west to north-east (the forest limiting
my angle of vision to this quadrant), this extinct volcano
towered in solitary grandeur 4700 feet above everything else,
and the rest of the country appeared an unbroken pine-clad
plain, though I knew that the many streams flowing north,
south, and east to form the Sungari, Yalu, and Tumen rivers
had worn deep valleys through the vast crust of volcanic
matter which in remote time had been spread over the land
by this remarkable mountain. I could well understand how
its mysterious isolation had given birth to the many legends
and myths concerning it current amongst the nature-worship-
ping races who at different times have peopled its vicinity.
When I say the Paik-tu-san towered 4700 feet above every-
thing else, I must explain that in my opinion the mountain
ridges, from 5000 to 6000 feet high, which stand at its feet,
are the remains of a yet larger and more ancient volcano, in
the midst of which, after a lengthened period of quiescence,
the present Paik-tu-san was elevated in a final effort of the
subterranean forces.
Here too, in a little glade, were three small joss-houses, and,
as the cook gave me to understand, annually on the fourth day
of the eighth moon, sacrifices are made by the representatives
of the King of Korea at this point in view of the Paik-tu-san


186 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
not talk much polite Korean. There are different phrases and
inflections in the language (as in Japanese), according to whom
one is addressing, a superior, an equal, or an inferior, and the
cook could only speak the inferior or coolie language. We had
often heard Yeung and the cook talking in pidgin-English,
because the former could not be talked to as if he was the
inferior.
The day being cold, with frequent showers, the cook for-
tified himself here with some samshu, which first made him
drunk, and then upset him completely. He looked a miserable
object all the afternoon, and at length turned into a house
and lay down on his stomach on the " kang" to get warm. As
he had been ill over part of my things, I did not pity him
very much, and went on; but as he did not catch me up by
the time I reached Ho-rin at 5.30 p.m., I stopped there for
the night. Thoughts of my pleasant position should the
cook be taken seriously ill or die, caused me to welcome
him on his arrival in better condition at 9 p.m. with much
relief!
On October 8th, starting at 6 a.m. with the thermometer
at 31° and a strong and bitter north-west wind blowing, I
had a very cold journey to Neun-gwi, where I changed ponies
and felt thoroughly chilled, as I had to wait an hour while
the animals were obtained. Leaving again at 9.40 a.m., I
crossed the river by the permanent bridge, and took the main


i88 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
Descending to the southernmost of these streams at the end
of the plain, we next got to the top of the Hu-chih-ryong at
10.40 a.m., and stopped at a small village for fifteen minutes
while the "mapus" got some food. Here a dog actually smelt
my hand and allowed me to pat him without snapping or
barking. This was the only one out of the hundreds of curs
we met which condescended to speak in a friendly manner
to the white man.
By a steep zigzag path I descended 1500 feet to the
Nam-ta-che-ni river, flowing south-east, which 10 li farther on
turned south through a narrow gorge, and I got to Chyei-in-
koan at two o'clock.. The line of demarcation between long
low huts with birch-bark roofs, and those with curled tile
or thatch ones was abruptly marked at this pass, which at
the same time was the extreme boundary of the forest-clad
mountains. The Paik-un-san chain, which I was leaving be-
hind me, forming the backbone and watershed of Korea, seems
to divide the inhabitants, their dwellings, and the vegetation
into distinct varieties.
At Chyei-in-koan I could only get five very bad ponies led
by little boys, and the loads kept continually slipping. The
valley now widened somewhat into a stony waste from a
quarter to half a mile in width. The river running under
precipitous hills on its right bank, while on its left numerous
short valleys contributed wide stony watercourses, most weari-


ioo KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
After passing two villages, Noyada and Chongmoru, each
standing in a sea of rice-fields, I arrived at Puk-chong at
10.15 a.m. This place is the seat of a second-class prefec-
ture, and is surrounded by a wall with earth hacking, about
20 feet high, enclosing a square of about 800 yards to a
side. The post-superintendent made objections to giving

puk-chong, looking south-west.
me ponies, so the cook, bearing my card and papers, went
with him to the Prefect, and after waiting three hours I got
my ponies. The inhabitants were decidedly rude, calling
me "Cheenaman," and taking Macaulay's Essays, which I
sat and read, for a Chinese book!
Leaving here at 1.30, I crossed the river, which reaches



:uiojj






I


PO-CHON TO WON-SAN
i93
we reached the foot of the pass (Hang-kal-rybng) at 4.30 p.m.
At a little hamlet here a halt took place, while my attendants
endeavoured to get some men to carry up part of the baggage,
as the ponies were so bad; but the villagers all refused, so we
went on. I was rather mystified here by the cook telling me
we had to cross "a big i-land," by which I thought he meant
a piece of land entirely surrounded by water, but seeing no
water about, it at length dawned on me he meant "a big high-
land!" High it was, about a thousand feet up and down, but
a zigzag path with a gradient of 10° enabled us to surmount
it without much difficulty, though it was a long pull up. On
the way down my mare kicked me on the thigh as I was
walking beside her, but fortunately did me no damage. The
pass was thickly covered with oaks, sycamores, and Scotch
firs, nearly all covered with Virginia creeper in autumn
colouring. At the foot of the pass we found the village of
Tong-sa-mi, beside a river running through a remarkably stony
gorge, and here, at 5.50 P.M., we stopped for the night, as the
nearest place was 30 li farther on. This was not a posting-
station, which accounted for our changing ponies at Hamheung-
cha'in. In the evening a disturbance was caused by some
of the "mapus" demanding beansj for their ponies from the
woman at whose house they were lodged. She protested she
had none, so they abused and threatened her, whereupon she
rushed up to the head-man, in whose house I was, to complain,
N


i94 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
and for half-an-hour I listened to torrents of Billingsgate,
varied by Hoods of tears and sobs of rage. Eventually she
was pacified, and the village settled down for the night.
Starting at 6.15 a.m. on the 12th, we followed the river
down to Tong-sang-kuan, where I got some better ponies, led
by some smart boys, and the road across the plain being level
and good, we did the 30 li into Ham-heung in hours.
The wide plain of the valley of the Kho-ta river, made up
of fields of rice, beans, millet, &c, with watercourses banked
up for irrigation purposes, stretched to the walls of the capital
of the province, and was simply crowded with pink ibis, cranes,
wild geese, and duck, but I was in too great a hurry to stop
very long to shoot. We skirted the wall of the town for some
distance, and off-saddled at noon at a large inn, crowded with
Koreans, near the south gate.
On sending to the head pony-man for ponies, he said he
could not give them without the consent of the Governor and
Prefect, who were at some place 60 li off. As I had done
614 li in 6| days, which was very fair going, I did not want
to be delayed here, so I went off to see the Mandarin next
in importance. I found him at home in a little ordinary
Korean house, in the yard of which millet, rice, and strings
of chillies were drying in the sun. "No. 3 Mandarin " was
dressed in blue and scarlet silk robes, and wore a black military
hat with a peacock's feather in it, and was very distant in his


PO-CHON TO WON-SAN
'95
manner. I was offered a bale of Manchester shirting as a seat,
and unfolded the object of my visit with some difficulty, as
"No. 3" could not or would not understand what the cook
said. However, he sent for the head pony-man, an insolent-
looking man, and ordered him to give me six ponies at once.
He also said he would send another soldier with me. Having
thanked him, I went back to mine inn, and waited patiently
for ponies. First the pony-man came to say he had to send
10 li for them, and could not get them before the next morning.
This was not true, for while the cook was away six ponies
were sent for me, but in his absence I could not get them
loaded, or ascertain for certain they were mine. Next the
Governor returned, and my papers had to be sent to him by
hand of the cook. This occupied the time till 6.15 p.m., when
the cook returned with a promise from the pony-man that J
should have the ponies at 6 a.m. next morning. Being thus
forced to stop here for the night, I got a small room used by
the " mapus," which was filthily dirty, evil-smelling, and thickly
populated with various insects. The big room of the inn was
full of Koreans, whose habits were such as to prevent me
eating or sleeping near them.
Whilst waiting in the inn to-day, I had plenty of oppor-
tunities of observing the nauseous smell of the food greedily
devoured by the Koreans. Five or six little dishes, containing
various preparations of meat or fish, chillies, beans, cabbage,


196 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
rice, &c, were ranged on a little table a foot high, and gave
forth a most evil odour. A Korean likes his viands very
highly seasoned, and in eating takes a little of every dish into
his mouth, that he may enjoy the pleasant mingling of the
different flavours. My sleep was disturbed by dreaming of a
Korean I had seen in the afternoon, whose nose had been
entirely eaten away by disease, and his face was horrible to
look at. I have mentioned before that in the more northern
and wilder districts we did not notice so many traces of
disease, but now, on one of the most frequented highways of
the country, I began to find again women with diseased
breasts, men showing traces of virulent syphilis, and also
deformities of various kinds.
I breakfasted at 6i a.m. next morning, but no ponies
appeared, and in answer to several messages, I was always
told they were just finishing their morning feed. At length,
about eight, I went to the Governor's Yamen, but it was too early
for me to see him, or for him to see my card; so I waited
there half-an-hour, sending the cook back to the inn to see
if the ponies had turned up. At the end of that time he
returned with the welcome intelligence that six ponies were
there; so leaving my card for the Governor with my thanks
for the ponies, I hastened back, glad to escape from the curious
and insolent crowd of Yamen loafers and hangers-on, whose
jeers and insults I had endured for so long. Alas! on reach-


198 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
yards long, accompanied by a soldier whom the Prefect had
sent to conduct me. When I say I crossed by the bridge, I
mean I got half-way across, but then found it was under repair,
and in attempting to swing myself across the gap, I slipped
off, and sat down in the shallow river, to the huge delight of
the onlookers, who shouted with laughter. I did not laugh
at all! The final result of. my difficulties about ponies at
Ham-heung, was that two days after my arrival at Won-san the
Prefect of Tok-won told me he had received 10,800 cash from
the Prefect of Ham-heung to reimburse me for the hire of the
ponies, as he regretted he had been unable to procure any
ponies for me! I, of course, pretended to swallow the lies
and sent back the money, but whether it ever reached the
Prefect of Ham-heung I cannot say.
Ham-heung is partly built on the side of a spur running
out into the plain, the Governor's residence and garden running
up to the wall which crosses the ridge. The town is sur-
rounded by a stone wall, 20 feet high and 6 or 8 feet thick,
strengthened with an earthen banquette; but it is much out
of repair and in many places has fallen down. The narrow
and devious lanes, however, in many cases rejoiced in side-
ditches to carry off rain-water, &c, and each house had a
fence or wall round it. Outside the walls on the flat a suburb
was growing up, and in the little shops the usual mixture
of native and foreign merchandise was exposed for sale. 1


2oo KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
wild geese, duck, teal, widgeon, &c., coming in from Port
Lazareff to settle in the rice-fields for the night. The inhabi-
tants were all abroad, with drums, tomtoms, and crackers,
trying to frighten them away. I might have shot any number
of them, only that I thought they would be so numerous at
Won-san that it would be like carrying coals to Newcastle to
bring in much more game.
On October 15th I once more found myself in Won-san.
Notwithstanding that my room at Mun-chon was thickly
populated with fleas, Norfolk Howards, &c, I slept soundly, and
did not leave until eight o'clock. Deputing the cook to bring
on the baggage, I hastened on with my "mapu" to Won-san,
where I arrived at 11.40 a.M., having done the 260 li from
Ham-heung in a llittle less than forty-eight hours, which was
considered the best record known. But for the delay at
Ham-heung, I should have done the distance from Po-chon,
874 li, in 8i days, and the cook would have got the five
dollars I had promised him if I got to Won-san in nine days.
Very pleased was I to see some white faces again, unmistak-
ably belonging to middies, and on inquiry I found that the
British fleet under Sir Frederick Eichards was lying in Port
Lazareff. Brazier met me at the Custom-house, and told me
I was to put up in Oiesen's house, he being expected back
from Japan that evening. Once more I say how delicious was
the first bath and the first drink of beer!





PO-CHON TO WON-SAN
20I
The night after I got to Won-san, Trollope the missionary
turned up, having come from Soul by the Diamond Mountains
in fourteen days. He had left his companion, Peek, who was
footsore, with the baggage, and walked on. They lived in
one of Knott's houses, and came up to Oiesen's to mess, until
they left for Phyong-an on the 21st. They told us some
interesting yarns about the monasteries in Kang-won province
and their priests, who possess some very old MS. books,
many of which are grossly indecent and obscenely illustrated.
Trollope and Peek had been preceded in their journey by the
two Germans I mentioned once before as shooting chickens,
and everywhere, even in the most sacred spots, they found
their names engraved in true tourist fashion on the rocks,
which for more reasons than one was a very brazen pro-
ceeding. My steamer did not start for some days, and I
enjoyed Oiesen's hospitality until October 23rd, leaving that
evening for Fu-san and Yokohama, thus ending my holiday
in Korea.


CHAPTER X.
ON SPORT IN KOREA.
Our original object in going to Korea was to shoot tigers
or leopards, for the tales we heard of their number, size, and
ferocity, and of the beauty of their fur, made our mouths
water; but the mysterious White Mountain lured us on to
hasten to make its acquaintance, and partly on that account
the shooting was somewhat of a failure.
Without doubt there is a great quantity of game in
Korea, but there is only one way to get at tigers or leopards,
and that is to let them come to you, and not you to go to
them. The natives are so lazy, untruthful, and afraid of
these animals, that no persuasion will induce them to act as
beaters. In vain did we offer, at length, extravagant prices
for the beasts. Even fifty dollars, with the bones and carcase
thrown in, for each tiger we shot, would not tempt them.
The bones and part of the body are greatly prized by the
Chinese physicians, as imparting youthful vigour to old or worn-
out constitutions. We also offered twenty-five dollars for a
shot at a tiger, and ten dollars for the mere sight of one, but


ON SPORT IN KOREA
203
equally in vain. Although the people at Pochon strenuously
denied1 the death of any one there from tigers, and even the
very existence of these beasts, yet Mr. Campbell, when he
visited that village in 1889, was told that in the last year
eighteen people had been killed by them, and that three
tigers, one a confirmed man-eater, infested the district; again,
a man-eater was reported in the neighbourhood of the Hu-chih-
ryong,8 and in the interval between his two visits to that
place, the son of the head-man had fallen a victim; and
Mr. Campbell told me that from Won-san northwards every
third or fourth village had some tale of the ravages of
tigers.
But it is only by luck that one comes across these beasts,
which by day hide themselves away in the rugged, forest-clad
mountains during three-quarters of the year, only appear-
ing in search of food near habitations by night or when the
snow has driven their customary prey from the hills. A
Russian traveller, coming in the winter from Won-san to Soul,
saw a tiger stalking in the snow an old woman in a field,
and shot it dead from the high-road. At that season of the
year tigers and leopards become very bold. A leopard was
seen not long ago in the grounds of the Kussian Embassy in
Soul, having somehow got over the city wall, and almost every
1 Page 154
1 Page 188.


2o4 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
winter the city is visited by a similar intruder. The largest
tiger-skin I know of measured 14 feet 6 inches from nose
to tip of tail, and 8 feet 6 inches from nose to root of tail is
not uncommon. A good leopard-skin is 9 feet 6 inches from
nose to tip of tail, and the thick winter fur of both species is
nearly 5 inches thick. I feel sure that if any one could make
up his mind to face the hardship and discomfort of a winter in
Korea, he would, by living in a well-selected district, obtain
good sport with tigers and leopards.
Deer are very numerous, and, wTith a little trouble, can be
readily obtained anywhere away from the large towns. Bears,
both brown and black, are not wanting (and could be obtained
under the same conditions as tigers), for twenty-eight bear-skins
were exported from Won-san in 1890.
Pheasants abound, but require properly trained dogs to
put them up, for they are so hawked that it is very difficult
to get them to rise without such aid.
As for the wildfowl, they are in millions, and very good
sport is to be obtained with them. The only precautions
necessary are to dress in white, so as to resemble an ordinary
Korean as much as possible, and to have a well-broken dog
to retrieve. Even without these, the English fleet at Port
Lazareff, averaging ten guns a day, got n 00 head in eight
days; while Brazier and Knott in ii days got five swran,
twenty-eight geese, and four teal; but owing to the disturbing


206 KOREA AND THE SACRED WHITE MOUNTAIN
(Sinensis).
(several kinds).
(doubtful).
♦Ibis . . .
*Crane
♦Stork.
♦Cormorant.
Pelican .
♦Quail.
♦Snipe.
♦Widgeon.
♦Hazel grouse (Tetrao Omasia).
Capercailzie (in Manchuria).
♦Magpie . . Korean (blue), (Cyano-
polius cyanus).
♦Jay . . . (Brandt's).
♦Golden oriole.
♦Pigeons . . Blue rock.
♦ „ . . Wood.
♦Kingfisher.
Grouse . . Black (Tetrao tetrix), in
Manchuria.
♦Shrike . . (L. sphenacerus).
♦Woodpeckers Black.
♦Jackdaws.
Bustard . . (Otis Dybowski).


ITINERARY


ITINERARY
It is impossible to accurately render in English the correct pronunciation
of Korean names of places, &c, and more especially so because the natives,
in saying the same name, vary it greatly amongst themselves in accent and
tone; but as far as I can trust my hearing, the sounds given below are
nearly correct, and I have the authority of Mr. Ernest Satow to support me
in a great measure.
Isolated vowels are pronounced soft as in Italian, but in combinations of
vowels and consonants there are some modifications of this rule.
Thus b is pronounced like u in sun .
„ ai
ei
aik
„ eu
ii an
„ bng
ii nm
i chh, kh
"1 ph, th
|in like j
e in peek
u in sung
an in Spanish san
ung in sung
English rim .
are highly aspirated, like match-head, Blinkhoolie, cap-
head, dust-hole.
as Po-chbn.
„ So-rai-wbn.
., Chyei-in-koan.
„ Paik-tu-san.
„ Ham-heung.
„ Nam-san.
„ Song-do.
,, Ka-rim.
„ so is pronounced as between soo and su, as Sd-tzu river.
Phybng-an is pronounced between p-hyung-yan and p-hing-yan; the sound
kw is nearly rendered by ko, thus kioan is nearly ko-an.
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INDEX
Campbell, Mr., his difficulty with Kapsan
people, 110
Camping in graveyard, 55, 61, 109; on
threshing-floor, 71, 134 not safe on account of tigers, 67,
71, 134
Card, mine rejected, 196
Cards, our visiting, 30
Carts, description of, 112
Cash, copper, debased, 97 ; preferred to
silver, 60; rate of exchange for, 93, 97,
130; weight of, 145
Castor-oil plant*, cultivation of, 20,
53
Cattle, price of, 34 ; size of, 34 ; trade in,
35, 148, 158, 166
Clmng-ge, road to, 125, 129
Chang-heung, 189
Chang-jin, bridges at, 124 ; camp at, 127;
country about, 225 ; curiosity of inhabi-
tants, 127 ; deer-drive at, 128; estimated
distance to, 96; real distance to, 126
Prefect of, civility of, 127; his
lying causes us delay, 130; exchanges
presents, 126
river, salmon in, 130 ; scenery of its
valley, 119 ; source of, 117, 121 ; tribu-
tary of, i2i, 123
Changorani, camp at, 61
Chang-pai mountains, 160, 165, 169
Chanka-cham, change ponies at, 187
Chefoo, coolies at, 11; exports of, 12;
fortification and garrison of, 12
Chemulpho, description of, 16
Cherry-trees, wild, 121
Chickens, difficulty in procuring, 114;
German travellers shooting, 115
Children, handsome, 83; method of
carrying, 79; weaning of, deferred, 59
Chillies, cultivation of, 54
China, tribute paid to, 80
Chinese bandits, 148 ; characters, use of,
•55
influence in Korea, 37, 90; popu-
lation in, 49
Chinese traders, rescued by Capt. Deve-
nish, 13; Resident at Soul, 28; his
police, 28, 91 ; Consul at Won-san, 90;
his geese, 99; his police, 91
Chinamen, ruffianly, at Un-chong, 146;
at Po-chon, 150; in Yalu basin, 160,172
Cholera at Won-san, 88 ; mortality from,
at Fu-san, 88
Chollnam village, 191
Chting-mo-ru village, 190
Cho-won, halt at, 199
Chyei-in-koan village, 188
1 Chyong-na-jong village and pass, 115
1 Chyong-phyong, 109, 199
I Clothing, native, 19, 27, 54, 94, 132, 159,
180, 189
College, cadet, 45; royal, mismanage-
ment of, 26
Consulate-General, British new, 30
Cook, our, age of, 67 ; baggage of, 29,
145; difficulty caused by him as inter-
preter, 186, 193; embezzlements of,
156, 182 ; gets drunk, 186; linguistic
attainments of, 20; troubles of, 28,
66, 70, 186
Coolies, naked, 11, 16 ; load of, 36 ; pack-
frame of, 35
Cotton, cultivation of, 54
Cow frightened of us, 145
Crab-apple tree, 121
Cranes, 66, 81, 106, 113, 194, 206
i Creepers, 75, '93
Cultivation, 20, 53, 55
Curfew regulations, 22
Curiosity of natives, 61, 63, 106, 109,
127, 137, Hi. 147. 185
Curious geological formation, 80
Currency of Korea, 95
Customs, administered by Chinese, 25,
37; revenue from, 26, 47
D
Deer, 78, 122, 154, 175, 204, 205
drive at Chang-jin, 128; fence, 152


INDEX
217
Delay, from inability to get ponies, 131;
by officials, 129, 195 ; by rain, 29,106,
109, 113,118 ; by servants, 57, 136; by
stranding of steam-launch, 17 ; on the
road, 76
Devenish, Capt., his kindness to wrecked
Chinese traders, 13
Dialects of Korean, 154
Disease, 27, 78, 83, 196
Donkey as beast of burden, 34
Donnelly, Mr., his kindness to us, 12
Dogs, hatred of white men, 188
Dragon-flies, 122
Duck, wild, 118, 132, 138, 181, 194, 200,
205
Duty, military, of hunters, 43; of
officers, 46; of soldiers, 15, 45
Dye, General, military adviser to king, 44
B
EsCAPK from snake-bite, 157; from
broken leg, 193
Etiquette, equestrian, 33; social, 95,
107, 127
Examination requisite for holding office,
4i
Exchange, rate of, for cash, at Chang-jin,
130 ; at Kap-san, 141, 145 ; at Soul, 97;
at Won-san, 95
V
Falcons as tribute, 80
Fallow-deer, 122, 152, 205
Fern, maiden-hair, 183
Ferry, 59, 82, 107, 118, 132, 140
boats, 60, 122, 135
Fertility of country, 20
Fir-trees, Scotch, 116, 121, 193
Fires in forests, 133, 135, 149, 165
Firewood, destruction of trees for, 56
Fish, trade in, 47; trout, 57, 122, 179;
salmon, 104,130; herring, 48; whale, 48
Fish, spearing, 103
Fishing tackle, primitive, 119, 179
Flax, 54
Fleas, 71, 74, 137, 141, MS, 200
Flies, ferocious, 66
Food of natives, 33, 48, 52, 155, 163,
195
Foreign adviser to King, 44
Affairs, Minister for, 29
population; 49
Forests, destruction of, 133, 135, 165
Frontier posts, 150
Fruit, cultivation of, 54, 74
Funeral, customs, 56, 192 ; of Japanese
Envoy, 45; of Queen Dowager, 45
Furniture of houses, 150
Fu-san, mortality from cholera at, 88;
foreign population of, 49
Fut-jen-ye, ferry at, 118
G
Game, difficulty in finding, 67, 78, 122,
202
of Korea, 205
Garden, the Queen's, 30
Garrison of Chefoo, 12 ; of Soul, 44
Gate of Softl, 21, 52
Geese, Mr. Woo's, carried off by tiger, 99
wild, 138, 194, 200, 181, 205
Gen-san, see Won-san
i Geological formation, curious, 80
j German travellers, delayed by rain, 79;
engraving their names in sacred places,
201 ; shooting chickens, 115
Glacial action, traces of, 103
Gold, tribute in, to China. 80; export
of, 108
washings, 108, 109, 146
Goold-Adams, Capt., bitten , by flies, 63;
starts for the White Mountain, 155;
parts from me in Manchuria, 156 ; his
ascent of White Mountain, 158-181
Governor of Hamgyong province, call
on, 197
Graphite, outcrop of, 108


INDEX
221
Photographs by Mr. Hillier, 51 ; failure
of our own, 156
Phyong-an, province of, 116; army of,
42, 45
Phyong-yang, 66
Pigeons, blue rock, 138, 206 ; wood, 57
62, 132, 206
Pigs, bait for tiger, 99; wild, 122, 175,
205
Pine-trees, 61, 115, 133
Pipes, tobacco, 14, 82
Plum-trees, wild, 121
Po-chon, 150, 158, 178; packages left at,
178 ; man-eating tiger at, 158
Ponies, bad temper of, 33, 113, 193 ; cost
of hiring, 31,93, 198; description of, 33,
51 ; difficulties in hiring, 33, 93, 97;
food of, 33 ; galls of, 97; loads of, 33,
101 ; pack-saddle for, 51 ; price of, 34;
shoeing of, 120; sureness of foot of, 33,
52, 70, 131
Pony, a blind, 70
Pony-letter, 104 ; forgery of, by servants
104, 180
Pony-men, see Mapu
Poplar-trees, large, 132, 140
Population of Korea, 40, 49 ; of Soul, 23;
of Won-san, 49, 90; foreign, 49
Port Lazareff, British fleet in, 200
Posting system, 86, 104
Post-office under Japanese, 37, 90
Post-ponies, difficulty in getting, 195;
employment of, by us, 105, 131, 179,
185, 187 ; speed of, 189, 194 ; wretched
condition of, 189
Potatoes, cultivation of, 134, 138, 172
Prefect of Chang-jin, civility of, 127;
delays us by lying, 130 ; exchange of
presents with, 126, 130 of Ham-heung, his rudeness, 197;
sends money to repay me, 198 of Inchhon, 15
of Kap-san, 141,185 ; his salary, 143
of Tcik-wbn, 86, 95; deceived by
our servants, 104, 180
Prefects, number of, 40
Provinces, boundaries between, 69, 116,
177
Puk-chong, prefecture of, 190 ; rudeness
of people at, 190
Pumice-stone, 152 ; causes white appear-
ance of White Mountain, 153, 173
Pyong-po-ri, halt at, 191
Q
Quail, 181, 206
Queen of Korea, her garden, 31 ; influ-
ence in the state of, 25 Dowager, funeral of, 45
K
Railway, Tientsin, Chinese ideas con-
cerning, 12
Trans-Siberian, 38
Rain, delays us, 29, 106, 109, 113
Raspberries, wild, 75
Red-deer, 205
Revolution in Soul, 91
Rice, cultivation of, 20, 53, 66, 81, 191;
to propitiate evil spirits, 156, 163, 167;
tribute in, 80; trade in, 47
Rice-fields, irrigation of, 55, 103, 194
mills, 49
Rivers, Amnok or Yalu, 101,135,153,159;
Bu-si-ka-chi, 191; Chang-jin, 117; Han,
17, 53; Hoiyang, 65; Ho-chhon, 136;
Im-jin, 59, 63; Khota, 194; Nam-ta-
che-ni, 188; Sha-phyong, 135; She-chon,
109; Shika, 191 ; So-chon, 197, 112;
Sungari, 169, 184; Tok-chi, 105;
Tumen, 184; Yeung-heung, 106, 199
Roads, description of, 72; forest, 133,164;
good, 103, 115 ; infamous, 72, 117
Rosemary, wild, 75
Russia, danger to Korea from, 38
Russian embassy at Soul, 16, 200; envoy,
16


222
INDEX
S.
Sable, 165, 205
Salmon, 104, 130
Sambagon, village, 115
Samshu at Un-chong, 146; cook gets
drunk on, 186
Sam-su, 71, 126, 155
Sanitation, want of, 21, 22, 24, 47, 62
Saseu, stay at, 118
Scenery, beauty of, 73, 116, 117; native
admiration of, 31 ; of Chang-jin river,
119; of Han river, 17, 53; of Ini-jin
river, 63 ; of Paik-un mountains, 116;
of White Mountain, 174, 183
Scott, Mr., Vice-ConBul,aKorean scholar,
21 ; helps us to get ponies, 21; takes
servants back to Shanghai, 28
Seal-bearers, 40, 94
Serpents, reverence for, 138
Servants, 11, 28, dilatoriness of, 57 ; for-
gery by, 104, 180
Sesidong, extent of cultivation at, 138;
rough quarters at, 137
Shanghai Club, 11
Shantung dialect, 161
Sha-phydng river, 135
She-chon river, 109
Shika river, 191
Shoeing pony, 120
Siberian Railway, escape of convict
labourers on, 100; mismanagement of,
39
Sigori village, 189
Silk, tribute to China in, 80
Silver, inappreciation of, 60; native
work in, 146; shoe or sycee, 102, 144;
tribute to China in, 80
Slate formation, 145, 147
Sleds, use of, 34, 139, 145
Snakes, 64, 105 ; poisonous adder, 137;
narrow escape from, 157
Snipe, 81, 113, 206
Snow, 177
So-chon river, 197, 112
Sok-chung, camp at, 119
Soldier driven away by servants, 144,
176 ; given as guide, 22,95, i44> '85,
191
Soldiers as official attendants, 15, 42;
I number of, 40; value in military
sense, 46
So-rai-won, delay at, 199
So-rin-ryong (pass), 135
Soul, attractions of, 24; British Consu-
late-General at, 30; gates of, 21, 52;
, palace of King at, 22 ; population of,
23; revolution in, 91; Russian Em-
bassy, 16, 203 ; streets of, 22, 52 ; walls
of, 21, 52 ; great bell of, 22; leopards
in, 203
Spearing fish, 103
Spectacles worn by officials, 95
Squirrels, 116, 133, 205
Stag's-horn moss, 133
Steamers, Japanese mail, 16,90; Korean,
42
Steward, Mr., a Chinaman, 15
Storks, 81, 206
Stranded on sandbank, 17
Strawberries, 30; poisonous (?), 65
Streets of Soul, 22, 52
Stripling, Mr., his position in Korea, 29;
lends us his boy Yeung, 29
Sul-mul, camp at, 134
Sungari river, 169, 184
i Sun-yun-i village, 185
Superintendentof trade at Chemulpho, 15 at Won-san, 86
Susu, clothes made from, 54; cultiva-
tion of, 20, 54
i Sycamore-trees, 121, 193
j Sycee or silver ingot, 102, 144
1 System, military, 40; posting, 86
I Swans, wild, 204, 205
T.
Tax-ga-ni, camp at, 70
Taug-na-ri, camp at, 66


INDEX
223
Tang-ye village, 111
Teal, flight of, 109; common, 138,2co, 205
blue-winged or Baikal, 114, 205
Telegraph line, Soul to Won-san, 5 5,84,92
Won-san to Wladivostock, 92
Temperature, 27, 57 ; see Itinerary
Tent, our, curiosity excited by, 61, 127;
description of, 32 ; left at Kap-san, 145
Threshing-floor of village, 71, 134
Tide, rise and fall of, at Chemulpho, 16;
on east coast, 191
Tientsin Railway, Chinese ideas about, 12
Tigers, alive, 97 ; at Won-san, 99; devour-
ing monk. 71; danger feared to us
from, 32, 71, 134; infesting moun-
tains, 67, 74, 154 ; at Po-chon, 158 ; re-
ported presence of, 128, 154; native
fear of, 77, 100, 128, 148, 205 ; at Hu-
chih-ryong, 203
Tiger-guns, 128 traps, 99, 144
skins, export of, 98; size of, 204;
tribute in, 81
Tjen-o-su village, 119, 132
Tobacco, coarseness of, 94; cultivation
of, 20, 66, 134, 191 ; size of plant, 53
Tok-chi river, 105
Tok-won, Prefect of, his civility, 86, 95;
his yamen, 102
Tong-in, halt at, 144
Tong-kol-at, halt at, 136
Tong5sa-mi village, disturbance at, 193
Tong-sang-kuan, good ponies from, 194
Torches, cause of forest fires, 149, 183;
travelling with, for fear of wild beasts,
«36, 149
Trade, statistics of, 47, 48; in cattle, 34,
148, 158, 166; in bear-skins, 204; in
cow-bones, 35 ; in hides, 35 ; in leopard
and tiger skins, 98
Superintendent of, at Chdmulpho
15 ; at Won-san, 86
Training, military, 42, 45
Trans-Siberian ltailway, 38
Traps for birds, 120; for tigers, 99
Trappers, Korean, 160, 165, 167, 170
Treaty, Korean, with China and Japan, 91
Trees, destruction for firewood of, 56, 64,
Tribute paid to China and Japan, 80
Trollope, Rev. Mr., devotion to mis-
sionary work, 37; visits Buddhist
monasteries and Won-san, 201
Trout, 57, 122, 132, 179
Tumen river, 184
u.
Un-chong, Chinamen at, 146; gold at,
146; head-man of, 146; stay at, 146,
185
V.
Vegetables in foreign gardens, 102;
native, 54, 77, 134, 138
Virginia creeper, 193
Volcanic action, signs of, 62, 64, 67, 76,
140, 153
Volcano, extinct, see White Mountain
Voluntary service of army, 39, 44
W.
Walxut-trees, 115, 119, 127
War, Board of, 42
Washing, of clothes, 27; our difficulties
in, 62, 74, 122 ; native aversion to, 24,
27, 123
Water-mills, description of, 75 ; inuse, 120
Japanese, 75, 120
Weaning of children, deferred, 59
Whale-fishing, 48
Wheat, trade in, 48
Whisky, Korean appreciation of, 127,142,
192; loss of, 62, 109
White Mountain, 102 ; height of, 152,173;
Goold-Adams starts for, 155; native
legends concerning, 153, 156, 184 ; no
snow on, 153, 157 ; royal sacrifice to
spirits of, 184; view of, 152, 157, 183;



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UNIV. Ov CAUF.. u-r^CT
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