SEOUL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 224, 19 September 1894, Page 5

SEOUL.

THE SCENE OP THE FIGHT.

AN INTERESTING DESCRIPTION.

A recenb visitor to Corea gives the following interesting account of Seoul, the capital of Corea, in bhe vicinity of which the above engagement has beon fought:— Seoul lies in a great basin surrounded by mountains, which change in their hues with every change of the heavens, and they give Seoul a setting more gorgeous than jewels. The baein below iB just about large enough to contain the town, aud a great grey wall from bhirby bo for by feeb- high runs along bhe sides of bhese hills, bounding the basin and mounbing here and bhere almosb bo bhe bops ot the lower mountains. It scales one hill of at leasb 1,000 feeb in height, and this wall incloses the whole city. Ib was builb in nine monbhs by an army of 200,000 workmen, about 500 years ago, and ib is a piece of solid masonry, con-

sisting of bwo thick walls of granibe packed down in bhe middle wibh earbh and stones. Its top is so wide that two carriages could easily be driven aboub ib, and ib has, on the side facing the country, a crenellated babblement, with holes large enough for its defenders to shoot through with arrows. There aro no cannon upon ib, and ib will be no means of defence against the batteries of the Chinese or the Japs in the present struggle. Its only use in late years has been to keep oub bhe tigers and leopards. This wall ie more than six miles in length. It is pierced by eighb gates, the arches of which are beautiful. Over tho great south gabe, the main entrance to the capital, there are two such roofs, one above the other, which are guarded ab bheir cornors by miniature demons of porcelain, who seem to be crawling along the edges of the structure. Ib would nob bake much more bhan a Catling gun to babtjs down bhe heavy doors by which these arches are closed. Every nighb jusb ab Bundown bhese gates are closed, and they aro not opened again until aboub.4 in bhe morning, The signal of their closing and opening is the ringing of a massive bell in the exact cenbre of the city. After this thoso who aro in cannob geb out, and those who are outside cannob get in. Tho groatesb care is taken of the keys to these gates. The locks close with a spring, and bho keys are kepb in the King's palace, except ab the. time thab they are used at the gates. Tho locks themselves are guarded all day at the palace, and are only broughb bo the gates a shorb bime before closing bhe city. * Inside this greab wall, within this setting of mountains, lies the city of Seoul, lb contains more than 300,000 people, and it has scarcely a house that is more than one storey high. Ib is a city of wide streets and narrow winding alleys, lb is a ciby of thatched huts and tiled one-etoroy buildings. On one side of it are bhe palaces of the King. They cover an area as large as bhab of a 1,000-acre farm, and bhey are massive one-sborey buildings surrounded by greab walls and laid oub wibh all the regularity of a city. As you stand on tho walls of Seoul and look over this medley of buildings, your firsb impression is that you are in bhe midst of a vast hay field, interspersed, here and there, with tiled barns, and tbe three biggest streets that cut through theso myriad haycocks look like a road through the fields. You note the shape of the thatched houses. Thoy are all formed like horse shoes, with the heel of the shoes resting on the strcot. The roofs are tied on with strings, and bhe thatch has grown old, and undor tho soft lighb of bhe setting sun ib assumes the rich colour of brown plush, and there is a velvety softness to the whole. As you look closer you see thab bhe ciby is divided up into streetß, and tbab these narrow and widen and bwieb and burn without regularity or order. One part of the city is mado almosb entirely of tiled buildings. These are the homes of the swells, and over there nob far from tho gate above ono such building you see on bhe bop ot a staff the American flag. That is the establishment of our legation to Corea, and the cosy little compounds about ib are bhe residences of missionaries and of other foreigners who reside in Seoul.

Come down now and take a walk with me through bho ciby. There are no pavements on tbe streets aud you look in vain for gaslamps or bhe signs of an electric light. This city of 300,000 people is entirely without sanitary arrangements. There is nob a watercloseb in ib and tbe sewage flows along in open drains through the streets, and you have to ba careful of your Bteps. Thore -are no waterworks, except the Corean water-carrier, who, with a pole across his back, takes up the whole sidewalk as he carries two buckets of water along with him through the streets. -The clouds are lefb to do tbo sprinkling of the. highways, save whore here and thero a householder takes a dipper and ladles out bhe sewer fluid bo lay bho dust. All the slops of each house run into the ditches along bho sidewalk, and the smell comes up in solid chunks so thick that it could be almosb cub inbo slices and packed away for uso as a pafconb fertiliser. Mixed with the smell ia tho smoke. This comes out of tho chimneys aboub two t'eot above the ground, which jub out from the walls of the bouses into bbc streets. Fib a stovepipe in your house at righb angles with the floor of bhe porch and you have bhe average Corean chimney. Ab certain hours of the morning and ovening each of these chimneys vomits forth bhe smoke of bhe straw which the people use for the fires of bheir cooking, and tho air becomes blue. The doors to bhe houses along the street are more like those of a stable or barn bhan bho entrances to residences. They are very rude, and in bhe botbom of each is cub a hole for the dog. Such doors as are open give no insight bo bhe homes of tho people, and I was in Seoul for some time before 1 knew bhab bhese doors facing the streeb were merely tho entrance eates bo large compounds or yards, in which wore very comfortable buildings. I thoughb thab the nobles lived in these thatched huta. They are, in reality only the quarters of the servant?, and the homes of the better classes contain many rooms, and are in somo cases almosb as well fitted for comfort as those of our own. Theso houses along the ebreets have no windows bo speak of. There are under tho roof little openings about a foob square. * These are filled wibh labtice and backed wibh paper. They permit the light to come in, butyou cannob see through them. Here and there I noted a littlo eye-bole of glass, as big around as a red cenb. pasbod onto the paper, and as I go through bhe streets I find now and then a liquid black ball surrounded by the cream-coloured buttonhole which forms bhe eyelids of a Corean maiden looking out. .

I am human enough to want to study the women of every country I visib. I found this very hard in Seoul. Tho girls on the stveots wear shawls wrapped around their heads, nnd only an oyo peeps oub bhrough bhe folds. In India and Egypb the women are eecluded, bub when )>_*ey go oa the street, if their faces are covered they think they are modosb enough. The fair girls of Cairo care nob that their dresses are open ab the neck, if tho black veil bangs ovor thoir cheeks, and the maidens of Hindoetan trob along with bare less, while they pull thin whibe cotton gowns around bheir eyes, priding themselves upon their bracelet-covered arms and bhe anklets, which reach half-way to their knees. Theso Corean girls oro mere bundles of clothes. Their feet in bheir wadded stockings look as fab as those of an elephant, and their skirts and their drawers hang in greab folds. I happened to rub againsb one as 1 passed her on the Bbreets of the city. She looked angrily ab mo out of bhe tail of her eye, and fled like a deer.

As she ran I noted a gorgeous man clad in a red dress and a little tie hab of whibe straw, which sat on the top of his head, looking ab me. He had a fan in his hand, and he glowered fiercely upon me. I asked General Pak who he was, and he told me he was a eervant of the palace and that he did nob know bub bhab he was related to the girl whom I had insulted by touching her. We looked at each other for some time and he jabbered ab Pak in Corean. He was decked more gorgeously than Solomon in his glory. Ho looked as though he came oub of a bandbox. He was, however, only one of a thousand strange characters that you may see any day on bho etreets of Seoul. There are no stranger people on bhe face of the globe. A masquerade of the nations could nob furnish more sbrange costumes, and in going through Seoul you rub your eyes again and again to find whether you are dreaming or waking. The kingdom of Corea is made up of many classes of people, and each has its costume. There are hundreds of officials connected with bhe palace, e.^cs «i whem wear?, 8- <?.»*Te,*,aii*i cL'ss*.