CITY OF DIRT AND SPLENDOR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10243, 4 September 1909, Page 6

CITY OF DIRT AND SPLENDOR.

- 'jfgaM^'the T in smashing-at the century old instituj tions-of'ls-drea. > Seoul/vthe for 'centuries the .centre of life in is shaken and distraught I by the swift moves of ".the .country's 'present masters,. An_ : airship,,qvex its; - ilfi; SSne»mie Japanese .abolished..the ame-'War' .cleared, the .clutter of- centuries from the -courts Vby.t; dictating : that hencer fqrth Japanese Magistrates _ shall •; adniinister, justice.,- .' " . ; - .:■.:'■■■■. ■■■\ui- 4 . it The 'old;' deci-ep'it Sedulin- the "rags of trembling-, before the advance of the new order..., B,e|ore many, years unless a : . change on :■, the chessboard of the,., Far JEas*, -checkSiatils the 'hustling across the Japan''Sea, this remhant-.of.a'-long dead;>civiliiaSoTtrwill no lohgbr ;be the fascin,a^ing-city pf -the., shadpsj.:that it is. ';;" lt' ; was, p in;the century that Ni '.'T^ai'j6,''' ;, a^'''whm6r'''-lieib;'.;of; f '''ine old fighting Koreans, overthrew-the last, decayed .dynasty and a neytr capital .on. the,.banks .pf'.the River HaiL. .',.Taijo"> himself, became? King, the' dyhasty v wTuchis now represented :by the imbecile 'puppet whom the . Japanese'; sfill' allow 'td : . play -at being Emperor," v,B.eing...a warrior ..first, Taijo decided 'upon 'ihe proper fpr'tifipation of his'capital, ;.." ~; , ,*,. '' Koi'eah tradition "says":that in ninety days the great eighteen-foot wall that I'Surrpiirids Seoul was- built ;,by 520,000 workmen,. Tpv?;ering gate houses and 1 Idop-hdled ba'ttlements for arches were added later. So well did those 20,000 ■build, that to-day the solid walls of Seoul, still stand. At night bolt studgates are still closed against hypothetical enemies. Could only King Taijo return to 1 Seoul to-day,.he'inight pass from the South Gate to the Pekin Road Gate t and..see ...but, one thing in his capital city to surprise him —that an electric car has been,put,through the crooked streets > .by' , 'iah--s.'eillwprjsing. syndicate. In! every other outward aspect Seoul , is.\as it was 500 years ago. The city lies caught in by close gird- , Ung mountains. From the height of ' Jsfamsan •■JEfiilj the lowest of the surrounding "mountain barriers, Seoul seems,, Jike ...a-, fungus growth in! the a|rptted swmp.. A jumbled, crowded-mass-idf thatched and tiled huts squatting next the ground, the gabled tpofs of a palace rising above the level of the meaner dwellings, and the gray saw/edge of the enciming wall—this is . the • city "in: .pahoramS. - Oyer against the opposite horizon rise the 1 precipitous heights of Puk-han, a of islag,^^reeless"and pihriacied with : 'vdlcaiiic outcroppings. ... Intramural Seoul is a place of indescribable decay. It is the strongest ! smelling city the, p.rien.t. ■ slovenly as only an Sric'ient Orient city can !be. - Butj'jsith all her dirt and her odPrs,"'her faded glory and tattered , finery, . Seoul ..still, bears the stamp of 'something regal. Streets lead through slime;to palace gates,!,and broken roof thatch is .towered over'by wonderful monuments of ancient art.. At the' eight entrances to the city stand gates of massive stone, with weired,.carved galleries and gabled roofs surmounting them. In one of the bare spaces of the palace ground there is a towering marble pagoda, carved in bas relief legendary passages from the life of'Buddiia: "Older than the city itself this plinth of yellow, stone. It was. sent by. a .Mongol .Emperor, of China as a gift to his daughterj a queen of Korea. Japanese invaders'of the sixteenth century started to take the pagoda to pieces preliminary to removing it to Japan. Tkey were driven out of the ,country before they could finish 'their .."task, but the - top three stories, lowered by them to the ground, .have .-never, been.replaced; Near, the pagoda is a tremendous 'stone!J, tp'rtpise,' a 1 Buddhistic emblem, with a broad back capable of supporting a' Korean house. Not even the Koreans know whence came this an-

cient monument nor .by., whom it was erected. 1 A street in Seoul is a meandering rcowpath, lined on either side by stone ;and mud composition house walls and drained by queer, open sewers. The hbirses ' are, ./ohe-Jstbried—it. would be Upse majeste.to. live 'higher from the ground than .does sie, /Emperor—and they are windowless save for vent holes high above the reach of hypothetical ;tigers,'/and very real demons. The smoke from -the kitchen hearths, after j'passing under 'the house' in flues for /warming purposes in winter and to the great discomfort of the inhabitants in escapes, througli a vent a foot or two.above the street level, itt cooking time a street in .Seoul is. -a blinding, choking hell hole to foreigners. By bridging a drain ."'with 'a. few boards and setting thereon a stall the size, of a; small packing case the merchant has made him a store. Another .lets dowh. the hinged front of his house and achieves the same end. These motley booths line the street from end to end. ,' Half a sovereign would in most instances buy out' all/thV stock. Paper dr/apght screens, laundry sticks for clothes Treating, horn-rimined goggles, ink/cases, fearful dried seaweed and painted candles—these.seem the chief stock. Surrounded by such an array squats the" dealer,/with'-bovine eye and listless.hand, ready to sell if necessary but equally -ready to pass small talk with. any street / dawdler. JDown such a street, in and; out- of the house, flying over'drains in giant .l§ a P. s ): ,:Pass... ..the.* .."f jjjemn, sad-eyed Koreans. Starched as to their white flying garments and inherited dignity nd 3F a gge|mg in ludicrous'' assumption _o± potoppusness. pass the Yarigbans, or gentlemen of ; . Follq.ws , most - jnost abjectly ■dumb, the staggering ."porter, who in Korea does the work of the horse. He lives but to work like a horse. He knows not even a horse's ambition. Semi-nude children. _squat in. solemn groups under foot, never. ;smiling ' al- . Huge dogs /which ,'have escaped the spit either through tbuehiiesfi, or ■-. tlieiiv/Ijpwh; .y'outhf ul agifity :prpwl/ahpu.t the drain's, and hack -doors, ;tno<;scavengersfof the "cit¥; :'r' : ' :' . . .%• The, desezifea jKweng 7 p.bk■ Pafecei' one time .seat, of royalty, but. now the haunt .<?f .fugitive icats and the nesting place of, pigeons, is the one retreat of beauty in all this musty city.

Jtfhis broad acreage of ruined halls »■ !'? cl >V ee f -P4Tts rujcto wfldwood, set in i ,the: heart of,.Seoul yet *as .strangely r any Buddhist monastery in the , £ Sa, is the . home;of a restless, avenging spirit. Here .' mS, the masterful Queen of I K 9 re f was hacked to death by the l s W r^? assassins. Her body i m* by the murderers before • T OUI £?, had ceased to .bleed. On i. dislsraught- King I :M fr°m;.thejipalace to the:-shelter,o£ tneiiussian Legation. . -pressed, the' flags of the.: Hall of Cori--S3«^£^+ laid \2^<te#&.&b& miier bedchambers. ««wIS^ d *" nft ? I 1 y i- of tr ulX: beautiful ancient art and ludicrous modern fur- '■ : ISF& #fs¥*y& b y tie. various » chambers of rthff '.Kyeng-pok palaces. . Set, in -the its,.creeping roof high gabled and its, rn>'fe age ' Ihe1 he s .™mer pavilion, I°^f^of,Cqn^ a tuktions,, ip thte;-most • :o tectvire of the Ebrfeans to be seen in M r shadpw iraifeh ?^%- ram i llng apmtmenjbs of the -King the fiw £ 0f il ew^ llnd 1 a / t ¥ i c mstincts. » Europe ;<Sreeni brussels'"cafp% rose design;; C ovWs the 1 floor Majesty's bedchamber.; <Puish chairs are set in rigid'fbmalityigSnwt' the ; , lateral blu^f%p^-majestic-ally jm ,asalved teak,,tabaret,-r- '• evefyfhWg* **■ '^T^, the. buildings once devested ~ix> his serag--3° ture -iflu^:^d K ,gr^gd j vi.T^,ivpai : 4E; 1 poi-ceTain' tiling, and • still fur--thfr inthe shado'w"or : the deer park Junes., ,the.idetached * * ;the Queen. One instinctively walks on tiptoe matins haunted spot &n& feels a creeping of the flesh, so impelling is 'the" dogma of superstition. 5 The .very daring—may ascend- to~a " stone gallery and apply a.jcnrjous- j .-to ,ho}e Wmso '%&&&s}&£ walPof the sthe Queen was„c!one jfo death! In the , gloom there "appeir the outlines o£ a treat glass lampshacle, shorn in twain ( y the stroke of a sword. N The broken

particles still litt«* : j;tlie mats...-Wither-ed bronze the corner. -GLtiWered Vbedclpthuig £aWCwomen?sV..apparel: ; ericumb.*;y,J(he "flbojCi]..-Nbt!-a',hand;.has been.laidJinside that room since - the *bpdy> of the XJueen ijwas iborne;>thanc©.:-to* the hasty (funeral .' : pj>re.■■'-■•.•■•li'i.u' ■•.■' i "*\"" : - .