"ME LAND OF DEVILS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2425, 5 September 1900, Page 69

"ME LAND OF DEVILS.

(Rev. William Durban", in the Morning

Herald.)

Most people who learn anything about Corea are hopelessly perplexed in view of the utter weakness o± a nation which is physically and intellectually qualified to show itself superior to both its neighbours. The Ooreans are handsomer than either the Japanese or Chinese, and there was a time when they were far ahead of both in civilisation. Yet for several centuries the millions, of this lovely mountain peninsula have been abjectly at the mercy of China and Japan alternately, and now they are certainly doomed to become subjects of Russia, though not before a terrible struggle has ensued between the Tsar and the Mikado for this great prize of- the Far East:

Devil worship, of the most abject order is the secret of Corean decadence. Such expert scholars as Dr Landis, of Chemulpo, and tLe Rev. Herbert Jones, of the same Corean city, have devoted so ranch attention to this subject of the Demonolatry of the Hermit Nation that they have been .ible by their researches to divulge the exact reason for what otherwise mint have been inexplicable. Grovelling superstition and fear of countless evil spirits, with the faint hor>e of propitiating a small minority of kindly demons, must be held accountable for the miserable degeneration of the people whom Nature did not fail to qualify for a splendid destiny. Buddhism and Confucianism have both been overthrown by Shamanism, the keynote of which is always sorcery. Corea is the home of the most complex and all-pervading withcraft the world has ever seen. It is not cruel like the fetishism cf the Congo, but it is so servile and puerile that it has sapped the virility of a stalwart and attractive race. The Coreans are the ino«t omnivorous and voracious gluttons on earth. They simply Kve to eat. The typical Corean is eating nuts, fruit, and confectionery all day long between his regular meals, imbibing also great quantities of wine at intervals ; but he can commonly eat three pounds of meat at a meal, and he eats his portion of flesh all ths more delightedly if it is black clog that happens to be in season. What can be done to elevate such a people? The national fibre has been destroyed by gross materialism., and the religious cult has' actually helped the deterioration. T-

Wizards and witch doctors are the real , rulers of Corea. What is most singular, ! perhaps, in this degrading system is that parents are counted particularly lucky if they happen to have a s-on born blind. He can become a " Pan Su," or blind sorcerer, and is sure to be able to gain a handsome livelihood tor the whole family. The " Pan Su" wizards arc supposed to be gifted with supernatural instead of natural vision. The helpers of the male Shamans are the female sorcerers, or witches, who I are everywhere in evidence. The function of these two classes of Shaman devotees is to propitiate the spirits which swarm in the air, at least three-fourths of these demons being altogether malign. The " Pan Su " and the " Mutang " will not by any means exercise their offices at a low figure. Their fees are most exorbitant, and it is* computed that Shamanism costs the country jiot less than half a million sterling annually! Nowhere can the poor Corean escane from the accursed burden of this life-long bondage to unseen foes. According to the popular creed the malign spirits fill every portion of space. The chimney is crowded with them ; they live by thousands in the kitchen ; they have their mansions in the roof ; they squat in every jar- ; they sit on every beam ; they waylay the wretched citizen by thousands when he travels forth along the road ; they dance around him in earth, air, and water. Arithmetic cannot compute their number, for they exist in thousands-, of billions. The

'ntang" or Sorceress r is the most important sort of woman among the Coreans. he is everywhere in as much request as the blind ''Pan Su," and as she can move fbout freely, not being blind as he is, she leads a much more active life. Yet, strange to say, this all-important personage is socially an outcast. The Coreans hold woman in lower esteem than any other civilised people, and the "Mutant"" is relegated to the lowest place of all, although she is the mediator between natural aud supernatural agents.

Children are sold to devils by very many families. To sell a child to a spirit is reckoned by a Corean father to be the surest method of assuring its prosperity. The children thus consecrated sfcill live with their parents, but they are considered to , belong to the "Mutang." It is extraordi- { nary that a. system so unutterably, ludi- i crous should prevail over an intelligent and keen-witted neople. All classes are bewitched by it. The late Queen, a beautiful and talented woman, was a profound believer in Shamanism, and resorted continually to the demon oracles. But they could not save her from her cruel fate. She was foully murdered by Japanese assassins. For that crime the Japanese will be bitterly hated by Corea for many a generation. The ulace where her remains were cremated has become one of the most venerated of spirit shrines. Most of the spirit-shrines in Corea are grotesque places, adorned with gaudy paintings of gigantic caricatures of humanity, like exaggerated Chinese generals. The inscription usually is, "I, the spirit, dwell in this place." The Coreans on coming to a shrine act as do the Russians when they catch sight of a holy " ikon," but they have a habit, in addition, of expectorating before passing on. To sick people are often given fragments of a feast offered 'at a shrine, with the confident hope that a cure will thus be effected. The effect is ofter>, fatal. 1 For instance, many, a- typhoid patient dstihus'-

stuffed with pork! Yet the sad result scenis to bring no revulsion of opinion. For in Corea the dark reign of superstition has eclipsed all the light of common sense.