COREA: ITS CAPITAL AND PEOPLE.

Timaru Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 6059, 19 September 1894, Page 4

COREA: ITS CAPITAL AND PEOPLE.

Mb A. Hb.nky Savage I.andob, m the Fortnightly Review. '• Wh_ is the use of working and making money," onoe said a Oore_n to me, •* if, when the work is done and the money mode, tbia is t.k.n away from jou by the official?, and you are worn out f _r having done the work, and as poor as before P if. mind you, you are fortunate enough not to be exiled to a distant province by the angry magistrate wbo has ecriohed himself at your expense. Now," added the Oerean, looking earnestly into my f-ce, " would you work under those circumstances ?" It is really painful, when you first land m Cores, to notioe the oareworn, sad expression m everybody's fare. There they lie about, idle and pensive, doubtful as to what will happen to them to-morrow, all anxious for generations that a reform might tike plaoe m the mode of government, yet all for centuries too lazy to attempt to better their position The lower olasses m Carta are much given to fighting, and the ehghtest provocation—in money matters—is sufficient to make thorn oome to blows. WUb one hand tt^ey catch hold of eaoh other by the | knu , io which the huir of all married men is ti.d on the top of the head, and while a vi 4ent process of head-shaking is followed by a shower of blows and scratches admbiitered by tbe free band, the lower extremities are kept busy distributing kioks. i Seoul, the capital of the Corean kingdom,' _b the only oity where wide streets are found, and tbe main street, leading to the royal palaoe, is indeed immensely wide, so muoh so tbat two rows of smaller thatched houses and shops are built to the middle of the street itself, thus forming, as it were, three parallel streets of one etreet; but these bouses are removed and pulled down twioe or three times a year, when his Majesty the King chooses to oome out of bis palace and goes m his State chair either to visit tbe tombs of his ancestors some miles ont of town, or to meet the envoys of the Chinese Emperor, a short way out of the west gate of the capital, aid at a plaoe where a peculiar sort of triumphal arch, half built m masonry aud half m lacquered wood, has been erected, olose by ao anifioial out io the rooky hill, whiob, m honour Of the Chinese messengers, goes by the name of the " Peking Pass," AU the oities m Oorea are walled, and the gates are opened at sunrise and closed with the setting sun I well remember at Seoul how many times I hays had to run co as not to be looked out of the town ; and vivid before me is yet the picture of hundreds of men, women and children, on foot or ou tiny ponies, or leading iaden bulls, scrambling to get mor out while the " big bell" m the centre of the town announced with its mournful sound that with the last rays of light the heavy wooden gates lined with iron would be again closed till morning. With the sun every noise ceased, every good citizen retired to his house, and only an occasional leop .rd now and then orawled over the oity wall making peregrinations m the darkness over tbe oapitai. 'ihe little trade, consisting mostly of grain exportation, is carried on almost entirely b~ Japanese and Chinese, while the importation of cotton and a few miscellaneous artioles is done by an Amerioan and a German merohant. The past office is m tbe hands of tbe Japanese, the telegraphs are under tbe oontrol of the Chinese, ac well at the oustoms revenue, whioh is looked after by official* m the Chinese service. Chemulpo is a piotureeque harbour, but ihe water too shallow to allow very large ships to enter it. Cowans are not much given to washing, and less still to bathing. They wash their hands, fairly often, and occasionally tbe faoe • the better people wash it almost daily. Oorean houses are generally small, and the rooms of diminutive sizs. Tbe most curious point about them is tbat the flooring is made of stone covered with oil paper, and that under the stone flooring there is a regular oven, called ' Kan,' m whioh a big fire is kept up day and night. Often, as tha people sleep oo the ground m their clothes, it happens that the floor gets so hot as to almost roast one. Tbe Coreans seem to delight m undergoing this roasting process, and wheu well broiled on one side they turn on the other, and take it quite as a matter of course. The kiDg's palace until lately was little better than the houses of other people, exoept that m the grounds he had a grand stone buiHiog whioh he calls the ' Bummer Palaoe,' but which he only inhabits on State occasions. When tho king goes for a day out of the palace grounds, it is a great event m t*eoui , the troops are summoned up, and line each side of the road leading to the palace. It is indeed a strange sight to see, m these d.ys, soldiers m armour aod carrying old-fashioned spears, »nd with their wide-awake blaok bats with a long red tassel hanging down on shoulders; but stranger still they look m rainy weather, when a small umbrella is fastened over tbe hat. The cavalry soldiers sti.l retain their old uniform?, while the infantry have a sort .f semi Eur pe_ •» v.<* tome whioh is quite omiaul to bok at. The Coreans, it must be understrod. are lez; and depreseed, but they are by tv> means e'upid i have come across people there who -ould be thought marvellously clever m any oivheed country: and when they wish to leirn aoything, tbey ars wonder full*; quick Bt under ttanding even matter, of wh.oh th**; have never heard before. Languages came eaey to tbem f end their ■ pre n •.*•_.» ion <f f. reign tongues is infinitely'^et' r than tbat of their neighbours the OhiUene ..V tho J_p_-e'e