Repeatedly, since returning to the United States, people have asked me,
"Why don't you write a book on Korea?" I have invariably replied that
it was not necessary, and referred the inquirers to the large work
of Dr. Griffis, entitled "Corea, the Hermit Kingdom," which covers
the subject in a charming manner.
My object in writing this book was to correct the erroneous impressions
I have found somewhat prevalent--that the Koreans were a semi-savage
people. And believing that the object could be accomplished best in
displaying the thought, life, and habits of the people as portrayed
in their native lore, I have made these translations, which, while
they are so chosen as to cover various phases of life, are not to be
considered as especially selected.
I also wished to have some means of answering the constant
inquiries from all parts of the country concerning Korean life and
characteristics.
People in Washington have asked me if Korea was an island in the
Mediterranean; others have asked if Korea could be reached by rail
from Europe; others have supposed that Korea was somewhere in the
South Seas, with a climate that enabled the natives to dispense with
clothing. I have therefore included two chapters, introductory and
descriptive in character, concerning the subjects of the majority of
such questions.
"Globe trotters," in passing from Japan to North China, usually go
by way of the Korean ports, now that a line of excellent Japanese
steamships covers that route. These travellers see the somewhat
barren coasts of Korea--left so, that outsiders might not be tempted
to come to the then hermit country; perhaps they land at Chemulpoo
(the port of the capital, thirty miles distant), and stroll through
the rows of miserable, temporary huts, occupied by the stevedores,
the pack-coolies, chair-bearers, and other transient scum, and then
write a long article descriptive of Korea. As well might they describe
America as seen among the slab shanties of one of the newest western
railroad towns, for when the treaties were formed in 1882 not a house
stood where Chemulpoo now stands, with its several thousand regular
inhabitants and as many more transients.
H. N. Allen.
Washington, D. C., July 1, 1889.