Corean physiognomy--Expressions of pleasure--Displeasure--Contempt--Fear
--Pluck--Laughter--Astonishment--Admiration--Sulkiness--Jealousy
--Intelligence--Affection--Imagination--Dreams--Insanity--Its
principal causes--Leprosy--The family--Men and women--Fecundity--Natural
and artificial deformities--Abnormalities--Movements and attitudes--The
Corean hand--Conservatism.
The physiognomy of the Coreans is an interesting study, for, with the
exception of the Chinese, I know of few nations who can control the
movements of their features so well as do the Coreans. They are trained
from their infancy to show neither pain, nor pleasure, grief nor
excitement; so that a wonderful placidity is always depicted on their
faces. None the less, however, though slightly, different expressions can
be remarked. For instance, an attitude peculiar to them is to be noticed
when they happen to ponder deeply on any subject; they then slightly
frown, and with a sudden movement incline the head to the left, after
previously drawing the head backwards. If in good humour or very pleased,
again, though the expression is still grave and sedate, there is always a
vivid sparkle to be detected in the generally sleepy eyes; and, curiously
enough, while in our case the corners of the mouths generally curl up
under such circumstances, theirs, on the contrary, are drawn downwards.
Where the Coreans--and I might have said all Asiatics--excel, is in their
capacity to show contempt. They do this in the most gentleman-like manner
one can imagine. They raise the head slowly, looking at the person they
despise with a half-bored, half "I do not care a bit" look; then,
leisurely closing the eyes and opening them again, they turn the head
away with a very slight expiration from the nose.
Fear--for those, at least, who cannot control it--is to all appearance a
somewhat stronger emotion. The eyes are wide open and become staring, the
nostrils are spread wide, and the under lip hangs quivering, while the
neck and body contract, and the hands, with fingers stiffly bent, are
brought up nearly as high as the head. The yellowish skin on such
occasions generally assumes a cadaverous whitish green colour which is
pitiful to behold.
On the other hand, when pluck is shown, instead of fear, a man will draw
himself up, with his arms down and hands tightly closed, and his mouth
will assume a placid yet firm expression, the lips being firmly shut (a
thing very unusual with Coreans), and the corners tending downwards,
while a frown becomes clearly defined upon his brow.
Laughter is seldom indulged in to any very great extent among the upper
classes, who think it undignified to show in a noisy manner the pleasure
which they derive from whatever it may be. Among the lower specimens of
Corean humanity, however, sudden explosions of merriment are often
noticeable. The Corean enjoys sarcasm, probably more than anything else
in the world; and caricature delights him. I remember once drawing a
caricature of an official and showing it to a friend of his, who, in
consequence, so lost the much-coveted air of dignity, and went into such
fits, that his servants had to come to his rescue and undo his
waist-girdle. This, having occurred after a hearty meal, led to his being
seized by a violent cough, and becoming subsequently sick. Were I quite
sure of not being murdered by my readers, I would like to call it
_see_-sickness, for it was caused by--seeing a joke!
Astonishment is always expressed by a comical countenance. Let me give
you an illustration. When we anchored at Fusan in the _Higo-Maru_, many
Coreans came on board to inspect the ship; and, as I looked towards the
shore with the captain's powerful long-sight glasses, several natives
collected round me to see what I was doing. I asked one of them to look
through, and never did I see a man more amazed, than he did, when he saw
some one on the shore, with whom he was acquainted, brought so close to
him by the glasses as to make him inclined to enter into a very excited
conversation with him. His astonishment was even greater when, removing
his eyes from the lens, he saw everything resume its natural position.
When he had repeated this experiment several times, he put the glasses
down, looked at them curiously with his eyebrows raised, his mouth
pinched, and his hands spread apart at about the height of his waist, and
then looked at me. Again did he glance at the optical instrument, with
his mouth wide open; then, making a comical movement of distrust, he
quickly departed whence he had come. When he had got fairly into his
row-boat, he entered into a most animated conversation with his fellows,
and, judging by his motions as he put his hands up to his eyes, I could
see that the whole subject was his experience of what he had seen through
the "foreign devil's" pair of glasses.
Admiration is to a great extent, a modification of astonishment, and is
by the Coreans expressed more by utterance than by any very marked
expression of the face. Still, the eyes are opened more than usual, and
the eyebrows are raised, and the lips slightly parted, sifting the
breath, though not quite so loudly as in Japan.
Another curious Corean expression is to be seen when the children are
sulky. Our little ones generally protrude their lips in a tubular form,
and bend the head forward, but the Cho-senese child does exactly the
reverse. He generally throws his head back and hangs his lips, keeping
the mouth open, and making his frown with the upper part of his face.
Jealousy in the case of the women finds expression in a look somewhat
similar to the above, with an additional vicious sparkle in the eyes.
Notwithstanding the fact that it is not uncommon to hear Coreans being
classified among barbarians, I must confess that, taking a liberal view
of their constitution, they always struck me as being extremely
intelligent and quick at acquiring knowledge. To learn a foreign language
seems to them quite an easy task, and whenever they take an interest in
the subject of their studies they show a great deal of perseverance and
good-will. They possess a wonderfully sensible reasoning faculty,
coupled with an amazing quickness of perception; a fact which one hardly
expects, judging by their looks; for, at first sight, they rather impress
one as being sleepy, and dull of comprehension. The Corean is also gifted
with a very good memory, and with a certain amount of artistic power.
Generally speaking, he is of an affectionate frame of mind, though he
considers it bad form to show by outward sign any such thing as
affection. He almost tends to effeminacy in his thoughtful attentions to
those he likes; and he generally feels much hurt, though silently, if his
attentions are not appreciated or returned. For instance, when you meet a
Corean with whom you are acquainted, he invariably asks after the health
of yourself, and all your relations and friends. Should you not yourself
be as keen in inquiring after his family and acquaintances, he would
probably be mortally offended.
One of the drawbacks of the Corean mind is that it is often carried away
by an over-vivid imagination. In this, they reminded me much of the
Spaniards and the Italians. Their perception seems to be so keen that
frequently they see more than really is visible. They are much given to
exaggeration, not only in what they say, but also in their
representations in painting and sculpture. In the matters both of
conversation and of drawing, the same ideas will be found in Cho-sen to
repeat themselves constantly, more or less cleverly expressed, according
to the differently gifted individuality of the artist. The average Corean
seems to learn things quickly, but of what they learn, some things remain
rooted in their brains, while others appear to escape from it the moment
they have been grasped. There is a good deal of volubility about their
utterances, and, though visibly they do not seem very subject to strong
emotions, judging from their conversation, one would feel inclined to say
that they were. Another thing that led me to this suspicion was the
observation that the average Corean is much given to dreaming, in the
course of which he howls, shouts, talks and shakes himself to his heart's
content. This habit of dreaming is to a large extent due, I imagine, to
their mode of sleeping flat on their backs on the heated floors, which
warm their spines, and act on their brains; though it may also, in
addition to that be accounted for by the intensity of the daily emotions
re-acting by night on over-excited nervous systems. I have often observed
Coreans sleep, and they always impressed me as being extremely restless
in their slumbers. As for snoring, too, the Coreans are entitled to the
Championship of the world.
The Coreans are much affected mentally by dreams, and being, as we have
already seen, an extremely superstitious race, they attach great
importance to their nocturnal visions. A good deal of hard _cash_ is
spent in getting the advice of astrologers, who pretend to understand and
explain the occult art, and pleasure or consternation is thus usually the
result of what might have been explained naturally either by one of the
above-named causes, or by the victim having feasted the previous evening
on something indigestible. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that the
Corean mind is seldom thrown off its balance altogether. Idiocy is not
frequent, and lunacy is uncommon.
Insanity, when it does exist, generally exhibits itself under the form of
melancholia and dementia, and is more frequently found among the upper
than among the lower classes. With the men it is generally due to
intemperance and excesses, and is occasionally accompanied by paralysis.
Among the women, the only cases which came under my notice were of wives
whose husbands had many concubines, and of young widows. Suicide is not
unfrequently practised among the latter; partly in consequence of the
strict Corean etiquette, but often also caused by insanity when it does
not follow immediately upon the husband's death. Another cause of
melancholia--chiefly, however, among the lower classes--is a dreadful
complaint, which has found its way among the natives in its most
repulsive form. Many are affected by it, and no cure for it seems to have
been devised by the indigenous doctors. The accounts one hears in the
country of its ravages are too revolting to be repeated in these pages,
and I shall limit myself to this. Certain forms of insanity are
undoubtedly a common sequence to it.
Leprosy also prevails in Cho-sen, and in the more serious cases seems to
affect the brain, producing idiocy. This disease is caused by poverty of
blood, and is, of course, hereditary. I have seen two forms of it in
Cho-sen; in the one case, the skin turns perfectly white, almost shining
like satin, while in the other--a worse kind, I believe--the skin is a
mass of brown sores, and the flesh is almost entirely rotted away from
the bones. The Coreans have no hospitals or asylums in which evils like
these can be properly tended. Those affected with insanity are generally
looked after by their own families, and, if considered dangerous, are
usually chained up in rooms, either by a riveted iron bracelet, fastened
to a short heavy chain, or, more frequently, by an anklet over the right
foot.
Families in Corea are generally small in number. I have no exact
statistics at hand, for none were obtainable; but, so far as I could
judge from observation, the males and females in the population are about
equal in number. If anything, the women slightly preponderate. The
average family seldom includes more than two children. The death-rate of
Cho-sen infants is great, and many reasons can account for the fact. In
the first place, all children in Corea, even the stronger ones who
survive, are extremely delicate until a certain age is attained, when
they seem to pick up and become stronger. This weakness is hereditary,
especially among the upper classes, of whom very few powerful men are to
be found, owing to their dissolute and effeminate life.
Absolute sterility in women is not an uncommon phenomenon, and want of
virile power in the male part of the community is also often the subject
of complaint; many quaint drugs and methods being adopted to make up for
the want of it, and to stimulate the sexual desire. A good many of the
remedies resorted to by the Corean noblemen under such circumstances are
of Chinese manufacture and importation. Certain parts of the tiger, dried
and reduced to powder, are credited with the possession of wonderful
strengthening qualities, and fetch large sums. Some parts of the donkey,
also, when the animal is killed during the spring and under special
circumstances, are equally appreciated. The lower classes of Cho-sen--as
is the case in most countries--are more prolific than the upper ones. The
parents are both healthier and more robust, and the children in
consequence are stronger and more numerous, but even among these classes
large families are seldom or never found. Taken as a whole, the
population of Corea is, I believe, a slowly decreasing quantity.
The Corean is in some respects very sensible, if compared with his
neighbours. Deformities, artificially produced, are never found in Corea.
In civilised Japan, on the other hand, as we all know, the women blacken
their teeth and shave their eyebrows, while there are numberless people
in the lower classes who are tattooed from head to foot with designs of
all kinds. In China, too, people are occasionally deformed for the sake
of lucre, as, for instance, to be exhibited at village shows, and the
Chinese damsel would not consider herself fascinating enough if her feet
were not distorted to such an extent as to be shapeless, and almost
useless. The head-bands worn by the men in Corea are probably the only
causes which tend to modify the shape of their heads, and that only to a
very small degree. These head-bands are worn so very tightly from their
earliest youth, that I have often noticed men--when the head-band was
removed--show a certain flattening of the upper part of the forehead, due
undoubtedly to the continuous pressure of this head-gear. In such cases,
however, the cranial deformation--though always noticeable--is but
slight, and, of course, unintentionally caused. The skull, as a whole,
in the case of those who have worn the head-band is a little more
elongated than it is in the case of those few who have not; the
elongation being upwards and slightly backwards.
Natural abnormalities are more frequent. I have seen numerous cases of
goitre, and very often the so-called hare-lip. Webbed fingers also are
frequently noticed; while inguinal hernia, both as a congenital and as an
acquired affection, is unfortunately all too common. The natives do not
undergo any special treatment until the complaint assumes alarming
proportions, when a kind of belt is worn, or bandages of home manufacture
are used. These are the more common abnormalities. To them, however,
might also be added manifestations of albinism--though I have never seen
an absolute albino in Corea--such as, large patches of white hair among
the black. Red hair is rarely seen.
The Corean, apart, that is, from these occasional defects, is well
proportioned, and of good carriage. When he stands erect his body is
well-balanced; and when he walks, though somewhat hampered by his padded
clothes, his step is rational. He sensibly walks with his toes turned
slightly in, and he takes firm and long strides. The gait is not
energetic, but, nevertheless, the Coreans are excellent pedestrians, and
cover long distances daily, if only they are allowed plenty to eat and
permission to smoke their long pipes from time to time. Their bodies seem
very supple, and like those of nearly all Asiatics, their attitudes are
invariably graceful. In walking, they slightly swing their arms and bend
their bodies forward, except, I should say, the high officials, whose
steps are exaggeratedly marked, and whose bodies are kept upright and
purposely stiff.
One of the things which will not fail to impress a careful observer is
the beauty of the Corean hand. The generality of Europeans possess bad
hands, from an artistic point of view, but the average Corean, even among
the lower classes, has them exceedingly well-shaped, with long supple
fingers, somewhat pointed at the end; and nails well formed and prettily
shaped, though to British ideas, grown far too long. It is not a powerful
hand, mind you, but it is certainly most artistic; and, further, it is
attached to a small wrist in the most graceful way, never looking stumpy,
as so often is the case with many of us. The Coreans attach much
importance to their hands; much more, indeed, than they do to their
faces; and special attention is paid to the growth of the nails. In
summer time these are kept very clean; but in winter, the water being
very cold, the cleanliness of their limbs, "_laisse un peu à desirer_." I
have frequently seen a beautifully-shaped hand utterly spoilt by the
nails being lined with black, and the knuckles being as filthy as if they
had never been dipped in water. But these are only lesser native
failings; and have we not all our faults?
The two qualities I most admired in the Corean were his scepticism and
his conservatism. He seemed to take life as it came, and never worried
much about it. He had, too, practically no religion and no morals. He
cared about little, had an instinctive attachment for ancestral habits,
and showed a thorough dislike to change and reform. And this was not so
much as regards matters of State and religion, for little or nothing does
the Corean care about either of these, as in respect of the daily
proceedings of life. To the foreign observer, many of his ways and
customs are at first sight incomprehensible, and even reprehensible; yet,
when by chance his mode of arguing out matters for himself is clearly
understood, we will almost invariably find that he is correct. After all,
every one, whether barbarian or otherwise, knows best himself how to
please himself. The poor harmless Corean, however, is not allowed that
privilege. He, as if by sarcasm, calls his country by the retiring name
of the "Hermit Realm" and the more poetic one of the "Land of the Morning
Calm"; "a coveted calm" indeed, which has been a dream to the country,
but never a reality, while, as for its hermit life, it has been only too
often troubled by objectionable visitors whom he detests, yet whom,
nevertheless, he is bound to receive with open arms, helpless as he is to
resist them.
Poor Corea! Bad as its Government was and is, it is heart-rending to any
one who knows the country, and its peaceful, good-natured people, to see
it overrun and impoverished by foreign marauders. Until the other day,
she was at rest, heard of by few, and practically forgotten by everybody,
to all intents an independent kingdom, since China had not for many years
exercised her rights of suzerainty,[4] when, to satisfy the ambition of
a childish nation, she suddenly finds herself at the mercy of everybody,
and with a dark and most disastrous future before her!
Poor Corea! A sad day has come for you! You, who were so attractive,
because so quaint and so retiring, will nevermore see that calm which has
ever been the yearning of your patriot sons! Many evils are now before
you, but, of all the great calamities that might befall you, I can
conceive of none greater than an attempt to convert you into a civilised
nation!
FOOTNOTES:
[4] After a cessation of many years a tribute was again exacted
from Corea in 1890, in consequence of overtures being made to
Corea by Japan, which displeased China.
INDEX
Abnormalities
Adoption of Children
Adultery
Alphabet
Astronomers
Archery
Army instructors
Aryan
Bachelors
Beggars
Beverages
Big Bell
Body-snatching
Bonzes
Bridges
" (crossing the)
Buddha
Buddhism
Burial ground
Cereals
Chang
Charity
Chemulpo
Children
Chinese Customs Service
Chinese invasions
Chinese settlement
Cho-sen
City wall
Clans
Classes and castes
Clothes
Compradores
Concubines
Conflagrations
Confucianism
Conservatism
Consulate (British)
" (German)
Coolies
Corea (the word)
Cotton production
Crucifixion
Cultivation
Currency
Decorations
Deformities
Divorce
Documents
Dragons
Drainage
Dreams
Education
Eunuchs
Evil spirits
Examinations
Executions
Exile
Exorcisms
Expressions
Expression after Death
Falcons
Families
Features
Feron (l'Abbé)
Fights
" (Stone-)
Filial love
Fire-signals
Floggings
Food
Foreigners
Free nights for men
Funerals
Furniture
Fusan
Fuyn race
Games
Gardens
Gates (City)
Gate of the Dead
Ghosts
Girls
Gods (minor)
Graves
Greathouse (Clarence R.)
Guechas or Geishas
Guilds
Hair-dressing
Hanabusa
Hands
Han River
Haunted palaces
Head-gear
Hiaksai
Hospitality
Hotels
Houses
House-warming
Illumination (Modes of)
Inns
Intelligence
Japanese
" settlements
Jinrickshas
Joss-houses
Kim-Ka-Chim
King
Kite-flying
Kitchen
Kiung-sang
Korai
Kung-wo
Language
Lanterns
Law
Legations (American, Chinese, Japanese, Russian)
Le Gendre (General)
Leopards
Leprosy
Lin
Lunacy
Mafu
Maki
Man of the Gates, The
Mapu
Marks
Marriages
Married Men
Mats
Messengers
Metempsychosis
Mile posts
Min-san-ho
Min-Young-Chun
Min-Young-Huan
Missionaries
Monasteries
Mongolian type
Mono-wheeled chair
Mourning
Mulberry plantation
Music
Names
" (women's)
Nanzam (Mount)
New Year's festivities
Nunneries
Offerings
Oppert
Oxen
Pagoda
Phoenix
Palaces
Palace (Royal)
" (Summer)
Palanquins
Paternal love
Pekin Pass
Physiognomy
Pipes
Plank-walk (The)
Pockets
Police
Politics
Ponies
Poo-kan
Port Hamilton
Prayer-Books
Procession (King's)
Proverbs
Punishments
Queen (The)
Religion
Respect for the Old
Rice
Roads
Rosary
Royal Family
Russian villa
Sacred Trees
Sacrifices
Saddles
Satsuma ware
Scenery
Scepticism
Schools
Sea-lions or tigers
Sedan-chairs
Self-denial
Seoul
Seradin Sabatin (Mr.)
Serfdom
Shamanism
Shinra
Shoes
Shops
Singers
Smoke signals
Snakes
Soldiers
Sorcerers
Spectacles
Spinning-tops
Spirits
Spirits of the mountains
Square-board (The)
Sterility
Stone-heaps
Streets
Students
Studies
Suicides
Sunto
Tailors
Tai-wen-kun
Telephones
Temples
Throne
Tide
Tigers
Tooth-stone
Tortoise
Toys
Umbrella hat
Wang
Washing clothes
Water-coolies
Wedding ceremony
Widows
Wind-making
Wives
Women
Women's looks
Women's rights
Wuju kingdom
End of Project Gutenberg's Corea or Cho-sen, by A (Arnold) Henry Savage-Landor