CHAPTER I.

COREA

THE HERMIT NATION

I.—ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL HISTORY

II.—POLITICAL AND SOCIAL COREA

III.—MODERN AND RECENT HISTORY

BY

WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS

FORMERLY OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKIO, JAPAN

AUTHOR OF “THE MIKADO’S EMPIRE”

NINTH EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

1911

TO

ALL COREAN PATRIOTS:

WHO SEEK

BY THE AID OF SCIENCE, TRUTH, AND PURE RELIGION,

TO ENLIGHTEN

THEMSELVES AND THEIR FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN,

TO RID

THEIR LAND OF SUPERSTITION, BIGOTRY, DESPOTISM, AND

PRIESTCRAFT—BOTH NATIVE AND FOREIGN—

AND TO PRESERVE

THE INTEGRITY, INDEPENDENCE, AND HONOR, OF THEIR COUNTRY;

THIS UNWORTHY SKETCH

OF

THEIR PAST HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION

IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE TO THE NINTH EDITION.

The year 1910 saw the Land of the Plum Blossom and the Islands of the

Cherry Blooms united. In this ninth edition of a work which for nearly

thirty years has been a useful hand-book of information—having, by

their own unsought confession, inspired not a few men and women to

become devoted friends and teachers of the Corean people—I have made

some corrections and added a final chapter, “Chō-sen: A Province of

Japan.” Besides outlining in brief the striking events from 1907 to

1911, I have analyzed the causes of the extinction of Corean

sovereignty, aiming in this to be a disinterested interpreter rather

than a mere annalist.

Although the sovereignty of Corea, first recognized and made known to

the world by the Japanese in their treaty of 1876, has been, through

the logic of events, destroyed, I doubt not that the hopes of twelve

millions of people will be increasingly fulfilled under the new

arrangement. Not in haste, but only after long compulsion, did the

statesmen of Japan assume a responsibility that may test to the full

their abilities and those of their successors. The severe criticisms,

in Japan itself, of the policy of the Tokio government bear witness to

the sensitiveness of the national conscience in regard to the treatment

of their colonies. In this respect, as in so many other points of

public ethics, the Japanese are ranging themselves abreast with the

leading nations that are making a world-conscience.

In sending forth what may be the final edition of a work, with the

title of which time has had its revenges, while the contents are still

of worth, the author thanks heartily all who, from 1876, when the work

was planned, until the present time, have assisted in making this book

valuable to humanity.

W. E. G. Ithaca, N. Y., June 27, 1911.

PREFACE TO THE EIGHTH EDITION.

When in October, 1882, the publishers of “Corea the Hermit Nation”

presented this work to the public of English-speaking nations, they

wrote:

“Corea stands in much the same relation to the traveller that the

region of the pole does to the explorer, and menaces with the same

penalty the too inquisitive tourist who ventures to penetrate its

inhospitable borders.”

For twenty-four years, this book, besides enjoying popular favor, has

been made good use of by writers and students, in Europe and America,

and has served even in Corea itself as the first book of general

information to be read by missionaries and other new comers. In this

eighth edition, I have added to the original text, ending with Chapter

XLVIII (September, 1882), five fresh chapters: on The Economic

Condition of Corea; International Politics: Chinese and Japanese; The

War of 1894: Corea an Empire; Japan and Russia in Conflict; and Corea a

Japanese Protectorate, bringing the history down to the late autumn of

1906.

Within the brief period of time treated in these new chapters, the

centre of the world’s politics has shifted from the Atlantic and the

Mediterranean to the waters surrounding Corea, the strange anomaly of

dual sovereignty over the peninsular state has been eliminated, and the

military reputation of China ruined, and that of Russia compromised.

The rise of Japan, within half a century of immediate contact with the

West, to the position of a modern state, able first to humiliate China

and then to grapple successfully with Russia, has vitally affected

Corea, on behalf of whose independence Japan a second time went to war

with a Power vastly greater in natural resources than herself. In this

period also, the United States of America has become one of the great

Powers interested in the politics of Asia, and with which the would-be

conquerors of Asiatic peoples must reckon.

The present or eighth edition shows in both text and map, not only the

swift, logical results both of Japan’s military and naval successes in

Manchuria and on the sea of Japan and of her signal diplomatic victory

at Portsmouth, but more. It makes clear the reasons why Corea, as to

her foreign relations, has lost her sovereignty.

The penalty laid upon the leaders of the peninsular kingdom for making

intrigue instead of education their work, and class interests instead

of national welfare their aim, is also shown to be pronounced—less by

the writer than by the events themselves—in the final failure of

intriguing Yang-banism, in May, 1906. The Japanese, in the

administration of Corea, are like the other protecting nations,

British, American, French, German, now on a moral trial before the

world.

In again sending forth a work that has been so heartily welcomed, I

reiterate gladly my great obligations to the scholars, native and

foreign, who have so generously aided me by their conversation,

correspondence, criticism, and publications, and the members of the

Korean Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, who have honored me with

membership in their honorable body. My special obligations are due to

our late American Minister, H. N. Allen, for printed documents and

illustrative matter; to Professor Homer B. Hulbert, Editor of The Korea

Review, from the pages of which I have drawn liberally, and to the

Editor of The Japan Mail, the columns of which are rich in

correspondence from Corea. I would call attention also to the additions

made upon the map at the end of the volume.

I beg again the indulgence of my readers, especially of those who by

long residence upon the soil, while so thoroughly able to criticize,

have been so profuse in their expression of appreciation. From both

sides of the Atlantic and Pacific have come these gratifying tokens,

and to them as well as to my publishers, I make glad acknowledgments in

sending forth this eighth edition.

W. E. G. Ithaca, N. Y., December 12, 1906.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

In the year 1871, while living at Fukui, in the province of Echizen,

Japan, I spent a few days at Tsuruga and Mikuni, by the sea which

separates Japan and Corea. Like “the Saxon shore” of early Britain, the

coast of Echizen had been in primeval times the landing-place of

rovers, immigrants, and adventurers from the continental shore

opposite. Here, at Tsuruga, Corean envoys had landed on their way to

the mikado’s court. In the temple near by were shrines dedicated to the

Corean Prince of Mimana, and to Jingu Kōgō, Ojin, and Takénouchi, whose

names in Japanese traditions are associated with “The Treasure-land of

the West.” Across the bay hung a sweet-toned bell, said to have been

cast in Corea in A.D. 647; in which tradition—untested by

chemistry—declared there was much gold. Among the hills not far away,

nestled the little village of Awotabi (Green Nook), settled centuries

ago by paper-makers, and visited a millenium ago by tribute-bearers,

from the neighboring peninsula; and famous for producing the crinkled

paper on which the diplomatic correspondence between the two nations

was written. Some of the first families in Echizen were proud of their

descent from Chō-sen, while in the villages, where dwelt the Eta, or

social outcasts, I beheld the descendants of Corean prisoners of war.

Everywhere the finger of tradition pointed westward across the waters

to the Asian mainland, and the whole region was eloquent of “kin beyond

sea.” Birds and animals, fruits and falcons, vegetables and trees,

farmers’ implements and the potter’s wheel, names in geography and

things in the arts, and doctrines and systems in religion were in some

way connected with Corea.

The thought often came to me as I walked within the moss-grown feudal

castle walls—old in story, but then newly given up to schools of

Western science and languages—why should Corea be sealed and

mysterious, when Japan, once a hermit, had opened her doors and come

out into the world’s market-place? When would Corea’s awakening come?

As one diamond cuts another, why should not Chō-ka (Japan) open Chō-sen

(Corea)?

Turning with delight and fascination to the study of Japanese history

and antiquities, I found much that reflected light upon the neighbor

country. On my return home, I continued to search for materials for the

story of the last of the hermit nations. No master of research in China

or Japan having attempted the task, from what Locke calls “the

roundabout view,” I have essayed it, with no claim to originality or

profound research, for the benefit of the general reader, to whom Corea

“suggests,” as an American lady said, “no more than a sea-shell.” Many

ask “What’s in Corea?” and “Is Corea of any importance in the history

of the world?”

My purpose in this work is to give an outline of the history of the

Land of Morning Calm—as the natives call their country—from before the

Christian era to the present year. As “an honest tale speeds best,

being plainly told,” I have made no attempt to embellish the narrative,

though I have sought information from sources from within and without

Corea, in maps and charts, coins and pottery, the language and art,

notes and narratives of eye-witnesses, pencil-sketches, paintings and

photographs, the standard histories of Japan and China, the testimony

of sailor and diplomatist, missionary and castaway, and the digested

knowledge of critical scholars. I have attempted nothing more than a

historical outline of the nation and a glimpse at the political and

social life of the people. For lack of space, the original manuscript

of “Recent and Modern History,” part III., has been greatly abridged,

and many topics of interest have been left untouched.

The bulk of the text was written between the years 1877 and 1880; since

which time the literature of the subject has been enriched by Ross’s

“Corea” and “Corean Primer,” besides the Grammar and Dictionary of the

Corean language made by the French missionaries. With these linguistic

helps I have been able to get access to the language, and thus clear up

doubtful points and obtain much needed data. I have borrowed largely

from Dallet’s “Histoire d’Eglise de Corée,” especially in the chapters

devoted to Folk-lore, Social Life, and Christianity. In the

Bibliography following the Preface is a list of works to which I have

been more or less indebted.

Many friends have assisted me with correspondence, advice, or help in

translation, among whom I must first thank my former students,

Haségawa, Hiraii, Haraguchi, Matsui, and Imadatté, and my newer

Japanese friends, Ohgimi and Kimura, while others, alas! will never in

this world see my record of acknowledgment—K. Yaye′ and Egi

Takato—whose interest was manifested not only in discussion of mooted

points, but by search among the book-shops in Kiōto and Tōkiō, which

put much valuable standard matter in my hands. I also thank Mr. Charles

Lanman, Secretary of the Legation of Japan in Washington, for four

ferrotypes taken in Seoul in 1878 by members of the Japanese embassy;

Mr. D. R. Clark, of the United States Transit of Venus Survey, for four

photographs of the Corean villages in Russian Manchuria; Mr. R. Idéura,

of Tōkiō, for a set of photographs of Kang-wa and vicinity, taken in

1876, and Mr. Ozawa Nankoku, for sketches of Corean articles in

Japanese museums. To Lieutenant Wadhams, of the United States Navy, for

the use of charts and maps made by himself while in Corea in 1871, and

for photographs of flags and other trophies, now at Annapolis, captured

in the Han forts; to Fleet-Surgeon H. O. Mayo, and other officers of

the United States Navy, for valuable information, I hereby express my

grateful appreciation of kindness shown. I would that Admiral John

Rodgers, Commodore H. C. Blake, and Minister F. F. Low were living to

receive my thanks for their courtesies personally shown me, even

though, in attempting to write history, I have made criticisms also. To

Lieutenant N. Y. Yanagi, of the Hyrographic Bureau, of the Japanese

Navy, for a set of charts of the coast of Corea; to Mr. Metcalfe, of

Milwaukee, for photographs of Coreans; to Miss Marshall, of New York,

for making colored copies of the battle-flags captured by our naval

battalion in 1871, and for the many favors of correspondents—in St.

Petersburg, Mr. Hoffman Atkinson; in Peking, Jugoi Arinori Mori; in

Tōkiō, Dr. D. B. McCartee, Hon. David Murray, Rev. J. L. Amerman, and

others whose names I need not mention. To Gen. George W. McCullum,

Vice-President, and to Mr. Leopold Lindau, Librarian, of the American

Geographical Society, I return my warmest thanks; as well as to my dear

wife and helpmeet, for her aid in copying, proof-reading, suggestions,

and criticism during the progress of the work.

In one respect, the presentation of such a subject by a compiler, while

shorn of the fascinating element of personal experience, has an

advantage even over the narrator who describes a country through which

he has travelled. With the various reports of many witnesses, in many

times and places, before him, he views the whole subject and reduces

the many impressions of detail to unity, correcting one by the other.

Travellers usually see but a portion of the country at one time. The

compiler, if able even in part to control his authorities, and if

anything more than a tyro in the art of literary appraisement, may be

able to furnish a hand-book of information more valuable to the general

reader.

In the use of my authorities I have given heed to Bacon’s

advice—tasting some, chewing others, and swallowing few. In ancient

history, original authorities have been sought, and for the story of

modern life, only the reports of careful eye-witnesses have been set

down as facts; while opinions and judgments of alien occidentals

concerning Corean social life are rarely borrowed without due flavoring

of critical salt.

Corean and Japanese life, customs, beliefs, and history are often

reflections one of the other. Much of what is reported from Corea,

which the eye-witnesses themselves do not appear to understand, is

perfectly clear to one familiar with Japanese life and history. China,

Corea, and Japan are as links in the same chain of civilization. Corea,

like Cyprus between Egypt and Greece, will yet supply many missing

details to the comparative student of language, art, science, the

development of civilization, and the distribution of life on the globe.

Some future writer, with more ability and space at command than the

undersigned, may discuss the question as to how far the opening of

Corea to the commerce of the world has been the result of internal

forces; the scholar, by his original research, may prepare the

materials for a worthy history of Corea during the two or three

thousand years of her history; the geologist or miner may determine the

question as to how far the metallic wealth of Corea will affect the

monetary equilibrium of the world. The missionary has yet to prove the

full power of Christianity upon the people—and before Corean paganism,

any form of the religion of Jesus, Roman, Greek or Reformed, should be

welcomed; while to the linguist, the man of science, and the political

economist, the new country opened by American diplomacy presents

problems of profound interest.

W. E. G. Schenectady, N. Y., October 2, 1882.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The following is a list of books and papers containing information

about Corea. Those of primary value to which the compiler of this work

is specially indebted are marked with an asterisk (*); those to which

slight obligation, if any, is acknowledged with a double asterisk; and

those which he has not consulted, with a dagger (†). See also under The

Corean Language and Cartography, in the Appendix.

* History of the Eastern Barbarians. “Book cxv. contains a sketch of

the tribes and nations occupying the northeastern seaboard of China,

with the territory now known as Manchuria and Corea.” This extract from

a History of the Later Han Dynasty (25–220 A.D.), by a Chinese scholar

of the fifth century, has been translated into English by Mr. Alexander

Wylie, and printed in the Revue de l’Extrême Orient, No. 1, 1882. Du

Halde and De Mailla, in French, and Ross, in English, have also given

the substance of the Chinese writer’s work, which also furnishes the

basis of Japanese accounts of Corean history previous to the fourth

century.

† The Subjugation of Chaou-seen, by A. Wylie. (Atti del IV. Cong. int.

degli Orient, ii., pp. 309–315, 1881.) This fragment is a translation

of the 95th book of the History of the Former Han Dynasty of China.

* Empire de la Chine et la Tartarie Chinoise, par P. du Halde.

* The Kōjiki and Nihongi, written in Japan during the eighth century,

throws much light on the early history of Corea.

* Wakan-San-sai Dzuyé. Article on Chō-sen in this great Japanese

Encyclopædia.

† Tong-Kuk Tong-Kan (General View of the Eastern Kingdom), a native

Corean history written in Chinese.

* Zenrin Koku Hoki (Precious Jewels from a Neighboring Country), by

Shiuho. Japan, 1586.

* Corea, its History, Manners, and Customs, by John Ross. 1 vol., pp.

404. Illustrations and maps. Paisley, 1880.

* The Chinese Reader’s Manual, by W. Fred. Mayers. 1 vol., pp. 440.

Shanghae, 1874. An invaluable epitome of Chinese history, biography,

chronology, bibliography, and whatever is of interest to the student of

Chinese literature.

* Kō-chō Rekidai Enkaku Zukai. Historical Periods and Changes of the

Japanese Empire, with maps and notes, by Otsuki Tōyō.

** San Koku Tsu-ran To-setsu. Mirror of the Three [Tributary] Kingdoms,

Chō-sen, Riu kiu, and Yezo, by Rin Shihei, 1785. This work, with its

maps, was translated into French by J. Klaproth, and published in

Paris, 1832. 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 288, of which pp. 158 relate to Chō-sen.

Digested also in Siebold’s Archiv.

** Archiv zur Beschreibung von Japan, by Franz von Siebold. This

colossal work contains much matter in text and illustrations relating

to Corea, and the digest of several Japanese books, in the part

entitled Nachrichten über Korai, Japan’s Bezüge mit der Koraischen

Halbinsel und mit Schina.

** Corea und dessen Einfluss auf die Bevölkerung Japans. Zeit. für

Ethnologie, Zitzungbericht VIII. p. 78, 1876. P. Kempermann.

** O Dai Ichi Ran. This work, containing the annals of the emperors of

Japan, is a bird’s-eye view of the principal events in Japanese

history, written in the style of an almanac, which Titsingh copied down

from translations made by Japanese who spoke Dutch. Klaproth revised

and corrected Titsingh’s work, and published his own version in 1834.

Paris and London, 8vo, pp. 460. This work contains many references to

Corea and the relations of the two countries, transcribed from the

older history.

** Tableaux Historiques de l’Asie, depuis la monarchie de Cyrus jusque

nos jours, accompagnes de recherches historiques et ethnographiques,

etc. Par J. Klaproth, Paris, 1826. Avec un atlas in folio. This manual

of the political geography of Asia is very useful, but not too

accurate.

† A Heap of Jewels in a Sea of Learning (Gei Kai Shu Jin; Jap. pron.).

A chapter from this Chinese book treats of Corea.

† Chō-sen Hitsu Go-shin. A collection of conversations with the pen,

with a Corean who could not speak Japanese. By Ishikawa Rokuroku

Sanjin, Yedo.

* The Classical Poetry of the Japanese. By Basil Hall Chamberlain.

London, 1880.

** An Outline History of Japanese Education, New York, 1876. This

monograph, prepared for the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia,

reviews the educational influences of Corea upon Japan. The information

given is, with other data, from Klaproth, utilized in Pickering’s

Chronological History of Plants, by Charles Pickering, M.D., Boston,

1879.

* Japanese Chronological Tables. By William Bramsen, Tōkiō, 1880. An

invaluable essay on Japanese chronology, which was, like the Corean,

based on the Chinese system. We have used this work of the lamented

scholar (who died a few months after it was published) in rendering

dates expressed in terms of the Chinese into those of the Gregorian or

modern system.

** History of the Mongols. 3 vols. pp. 1827. London, 1876. By Henry

Howorth. This portly work is full of the fruits of research concerning

the people led by Genghis Khan. It contains excellent maps of Asia, and

of Mongolia, and Manchuria, illustrating the Mongol conquests.

† Chō-sen Ki-che. (Memorandum upon Corean Affairs.) The Chinese

ambassador sent by the Ming emperor in 1450, gives in this little work

an account of his journey, which throws light upon the political and

geographical situation of Chō-sen and China at that time. Quoted by M.

Scherzer, but not translated.

* Nihon Guaishi. Military History of Japan, by Rai Sanyo. This is the

Japanese standard history. It was published in 1827 in twenty-two

volumes. It covers the period from the Taira and Minamoto families to

that of the Tokugawa in the seventeenth century. The first part of this

work was translated into English by Mr. Ernest Satow, and published in

The Japan Mail at Yokohama, 1872–74. In the latter portion the invasion

of Chō-sen, 1592–97, is outlined.

* Chō-sen Seito Shimatsŭki. A work in five volumes, giving an account

of the embassies, treaties, documents relating to the invasion of

1592–97, with an outline of the war, geographical notes, with nine maps

by Yamazaki Masanagi and Miura Katsuyoshi.

* Illustrated History of the Invasion of Chō-sen. Written by Tsuruminé

Hikoichiro. Illustrations by Hashimoto Giokuron. 20 vols. Yedo, 1853.

This popular work, besides an outline of Corean history from the

beginning, condensed from local legends and Chinese writers, details

the operations of war and diplomacy relating to Hidéyoshi’s invasion.

It is copiously illustrated with first-class wood engravings. It has

not been translated.

* Chō-sen Monogatari. A Diary and Narrative of the Japanese Military

Operations in Chō-sen during the Campaign of 1594–97, by Okoji

Hidémoto. Copied out and published in 1672, and again in 1849. This

narrative of an eye-witness was written by the author at the time of

the events described, and afterward copied by his own son and deposited

in the temple at which his ancestors worshipped. This vivid and

spirited story of the second invasion of Chō-sen by Hidéyoshi has been

translated into German by Dr. A. Pfizmaier, under the title Der Feldzug

der Japaner gegen Corea, im Jahre, 1597. 2 vols. Vienna, 1875: 4to, pp.

98; 1876: 4to, pp. 58.

** Chohitsuroku. History of the Embassies, Treaties, and War Operations

during the Japanese Invasion. This work is by a Corean author, who was

one of the ministers of the king throughout the war. It is written in

Chinese, has a map, and gives the Corean side of the history of affairs

from about 1585 to 1598. 3 vols.

* Three Severall Testimonies Concerning the mighty Kingdom of Coray,

tributary to the Kingdom of China, and bordering upon her Northeastern

Frontiers, and called by the Portugales, Coria, etc., etc., collected

out of Portugale yeerely Japonian Epistles, dated 1590, 1592, 1594. In

Hakluyt, London, 1600.

* Hidéyoshi’s Invasion of Korea. Trans. Asiatic Society of Japan. By W.

G. Aston. In these papers Mr. Aston gives the results of a study of the

campaign of 1592–97, as found in Japanese and Corean authors.

** Lettre Annuelle de Mars 1593, ecrite par le P. Pierre Gomez au P.

Claude Acquavira, general de la Compagnie de Jesus. Milan, 1597, p. 112

et suiv. In Hakluyt.

* Histoire de la Religion Chrétienne au Japon. Par Leon Pages. 2 vols.,

text and documents. Paris, 1869.

** Histoire des deux Conquerans Tartares, qui ont subjugé la Chine, par

le R. P. Pierre Joseph D’Orliens.

* Chō-sen Monogatari (Romantic Narrative of Travels in Corea), by two

Men from Mikuni, in Echizen, cast ashore in Tartary in 1645. This work

is digested in Siebold’s Archiv.

* Narrative of an Unlucky Voyage and Imprisonment in Corea, 1653–1667

In Astley’s and Pinkerton’s Voyages. By Hendrik Hamel.

* Imperial Chinese Atlas, containing maps of China and each of the

Provinces, including Shing-king and the neutral strip.

* Histoire de l’Eglise de Corée, par Ch. Dallet. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. 982.

Paris, 1874. This excellent work contains 192 pages of introduction,

full of accurate information concerning the political social life,

geography, and language of Corea, and a history of the introduction and

progress of Roman Christianity, and the labors of the French

missionaries, from 1784–1866. It contains also a map and four charts of

Corean writing.

* Une Expedition en Corée. In la Tour du Monde for 1873 there is an

article of 16 pp. (401–417) with illustrations, by M. H. Zuber, a

French naval officer, who was in Corea in 1866 under Admiral Roze. An

excellent descriptive paper by an eye-witness.

* Diary of a Chinese Envoy to Corea (Journal d’une Mission en Corée),

by Koei Ling, Ambassador of his Majesty the Emperor of China, to the

court of Chō-sen in 1866. Translated from the Chinese into French by F.

Scherzer, Interpreter to the French Legation at Peking. 8vo, pp. 77.

Paris, 1882. This journal of the last Chinese ambassador to Seoul is

well rendered, and is copiously supplied with explanatory notes, and a

colored map of the author’s route from Peking through Chili,

Shing-king, via Mukden, and through three provinces of Corea to Seoul.

† Many memoirs and special papers prepared by French officers in the

expedition to Corea in 1866 were prepared and read before local

societies at Cherbourg, Lyons, etc.

† Expedition de Corée. Revue maritime et coloniale, February, 1867, pp.

474–481.

† Paris Moniteur, 1866–67.

** Lettre sur la Corée et son Eglise Chrétienne. Bulletin de la Société

Geographique de Lyon, 1876, pp. 278–282, and June, 1870, pp. 417–422,

and map.

** The Corean Martyrs. By Canon Shortland. 1 vol., pp. 115. London.

Compiled from the letters of the French missionaries.

** Nouvelle Geographie Universelle. This superb treasury of

geographical science, still unfinished, contains a full summary of our

knowledge of Corea, especially showing the prominent part which French

navigators, scholars, and missionaries have taken in its exploration.

Paris.

** Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World.

By William R. Broughton. 2 vols. 4to, with atlas. London, 1804.

** Voyage Round the World. By Jean François de Gallou de La Perouse.

London, 1799.

** Voyages to the Eastern Seas in the year 1818. By Basil Hall. New

York, London, and revised by Captain Hall in 1827. Jamaica, N. Y.

* Narrative of a Voyage in His Majesty’s late Ship Alceste, to the

Yellow Sea, along the Coast of Corea, and through its numerous hitherto

undiscovered Islands, etc., etc. By John McLeod, Surgeon of the

Alceste. 1 vol., pp. 288 (see pp. 38–53). London, 1877. A witty and

lively narrative.

** Voyages along the Coast of China (Corea), etc. By Charles Gutzlaff.

1 vol., pp. 332. New York, 1833. (From July 17, to August 17, 1832; pp.

254–287.)

* Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang, during the years 1843–46.

By Captain Sir E. Belcher. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. 574–378. London, 1848. Vol.

i. pp. 324–358; vol. ii., pp. 444–466, relate to Corea.

* American Commerce with China. By Gideon Nye, Esq. In the Far East.

Shanghae, 1878. A history of the commercial relations of the United

States with China, especially before 1800.

* Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, China, and Japan,

1866–81.

* Report of the Secretary of the Navy to Congress, pp. 275–313. 1872.

* Private Notes, Charts, and Maps of Officers of the United States Navy

who were in Corea in 1871.

** A Summer Dream of ’71. A Story of Corea. By T. G. The Far East.

Shanghae, April, 1878.

* Journey through Eastern Mantchooria and Korea. By Walton Grinnell.

Journal American Geographical Society, 1870–71, pp. 283–300.

* Japan and Corea. A valuable monograph in six chapters, by Mr. E. H.

House, in The Tōkiō Times, 1877.

** On a Collection of Crustacea made in the Corean and Japanese Seas.

J. Muirs, 1879. London Zoological Society’s Proceedings (pp. 18–81,

pls. 1–113). Reviewed by J. S. Kingsley. Norwich, N. Y. American

Naturalist.

** A Private Trip in Corea. By Frank Cowan, M.D. The Japan Mail, 1880.

† The Leading Men of Japan. By Charles Lanman. Boston, 1882. Contains a

chapter on Corea.

* Manuscript volume of pencil notes made by Kawamura Kuanshiu, an

officer on the Japanese gunboat Unyo-kuan, during her cruise and

capture of the Kang-wa Fort, 1875. Partly printed in the Japan Mail.

* Journals of Japanese Military and Diplomatic Officers who have

visited Corea, and Correspondence of the Japanese newspapers, from

Seoul, Fusan, Gensan, etc. These have been partly translated for the

English press at Yokohama.

* Correspondence, Notes, Editorials, etc., in the English and French

newspapers published in China and Japan.

** Maru-maru Shimbun (Japanese Punch).

* Chō-sen: Its Eight Administrative Divisions. 1 vol. Tōkiō, Japan,

1882.

* Chō-sen Jijo. A short Account of Corea, its History, Productions,

etc. 2 vols. Tōkiō, 1875.

* Chō-sen Bunkenroku (Things Seen and Heard concerning Corea). By Sato

Hakushi. 2 vols. Tōkiō, 1875.

* Travels of a Naturalist in Japan [Corea] and Manchuria. By Arthur

Adams. 1 vol., pp. 334. London, 1870. See chaps, x., xi., pp. 125–166.

** Ueber die Reise der Kais. Corvette Hertha, in besondere nach Corea.

Kramer, Marine Prediger. Zeit. für Ethnologie, 1873. Verhandlungen, pp.

49–54.

** A Forbidden Land. By Ernest Oppert. 1 vol., pp. 349. Illustrations,

charts, etc. New York, 1880.

** Journeys in North China. By Rev. A. Williamson. 2 vols. 16mo.

London, 1870. Besides a chapter on Corea, this work contains an

excellent map of the country north and east of Chō-sen

** The Middle Kingdom. By S. Wells Williams.

** Consular Reports in the Blue Books of the British Government,

especially the Reports of Mr. McPherson, Consul at Niu-chwang. January,

1866.

* Handbook for Central and Northern Japan, with maps and plans. Satow

and Hawes. 1 vol. 16mo, pp. 489. This work, which leaves nothing to be

desired as a guide-book, contains several references to Corean art and

history.

** The Wild Coasts of Nipon. By Captain H. C. St. John (who surveyed

some parts of Southern Corea in H.B.M.S. Sylvia). See chap, xii., pp.

235–255, with a map of Corea.

** Darlegung aus der Geschichte und Geographie Coreas. Pfizmaier. 8vo,

pp. 56. Vienna, 1874.

† Petermann’s Mittheilungen, No. 1, Carte No. 19, 1871.

** Das Konigreich Korea. Von Kloden. Aus allen Welth., x., Nos. 5 u. 6.

† Corea. Geographical Magazine. (S. Mossman.) vi. p. 148, 1877.

† Corea. By Captain Allen Young, Royal Geographical Society. Vol. ix.,

No. 6, pp. 296–300.

** China, with an Appendix on Corea. By Charles Eden. 1 vol., pp.

281–322. London. A popular compilation.

** Korea and the Lost Tribes, and Map and Chart of Korea. Text and

illustrations. The title of this work is sufficient. Even the

bibliography of Corea has a comic side.

** Chi-shima (Kurile Islands) and Russian Invasion. A lecture delivered

in Japanese, before the Tōkiō United Geographical Society, February 24,

1882. By Admiral Enomoto. This valuable historical treatise, translated

for the Japan Mail and Japan Herald, contains much information about

Russian operations in the countries bordering the North Pacific and the

Coreans north of the Tumen.

† Bulletin de la Société Geographique, 1875. Corean villages in the

Russian possessions described.

** Ravensteins, The Russians on the Amoor. London, 1861.

† Die Insel Quelpart. Deutsche Geogr. Blätter, 1879. iii., No. 1, S.

45–46.

† A Trip to Quelpaert. Nautical Magazine, 1870, No. 4, p. 321–325.

** The Edinburgh Review of 1872, and Fortnightly Review of 1875,

contain articles on Corea.

* The Missionary Record of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland,

Edinburgh, containing the Correspondence and Notes of the Missionaries

laboring among the Chinese and Coreans, and who have translated the New

Testament into Corean.

† La Corée, par M. Paul Tournafond, editor of L’Exploration, a

geographical journal published in Paris, which contains frequent notes

on Corea.

† La Corée, ses Ressources, son avenir commercial, par Maurice Jametel.

L’Economiste Français, Juillet 23, 1881.

* The Japan Herald, The Japan Mail, The Japan Gazette, L’Echo du Japan,

of Yokohama, and North China Herald, Shanghae, have furnished much

information concerning recent events in Corea.

Corea, the Last of the Hermit Nations. Sunday Magazine, New York, May,

1878.

Corea and the United States. The Independent, New York, Nov. 17, 1881.

Corea, the Hermit Nation. Bulletin of the American Geographical

Society, New York, 1881, No. 3.

Chautauqua Text-Books, No. 34. Asiatic History; China, Corea, Japan.

16mo, pp. 86. New York, 1881.

Library of Universal Knowledge, articles Corea, Fusan, Gensan, Kang-wa,

etc. New York, 1880.

Cyclopædia of Political Science, etc., article Corea. Chicago, 1881.

The Corean Origin of Japanese Art. Century Magazine. December, 1882. By

Wm. Elliot Griffis.

ORTHOGRAPHY AND PRONUNCIATION.

In the transliteration of Corean names into English, an attempt has

been made to render them in as accurate and simple a manner as is,

under the circumstances, possible. The Coreans themselves have no

uniform system of spelling proper names, nor do the French missionaries

agree in their renderings—as a comparison of their maps and writings

shows. Our aim in this work has been to use as few letters as possible.

Japanese words are all pronounced according to the European method—a as

in father, é as in prey, e as in men, i as in machine, o as in bone, u

as in tune, ŭ as in sun; ai as in aisle, ua as in quarantine, ei as in

feign, and iu is sounded as yu; g is always hard; and c before a vowel,

g soft, l, q, s used as z, x, and the combinations ph and th are not

used. The long vowel, rather diphthong o, or oho, is marked ō.

The most familiar Chinese names are retained in their usual English

form.

Corean words are transliterated on the same general principles as the

Japanese, though ears familiar with Corean will find the obscure sound

between o and short u is written with either of these letters, as

Chan-yon, or In-chiŭn, or Kiung-sang. Ch may sometimes be used instead

of j; and e where o or a or u might more correctly be used, as in

Kang-wen, or Wen-chiu. Instead of the French ou, or ho, we have written

W, as in Whang-hai, Kang-wa, rather than Hoang-hai, Kang-hoa,

Kang-ouen, Tai-ouen Kun, etc.; and in place of ts we have used ch, as

Kwang-chiu rather than Kwang-tsiu, and Wen-chiu than Ouen-tsiu.

MAPS AND PLANS.

PAGE

Ancestral Seats of the Fuyu Race, 25

Sam-han, 30

Ancient Japan and Corea, 56

The Neutral Territory, 85

The Japanese Military Operations of 1592, 99

The Campaign in the North, 1592–1593, 107

The Operations of the Second Invasion, 131

Plan of Uru-san Castle, 138

Home of the Manchius and their Migrations, 155

The Jesuit Survey of 1709, 165

Ping-an Province, 181

The Yellow Sea Province, 185

The Capital Province, 188

Military Geography of Seoul, 190

Chung-chong Province, 194

Chulla-dō, 199

The Province Nearest Japan, 204

Kang-wen Province, 208

Corean Frontier Facing Manchuria and Russia, 210

Southern Part of Ham-kiung, 215

The Missionary’s Gateway into Corea, 364

Border Towns of Northern Corea, 365

The French Naval and Military Operations, 1866, 379

Map Illustrating the “General Sherman” Affair, 393

Map Illustrating the “China” Affair, 400

Map of the American Naval Operations in 1871, 415

General Map of Corea at the End of 1906 At end of volume.

CONTENTS.

PART I.

ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL HISTORY.

CHAPTER I. PAGE

The Corean Peninsula, 1

CHAPTER II.

The Old Kingdom of Chō-sen, 11

CHAPTER III.

The Fuyu Race and their Migrations, 19

CHAPTER IV.

Sam-han, or Southern Corea, 30

CHAPTER V.

Epoch of the Three Kingdoms.—Hiaksai, 35

CHAPTER VI.

Epoch of the Three Kingdoms.—Korai, 40

CHAPTER VII.

Epoch of the Three Kingdoms.—Shinra, 45

CHAPTER VIII.

Japan and Corea, 51

CHAPTER IX.

Korai, or United Corea, 63

CHAPTER X.

Cathay, Zipangu, and the Mongols, 70

CHAPTER XI.

New Chō-sen, 76

CHAPTER XII.

Events Leading to the Japanese Invasion, 88

CHAPTER XIII.

The Invasion—On to Seoul, 95

CHAPTER XIV.

The Campaign in the North, 104

CHAPTER XV.

The Retreat from Seoul, 115

CHAPTER XVI.

Cespedes, the Christian Chaplain, 121

CHAPTER XVII.

Diplomacy at Kiōto and Peking, 124

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Second Invasion, 129

CHAPTER XIX.

The Siege of Uru-san Castle, 137

CHAPTER XX.

Changes after the Invasion, 145

CHAPTER XXI.

The Issachar of Eastern Asia, 154

CHAPTER XXII.

The Dutchmen in Exile, 167

PART II.

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL COREA.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Eight Provinces, 179

CHAPTER XXIV.

The King and Royal Palace, 218

CHAPTER XXV.

Political Parties, 224

CHAPTER XXVI.

Organization and Methods of Government, 230

CHAPTER XXVII.

Feudalism, Serfdom, and Society, 237

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Social Life—Woman and the Family, 244

CHAPTER XXIX.

Child Life, 256

CHAPTER XXX.

Housekeeping, Diet, and Costume, 262

CHAPTER XXXI.

Mourning and Burial, 277

CHAPTER XXXII.

Out-door Life.—Characters and Employments, 284

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Shamanism and Mythical Zoölogy, 300

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Legends and Folk-lore, 307

CHAPTER XXXV.

Proverbs and Pithy Sayings, 317

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Corean Tiger, 320

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Religion, 326

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Education and Culture, 337

PART III.

MODERN AND RECENT HISTORY.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

The Beginnings of Christianity—1784–1794, 347

CHAPTER XL.

Persecution and Martyrdom—1801–1834, 353

CHAPTER XLI.

The Entrance of the French Missionaries—1835–1845, 361

CHAPTER XLII.

The Walls of Isolation Sapped, 367

CHAPTER XLIII.

The French Expedition, 377

CHAPTER XLIV.

American Relations with Corea, 388

CHAPTER XLV.

A Body-Snatching Expedition, 396

CHAPTER XLVI.

Our Little War with the Heathen, 403

CHAPTER XLVII.

The Ports Opened to Japanese Commerce, 420

CHAPTER XLVIII.

The Year of the Treaties, 433

CHAPTER XLIX.

The Economic Condition of Corea, 443

CHAPTER L.

Internal Politics: Chinese and Japanese, 458

CHAPTER LI.

The War of 1894: Corea an Empire, 472

CHAPTER LII.

Japan and Russia in Conflict, 484

CHAPTER LIII.

Corea a Japanese Protectorate, 497

CHAPTER LIV.

Chō-sen: A Province of Japan, 507

INDEX, 521

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

A City in Corea, Frontispiece.

Corean Coin, 10

Coin of Modern Chō-sen, 18

The Founder of Fuyu Crossing the Sungari River, 20

Coin of the Sam-han, or the Three Kingdoms, 34

Coin of Korai, 69

Two-masted Corean Vessel, 75

The Walls of Seoul, 79

Magistrate and Servant, 81

Corean Knight of the Sixteenth Century, 101

Styles of Hair-dressing in Corea, 161

A Pleasure-party on the River, 196

Corean Village in Russian Territory, 211

Table Spread for Festal Occasions, 264

Gentlemen’s Garments and Dress Patterns, 275

Thatched House near Seoul, 282

Battle-flag Captured by the Americans in 1871, 305

Battle-flag Captured in the Han Forts, 1871, 320

House and Garden of a Noble, 355

Breech-loading Cannon of Corean Manufacture, 382

The Entering Wedge of Civilization, 407

I.

ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL HISTORY

COREA:

THE HERMIT NATION.

CHAPTER I.

THE COREAN PENINSULA.

Corea, though unknown even by name in Europe until the sixteenth

century, was the subject of description by Arab geographers of the

middle ages. Before the peninsula was known as a political unit, the

envoys of Shinra, one of the three Corean states, and those from Persia

met face to face before the throne of China. The Arab merchants trading

to Chinese ports crossed the Yellow Sea, visited the peninsula, and

even settled there. The youths of Shinra, sent by their sovereign to

study the arts of war and peace at Nanking, the mediæval capitol of

China, may often have seen and talked with the merchants of Bagdad and

Damascus. The Corean term for Mussulmans is hoi-hoi, “round and round”

men. Corean art shows the undoubted influence of Persia.

A very interesting passage in the chronicles of Japan, while

illustrating the sensitive regard of the Japanese for the forms of

etiquette, shows another point of contact between Corean and Saracen

civilization. It occurs in the Nihon O Dai Ichi Ran, or “A View of the

Imperial Family of Japan.” “In the first month of the sixth year of

Tempiō Shōhō [February, 754 A.D.], the Japanese nobles Ohan no Komaro

and Kibi no Mabi returned from China, in which country they had left

Fujiwara no Seiga. The former reported that at the audience which they

had of the Emperor Gen-sho, on New Tear’s Day [January 18th], the

ambassadors of Towan [Thibet] occupied the first place to the west,

those from Shinra the first place to the east, and that the second

place to the west had been destined for them (the Japanese envoys), and

the second place to the east for the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Dai

Shoku [Persia, then part of the empire of the Caliphs]. Komaro,

offended with this arrangement, asked why the Chinese should give

precedence over them to the envoys of Shinra, a state which had long

been tributary to Japan. The Chinese officials, impressed alike with

the firmness and displeasure exhibited by Komaro, assigned to the

Japanese envoys a place above those of Persia and to the envoys of

Shinra a place above those of Thibet.”

Thus the point at issue was settled, by avoiding it, and assigning

equal honor to Shinra and Japan.

This incident alone shows that close communications were kept up

between the far east and the west of Asia, and that Corea was known

beyond Chinese Asia. At that time the boundaries of the two empires,

the Arab and the Chinese, touched each other.

The first notice of Corea in western books or writings occurs in the

works of Khordadbeh, an Arab geographer of the ninth century, in his

Book of Roads and Provinces. He is thus quoted by Richthofen in his

work on China (p. 575, note):

“What lies on the other side of China is unknown land. But high

mountains rise up densely across from Kantu. These lie over in the land

of Sila, which is rich in gold. Mussulmans who visit this country often

allow themselves, through the advantages of the same, to be induced to

settle here. They export from thence ginseng, deerhorn, aloes, camphor,

nails, saddles, porcelain, satin, zimmit (cinnamon?) and galanga

(ginger?).”

Richthofen rightly argues that Sila is Shinra and Kantu is the

promontory province of Shantung. This Arabic term “Sila” is a

corruption of Shinra—the predominant state in Corea at the time of

Khordadbeh.

The name of this kingdom was pronounced by the Japanese, Shinra, and by

the Chinese, Sinlo—the latter easily altered in Arabic mouths to Sila.

The European name Corea is derived from the Japanese term Korai

(Chinese Kaoli), the name of another state in the peninsula, rival to

Shinra. It was also the official title of the nation from the eleventh

to the fourteenth century. The Portuguese, who were the first

navigators of the Yellow Sea, brought the name to Europe, calling the

country Coria, whence the English Corea.

The French Jesuits at Peking Gallicized this into Corée. Following the

genius of their language, they call it La Corée, just as they speak of

England as L’Angleterre, Germany as L’Allemagne, and America as

L’Amérique. Hence has arisen the curious designation, used even by

English writers, of this peninsula as “the Corea.” But what is good

French in this case is very bad English, and we should no more say “the

Corea” than “the Germany,” “the England,” or “the America.” English

usage forbids the employment of the definite article before a proper

name, and those writers who persist in prefixing the definite article

to the proper name Corea are either ignorant of the significance of the

word, or knowingly violate the laws of the English language. The native

name of the country is Chō-sen (Morning Calm or Fresh Morning), which

French writers, always prodigal in the use of vowels, spell Tsio-sen,

Teo-cen, or Tchao-sian. The Chinese call it Tung-kwo (Eastern Kingdom),

and the Manchius, Sol-ho or Solbo.

The peninsula, with its outlying islands, is nearly equal in size to

Minnesota or to Great Britain. Its area is between eighty and ninety

thousand square miles. Its coast line measures 1,740 miles. In general

shape and relative position to the Asian Continent it resembles

Florida. It hangs down between the Middle Kingdom and the Sunrise Land,

separating the sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea, between the 34th and

43d parallels of north latitude. In its general configuration, when

looked at from the westward on a good map, especially the magnificent

one made by the Japanese War Department, Chō-sen resembles the

outspread wings of a headless butterfly, the lobes of the wings being

toward China, and their tops toward Japan.

Legend, tradition, and geological indications lead us to believe that

anciently the Chinese promontory and province of Shantung and the

Corean peninsula were connected, and that dry land once covered the

space filled by the waters joining the Gulf of Pechili and the Yellow

Sea. These waters are so shallow that the elevation of their bottoms

but a few feet would restore their area to the land surface of the

globe. On the other side, also, the sea of Japan is very shallow, and

the straits of Corea, at their greatest depth, have but eighty-three

feet of water. That portion of the Chinese province of Shing King, or

Southern Manchuria, bordering the sea, is a great plain, or series of

flats elevated but a few feet above tide water, which becomes nearly

impassable during heavy rains.

A marked difference is noted between the east and west coasts of the

peninsula. The former is comparatively destitute of harbors, and the

shore is high, monotonous, and but slightly indented or fringed with

islands. It contains but three provinces. On the west coast are five

provinces, and the sea is thickly strewn with islands, harbors and

landing places, while navigable rivers are more numerous. The “Corean

Archipelago” contains an amazing number of fertile and inhabited

islands and islets rising out of deep water. They are thus described by

the naturalist Arthur Adams:

“Leaving the huge, cone-like island of Quelpaert in the distance, the

freshening breeze bears us gallantly toward those unknown islands which

form the Archipelago of Korea. As you approach them you look from the

deck of the vessel and you see them dotting the wide, blue, boundless

plain of the sea—groups and clusters of islands stretching away into

the far distance. Far as the eye can reach, their dark masses can be

faintly discerned, and as we close, one after another, the bold

outlines of their mountain peaks stand out clearly against the

cloudless sky. The water from which they seem to arise is so deep

around them that a ship can almost range up alongside them. The rough,

gray granite and basaltic cliffs, of which they are composed, show them

to be only the rugged peaks of submerged mountain masses which have

been rent, in some great convulsion of nature, from the peninsula which

stretches into the sea from the main land. You gaze upward and see the

weird, fantastic outline which some of their torn and riven peaks

present. In fact, they have assumed such peculiar forms as to have

suggested to navigators characteristic names. Here, for example, stands

out the fretted, crumbling towers of one called Windsor Castle, there

frowns a noble rock-ruin, the Monastery, and here again, mounting to

the skies, the Abbey Peak.

“Some of the islands of this Archipelago are very lofty, and one was

ascertained to boast of a naked granite peak more than two thousand

feet above the level of the sea. Many of the summits are crowned with a

dense forest of conifers, dark trees, very similar in appearance to

Scotch firs.”

The king of Corea may well be called “Sovereign of Ten Thousand Isles.”

Almost the only striking feature of the inland physical geography of

Chō-sen, heretofore generally known, is that chain of mountains which

traverses the peninsula from North to South, not in a straight line,

but in an exceedingly sinuous course, similar to the tacking of a ship

when sailing in the eye of the wind. As the Coreans say, “it winds out

and in ninety-nine times.”

Striking out from Manchuria it trends eastward to the sea at Cape Bruat

on the 41st parallel, thence it strikes southwest about eighty miles to

the region west of Broughton’s Bay (the narrowest part of Corea),

whence it bears westward to the sea at the 37th parallel, or Cape

Pelissier, where its angle culminates in the lofty mountain peaks named

by the Russians Mount Popoff—after the inventor of the high turret

ships. From this point it throws off a fringe of lesser hills to the

southward while the main chain strikes southwest, and after forming the

boundary between two most southern provinces reaches the sea near the

Amherst Isles. Nor does its course end here, for the uncounted islands

of the Archipelago, with their fantastic rock-ruins and perennial

greenery, that suggest deserted castles and abbeys mantled with ivy,

are but the wave-worn and shattered remnants of this lordly range.

This chief feature in the physical geography of the peninsula

determines largely its configuration, climate, river system and

watershed, political divisions, and natural barriers. Speaking roughly,

Eastern Corea is a mountainous ridge of which Western Corea is but the

slope.

No river of any importance is found inside the peninsula east of these

mountains, except the Nak-tong, which drains the valley formed by the

interior and the sea-coast ranges, while on the westward slope ten

broad streams collect the tribute of their melted snows to enrich the

valleys of five provinces.

Through seven parallels of latitude this range fronts the sea of Japan

with a coast barrier which, except at Yung-hing Bay, is nearly

destitute of harbors. Its timbered heights present a wall of living

green to the mariner sailing from Vladivostok to Shanghai.

Great differences of climate in the same latitude are observed on

opposite sides of this mountain range, which has various local

epithets. From their height and the permanence of their winter

covering, the word “white” forms an oft-recurring part of their names.

The division of the country into eight dō, or provinces, which are

grouped in southern, central, and northern, is based mainly on the

river basins. The rainfall in nearly every province finds an outlet on

its own sea-border. Only the western slopes of the two northeastern

provinces are exceptions to this rule, since they discharge part of

their waters into streams emptying beyond their boundaries. The Yalu,

and the Han—“the river”—are the only streams whose sources lie beyond

their own provinces. In rare instances are the rivers known by the same

word along their whole length, various local names being applied by the

people of different neighborhoods. On the maps in this work only the

name most commonly given to each stream near its mouth is printed.

In respect to the sea basins, three provinces on the west coast form

one side of the depression called the Yellow Sea Basin, of which

Northeastern China forms the opposite rim. The three eastern dō, or

circuits, lining the Sea of Japan, make the concave in the sea basin to

which Japan offers the corresponding edge. The entire northern boundary

of the peninsula from sea to gulf, except where the colossal peak

Paik-tu (‘White Head’) forms the water-shed, is one vast valley in

which lie the basins of the Yalu and Tumen.

Corea is, in reality, an island, as the following description of White

Head Mountain, obtained from the Journal of the Chinese Ambassador to

Seoul, shows. This mountain has two summits, one facing north, the

other east. On the top is a lake thirty ri around. In shape the peak is

that of a colossal white vase open to the sky, and fluted or scolloped

round the edge like the vases of Chinese porcelain. Its crater, white

on the outside, is red, with whitish veins, inside. Snow and ice clothe

the sides, sometimes as late as June. On the side of the north, there

issues a runnel, a yard in depth, which falls in a cascade and forms

the source of the (Tumen) river. Three or four ri from the summit of

the mountain the stream divides into two parts; one is the source of

the Yalu River.

In general, it may be said to dwellers in the temperate zone that the

climate of Corea is excellent, bracing in the north, and in the south

tempered by the ocean breezes of summer. The winters in the higher

latitudes are not more rigorous than in the State of New York; while,

in the most southern, they are as delightful as those in the Carolinas.

In so mountainous and sea-girt a country there are, of course, great

climatic varieties even in the same provinces.

As compared with European countries of the same latitude, Corea is much

colder in winter and hotter in summer. In the north, the Tumen River is

usually frozen during five months in the year. The Han River at Seoul

may be crossed on ice during two or three months. Even in the southern

provinces, deep snows cover the mountains, though the plains are

usually free, rarely holding the snow during a whole day. The lowest

point to which the mercury fell, in the observation of the French

missionaries, was at the 35th parallel of latitude 8° and at the 37th

parallel 15° (F.). The most delightful seasons in the year are spring

and autumn. In summer, in addition to the great heat, the rain falls

often in torrents that blockade the roads and render travelling and

transport next to impossible. Toward the end of September occurs the

period of tempests and variable winds.

A glance at the fauna of Corea suggests at once India, Europe,

Massachusetts, and Florida. In the forests, especially of the two

northern circuits, tigers of the largest size and fiercest aspect

abound. When food fails them, they attack human habitations, and the

annual list of victims is very large. The leopard is common. There are

several species of deer, which furnish not only hides and venison, but

horns which, when “in velvet,” are highly prized as medicine. In the

fauna are included bears, wild hogs and the common pigs of stunted

breed, wild cats, badgers, foxes, beavers, otters, several species of

martens. The salamander is found in the streams, as in western Japan.

Of domestic beasts, horses are very numerous, being mostly of a short,

stunted breed. Immense numbers of oxen are found in the south,

furnishing the meat diet craved by the people who eat much more of

fatty stuff than the Japanese.

Goats are rare. Sheep are imported from China only for sacrificial

purposes. The dog serves for food as well as for companionship and

defence. Of birds, the pheasant, falcon, eagle, crane, and stork, are

common.

Corea has for centuries successfully carried out the policy of

isolation. Instead of a peninsula, her rulers have striven to make her

an inaccessible island, and insulate her from the shock of change. She

has built not a Great Wall of masonry, but a barrier of sea and

river-flood, of mountain and devastated land, of palisades and cordons

of armed sentinels. Frost and snow, storm and winter, she hails as her

allies. Not content with the sea-border she desolates her shores lest

they tempt the mariner to land. Between her Chinese neighbor and

herself, she has placed a neutral space of unplanted, unoccupied land.

This strip of forests and desolated plains, twenty leagues wide,

stretches between Corea and Manchuria. To form it, four cities and many

villages were suppressed three centuries ago, and left in ruins. The

soil of these solitudes is very good, the roads easy, and the hills not

high.

For centuries, only the wild beasts, fugitives from justice, and

outlaws from both countries, have inhabited this fertile but forbidden

territory. Occasionally, borderers would cultivate portions of it, but

gather the produce by night or stealthily by day, venturing on it as

prisoners would step over the “dead line.” Of late years, the Chinese

Government has respected the neutrality of this barrier less and less.

One of those recurring historical phenomena peculiar to Manchuria—the

increase and pressure of population—has within a generation caused the

occupation of large portions of this neutral strip. Parts of it have

been surveyed and staked out by Chinese surveyors, and the Corean

Government has been too feeble to prevent the occupation. Though no

towns or villages are marked on the map of this “No-man’s land,” yet

already, a considerable number of small settlements exist upon it.

As this once neutral territory is being gradually obliterated, so the

former lines of palisades and stone walls on the northern border which,

two centuries and more ago, were strong, high, guarded and kept in

repair, have year by year, during a long era of peace, been suffered to

fall into decay. They exist no longer, and should be erased from the

maps.

The pressure of population in Manchuria upon the Corean border is a

portentous phenomenon. For Manchuria, which for ages past has, like a

prolific hive, swarmed off masses of humanity into other lands, seems

again preparing to send off a fresh cloud. Already her millions press

upon her neighbors for room.

The clock of history seems once more about to strike, perhaps to order

again another dynasty on the oft-changed throne of China.

From mysterious Mongolia, have gone out in the past the various hordes

called Tartars, or Tâtars, Huns, Turks, Kitans, Mongols, Manchius.

Perhaps her loins also are already swelling with a new progeny. This

marvellous region gave forth the man-children who destroyed the Roman

Empire; who extinguished Christianity in Asia and Africa, and nearly in

Europe; who, after conquering India and China threatened Christendom,

and holding Russia for two centuries, created the largest empire ever

known on earth; and finally reared “the most improvable race in Asia”

that now holds the throne and empire of China.

Chō-sen since acting the hermit policy of ancient Egypt and mediæval

China, has preserved two loopholes at Fusan and Ai-chiu, the former on

the sea toward Japan, and the latter in the northwest, on the Chinese

border. What in time of peace is a needle’s eye, is in time of war a

flood-gate for enemies. From the west, the invading armies of China

have again and again marched around over the Gulf of Liao Tung and

entered the peninsula to plunder and to conquer, while Chinese fleets

from Shan-tung have over and over again arched their sails in the

Yellow Sea to furl them again in Corean Rivers. From the east, the

Japanese have pushed across the sea to invade Corea as enemies, to help

as allies against China, to levy tribute and go away enriched, or anon

to send their grain-laden ships to their starving neighbors.

From a political point of view the geographical position of this

country is most unfortunate. Placed between two rival nations, aliens

in blood, temper, and policy, Chō-sen has been the rich grist between

the upper and nether millstones of China and Japan. Out of the north,

rising from the vast plains at Manchuria, the conquering hordes, on

their way to the prize lying south of the Great Wall, have over and

over again descended on Corean soil to make it their granary. From the

pre-historic forays of the tribes beyond the Sungari, to the last new

actors on the scene, the Russians, who stand with their feet on the

Tumen, looking over the border on her helpless neighbor, Corea has been

threatened or devastated by her eager enemies.

Nevertheless Corea has always remained Corea, a separate country; and

the people are Coreans, more allied to the Japanese than the Chinese,

yet in language, politics, and social customs, different from either.

As Ireland is not England or Scotland, neither is Chō-sen China nor

Japan.

In her boasted history of “four thousand years,” the little kingdom has

too often been the Ireland of China, so far as misgovernment on the one

side, and fretful and spasmodic resistance on the other, are

considered. Yet ancient Corea has also been an Ireland to Japan, in the

better sense of giving to her the art, letters, science, and ethics of

continental civilization. As of old, went forth from Tara’s halls to

the British Isles and the continent, the bard and the monk to elevate

and civilize Europe with the culture of Rome and the religion of

Christianity, so for centuries there crossed the sea from the peninsula

a stream of scholars, artists, and missionaries who brought to Japan

the social culture of Chō-sen, the literature of China, and the

religion of India. A grateful bonze of Japan has well told the story of

Corea’s part in the civilization of his native country in a book

entitled “Precious Jewels from a Neighbor Country.”

Corea fulfils one of the first conditions of national safety in having

“scientific frontiers,” or adequate natural boundaries of river,

mountain, and sea. But now what was once barrier is highway. What was

once the safety of isolation, is now the weakness of the recluse. Steam

has made the water a surer path than land, and Japan, once the pupil

and anon the conqueror of the little kingdom, has in these last days

become the helpful friend of Corea’s people, and the opener of the

long-sealed peninsula.

Already the friendly whistle of Japanese steamers is heard in the

harbors of two ports in which are trading settlements. At Fusan and

Gensan, the mikado’s subjects hold commercial rivalry with the Coreans,

and through these two loopholes the hermits of the peninsula catch

glimpses of the outer world that must waken thought and create a desire

to enter the family of nations. The ill fame of the native character

for inhospitality and hatred of foreigners belongs not to the people,

nor is truly characteristic of them. It inheres in the government which

curses country and people, and in the ruling classes who, like those in

Old Japan, do not wish the peasantry to see the inferiority of those

who govern them.

Corea cannot long remain a hermit nation. The near future will see her

open to the world. Commerce and pure Christianity will enter to elevate

her people, and the student of science, ethnology, and language will

find a tempting field on which shall be solved many a yet obscure

problem. The forbidden land of to-day is, in many striking points of

comparison, the analogue of Old Japan. While the last of the hermit

nations awaits some gallant Perry of the future, we may hope that the

same brilliant path of progress on which the Sunrise Kingdom has

entered, awaits the Land of Morning Calm.

We add a postscript. As our manuscript turns to print, we hear of the

treaty successfully negotiated by Commodore Shufeldt.