A. Hamilton

“ The feeling of isolation, inseparable from travel in regions where the sense of freedom is shut out by a world of enclosing mountains, is at once lost in contact with the ocean and the ships that go down to it. Far out, in the great expanse of the peaceful sea, were fishing-boats, grey junks, hull down upon the horizon, their brown sails bellying spasmodically in the fitful gusts of the breeze. ”

“ The wide expanse of plains and valleys makes way for the depths of wild and gloomy forests, where the ragged mountain-paths are slippery and dangerous. The ozone of a new life pervades the air. There is no doubt that such moments seem, for the time, the most perfect existence imaginable. Freedom is untrammelled by a care; the world for the day is comprised within a space as great as can be seen. Upon the morrow, its limitation is only a little more remote. The birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the [271] game in the bushes, supply the provender of the camp. ”

“ It is impossible not to admire the activity and energy of the Korean woman. Despite the contempt with which she is treated, she is the great economic factor in the household and in the life of the nation. Force of circumstance has made her the beast of burden. She works that her superior lord and master may dwell in idleness, comparative luxury, and peace. In spite of the depressing and baneful effects of this absurd dogma of inferiority, and in contradiction of centuries of theory and philosophy, her diligent integrity is more evident in the national life than her husband’s industry. ”

“ The Monastery of Yu-chom is all peace and quietude. It lies, shut off from all contact with the outer world, within a deep, tree-clad valley of the eastern ranges. It is self-contained, and its whole existence is wrapped up in the mysteries of that faith to whose services it is dedicated. There is no booming torrent, such as that which vibrates and thunders through the Chang-an-sa gorge ”

“ Foreigners had not penetrated along the route which my friend and I were following to the German mines, and even the ubiquitous evangelist had not penetrated to these peasant homes. The mountains and rivers had no names; the settlements were small; inns did not exist. Everywhere was contentment, peace, and infinite repose. Nature stood revealed to us in primæval grandeur, and it was impossible not to enjoy the calm of the valleys, the rugged beauty of the mountain crests, the picturesque wildness of the scenery. ”

“ There is but one wall round Seoul. It is neither so high nor so massive as the wall of Pekin; yet the situation of [25] the city gains so much in beauty from the enclosing mountains, that it seems to be much the more picturesque. If the capital of Korea is more charmingly situated than the capital of China, the wall of Seoul is reminiscent of the walls of the Nankow Pass in the superb disdain with which it clings to the edges of the mountains, climbing the most outlandish places in the course of its almost purposeless meanderings. ”

“ The British merchant in the Far East is the first to condemn his own Minister and to abuse his own Consul, and he is the very last to help himself. It may be, however, that the follies of the Imperial Government, the unreasoning prejudices and foolish blundering of the Foreign Office, have created this apathy. The drifting and vacuous policy of Lord Salisbury made it impossible to avert the decay of our prestige and trade which has set in throughout the Far East. Official returns establish only too completely the unhappy predicament in which trade and merchants alike are placed. ”

“ It was pleasant to hear the ponies eating; to watch the stars come out, the moon rise; to listen to the bull-frog in the water weeds and the echoes of the song of a peasant, rising and falling among the peaks of the high mountains, until, at length, all sounds had passed away and the great world around us, above us, and below, lay at peace. ”

“ High hills and mountains rise close to the city, their sides rough, rugged and bleak, save where black patches of bushes and trees struggle for existence. The hollows within this rampart of hills and beyond the walls, are fresh and verdant. Small rice-fields, with clusters of thatched hovels in their midst, stretch between the capital and the port at Chemulpo. ”

“ There is little indeed to disturb the placid enjoyment of life amid the pine-clad bluffs and frowning headlands which surround the broad waters of the bay. The fact of passing from the seclusion of wild valleys and rugged heights, sheltering only the monasteries of Buddha, into the lively atmosphere of a treaty port does not destroy the illusions which any stay in the lofty regions of these Twelve Thousand Peaks necessarily fosters. ”

“ The principles of consideration, politeness, and devotion that govern his conduct are sadly lacking in the Abbot, the priests, and monks attached to Shin-ki-sa. The contrast is indeed great. The most painful emotions are excited by the decline which has taken place in the prosperity of the temples. Anger and sorrow fill the soul. As one gazes beyond the temples into the peace and beauty of the valley below, it is as if one were looking across from a place of abomination into another and a better world. ”

“ This fact alone should appeal to British shipping interests and to ship-owners. Unfortunately, many years of prosperity have brought about great changes in the spirit of our nation, and we no longer show the enterprise and initiative which formerly distinguished us. This depreciation in the forces of the nation has promoted a corresponding depression in our trade. We are no longer the pioneers of commerce; nor have we the capacity and courage of our forefathers who fostered those interests of which we are now so neglectful in every quarter of the globe. ”

“ Above Chemulpo, where the full force of the Han current is hardly felt, the velocity of the stream is quite five knots an hour. Where the breadth of the river narrows the rapidity of the flow increases. At a point, where the river makes a sudden sweep round some overhanging bluffs, which confront each other from opposite banks, the heavy volume of water thus tumbling down becomes a swirling, boisterous mill-race, as it twists and foams through its tortuous channels into another tide-swollen reach. ”

“ During the harvest all available hands muster in the fields. The women cut the crop, the men fasten the sheaves, which the children load into rope panniers, suspended upon wooden frames from the backs of bulls. The harvest is threshed without delay, the men emptying the laden baskets upon the open road, and setting to with solemn and uninterrupted vigour. While the men threshed with their flails, and the wind winnowed the grain, six, and sometimes eight, women worked, with their feet, a massive beam, from which an iron or granite pestle hung over a deep granite mortar. ”

“ He is the slave of his work, and he moves no further from his village than the nearest market. He has a terrified belief in the existence of demons, spirits and dragons, whose dirty and grotesque counterfeits adorn his thatched hut. There are other characteristic traits in this great section of the national life. Their capacity for work is unlimited; they are seldom idle, and, unlike the mass of their countrymen, they have no sense of repose. As farmers, they have by instinct and tradition certain ideas and principles which are excellent in themselves. ”

“ Their existence from day to day, their habits and their manners, their commercial and social degradation, complete an abominable travesty of the civilisation which they profess to have studied. It is intolerable that a Government aspiring to the dignity of a first-class Power should allow its settlements in a friendly and foreign country to be a blot upon its own prestige, and a disgrace to the land that harbours them.
There are some twenty-five thousand Japanese in Korea, and the Japanese settlement is the curse of every treaty port in Korea. ”

“ It is at once the centre of business, and the scene of uproar, riot, and confusion. In the comparative nakedness of the women, in the noise and violence of the shopkeepers, in the litter of the streets, there is nothing to suggest the delicate culture of Japan. The modesty, cleanliness, and politeness, so characteristic of the Japanese, are conspicuously absent in their settlements in this country. ”

“ It is not an agreeable spectacle, as the women seen abroad are usually aged or infirm. At all times, as if to emphasise their fading charms, they wear the chang-ot, a thin, green, silk cloak, almost peculiar to the capital and used by the women to veil their faces in passing through the public streets. Upon the sight of man, they clutch it beneath the eyes. ”

“ In its setting the monastery has caught something of the spirit of nature. If there is any compensating element in its decadence, it is found in the wild beauty of the rugged mountains, which tower above it from across the valley. Beyond their granite faces lie the trials and tribulations of the outer world; once enclosed within their grey embrace the little ironies of life disappear. ”

“ The lively bustle of the roads gradually gives place to the passing panorama of the scenery, which presents in constant variation a landscape of much natural beauty, with hills and meadows, bush-clad mountains and rice-fields, rivers, lakes, and raging torrents as prominent features. The shifting camp soon leaves the outposts of civilisation behind. ”

“ The narrow, dirty lanes have been widened; gutters have been covered, and roadways broadened; until, with its trains, its cars, and its lights, its miles of telegraph lines, its Railway Station Hotel, brick houses and glass windows, Seoul is within measurable distance of becoming the highest, most interesting, and cleanest city in the East. It is still not one whit Europeanised, for the picturesqueness of the purely Korean principles and standards of architecture has been religiously maintained, and is to be observed in all future improvements. ”

“ Men are, however, no longer excluded from the streets at such hours. The spectacle of these white spectres of the night, flitting from point to point, their footsteps lighted by the rays of the lantern which their girl-slaves carry before them, is as remarkable as the appearance of Seoul by daylight, with its moving masses all garmented in white. A street full of Koreans aptly suggests, as Mr. Henry Norman, M.P., once wrote, the orthodox notion of the Resurrection. It cannot be denied that the appearance of both men and women makes the capital peculiarly attractive. ”

“ Within wooded cliffs, which hang above a fringe of silver sand, looking out over a harbour forty square miles in extent, where mountains encompass every quarter of the horizon, and rocky islets, verdant with vegetation, stud a sapphire sea, there lies a spot where the fleets of the world might swing at anchor with perfect safety, in perfect isolation. ”

“ The capital of Korea possesses its guardian-mountain. Every town relies upon some preserving power to maintain its existence. Graves, too, must have their custodian peaks, or the family will not prosper, and the impression prevails that people are born in accordance with the conformation of the hills upon which the tombs of their ancestors are situated. Rough and rugged contours make for warriors and militant males. Smooth surfaces and gentle descents beget scholars; peaks of singular charm and position are associated with beautiful women. ”

“ From Paik-tu-san to Wi-ju there is one mighty and natural panorama of mountains with snow-clad, cloud-wrapped summits, and beautiful valleys with rich crops and quaintly [14] placed, low-thatched hovels, through which rivers course like angry silver. Everywhere in the north the mountains predominate; monstrous in shape and size. They are rich in minerals; they have become sepulchres for the dead and mines for the living—for in their keeping lies the wealth of the ages, coal and iron and gold ”

“ Many of the more important islands have been cultivated, and give refuge and a lonely home to small communities of fishing-folk.
Navigation is peculiarly dangerous in these waters. Many of the islands are submerged by the spring-tides, and the direction of the channels, scoured by the rush of the tide, becomes quite indefinite. In the absence of charts and maps, these island-fringed shores have been the scene of many shipwrecks; Dutch, American, French, and British shipping meeting in one grim and silent procession a common end: captivity on shore or death in the sea. ”

“ Worship of the spirits of heaven and earth, of the invisible powers of the air, of nature, of the morning star, of the guardian genii of the hills and rivers, and of the soil and grain, has been so long practised that, in spite of the influences of Confucianism, and the many centuries in which Buddhism has existed in the land, the actual worship of the great mass of the people has undergone little material alteration. ”

“ Every strange face in Seoul creates a crop of rumours. Until the new-comer proves himself nothing more dangerous than a correspondent, there is quite a flutter in the Ministerial dove-cots. Speculation is rife as to his chance of securing the particular concession after which, of course, it is well known he has come from Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. The first place among the holders of concessions is very evenly divided between Japan and America. If the interests of Japan be placed apart, those of America are certainly the most prominent. ”

“ Saving Yi Yong-ik, the most important figure in the Court is the mature and elderly Lady Om, the wife of his Majesty. In a Court which is abandoned to every phase of Eastern immorality, it is a little disappointing to find that [66] the first lady in the land no longer possesses those charms of face and figure, which should explain her position. There is no doubt that the Lady Om is a clever woman. She is most remarkably astute in her management of the Emperor, whose profound attachment to her is a curious paradox. Lady Om is mature, fat, and feebly, if freely, frolicsome. ”

“ On land, the immense superiority of the reserve numbers of the Russians reduces the advantages which would accrue to the Japanese if the fighting were confined to the sea. At the same time, however, it should be remembered that the Russian troops are slow movers, and although they may exhibit magnificent endurance, and although they may be relied upon to fight well, the lack of individual initiative upon the part of the Russian officers robs the operations of that dash and address which is embodied in the spirit of the Japanese army. ”

“ There is, therefore, infinite charm and variety in the daily life of Korea. The natives take their pleasures passively, and their constitutional incapacity makes it appear as if there were little to do but to indulge in a gentle stroll in the brilliant sunshine, or to sit cross-legged within the shade of their houses. Inaction becomes them; nothing could be more unsuited to the character of their peculiar costume than vigorous movement. The stolid dignity of their appearance and their stately demeanour adds vastly to the picturesqueness of the street scenes. ”

“ Hills were piled one upon another, gradually merging into chains of mountains, the crests of which, two and three thousand feet in height, stood out clearly defined against an azure sky, their rock-bound faces covered with birch, beech, oak and pine. The valleys below these mountain chains were long and narrow, cool and cultivated. A hillside torrent dashed through them, tumbling noisily over massive boulders, gradually fretting a new course for itself in the lava strata. Countless insects buzzed in the still air ”

“ The action of Japan, therefore, in insisting upon the suspension of the prohibition in order that the interests of some half-dozen Japanese rice merchants might not suffer, deserves the utmost condemnation. The primary responsibility for this great loss of life rests entirely with the Japanese Government. In terrorising the Government of Korea into an act, the consequences of which brought death to one million people, the Japanese Government committed themselves to a policy which traversed alike the dictates of reason and common sense, and outraged every principle of humanity. ”

“ Korea is a land of exceptional beauty. The customs, the literature, and the geographical nomenclature of the kingdom prove that the superb and inspiring scenery of the peninsula is quite appreciated by the people. In the same manner that the coast-line of Korea bears evidence of the adventurous spirit of many western mariners, the names given to the mountains and rivers of the country by the inhabitants themselves reflect the simplicity, the crudity, and the superstition of their ideas and beliefs. All mountains are personified in Korea. ”

“ Hunger drove whole communities from the villages to the towns, where no provision for their welfare existed. Anarchy prevailed throughout the country, the dire needs of the population goading them to desperation. A horde of beggars invaded the capital. Deeds of violence made the streets of Seoul unsafe after darkness, and bandits carried on their depredations openly in the Metropolitan Province. From a peaceful and happy land of sunshine and repose, Korea was transformed, in a few months, into a wilderness of misery, poverty, and unrest. ”

“ It drags the heavy plough through the deep mud of the rice-fields, and over the rough surface of the grain lands; it carries loads of brick and wood to the market, and hauls the unwieldy market cart along the country roads. The two make a magnificent pair; each is a beast of burden. The brutishness, lack of intelligence, and boorishness of the agricultural labourer in England is not quite reproduced in the Korean. The Korean farmer has of necessity to force himself to be patient. ”

“ The expansion of Japanese interests in Korea has not been without political design. The integrity of her neighbour is bound up with her own existence. The security of Korea emphasises the safety of her own borders; and, as her own Empire has developed into a first-class Power, this desire to see the kingdom respected has become more and more the spirit of the policy upon which she has concentrated her individual action. She has fostered the trade with Korea because it drew together the ties which connected the two countries. ”

“ In the fulness of time she may figure in the funeral procession of her master.
There are four ways by which the Korean woman may become a slave. She may give herself into slavery, voluntarily, in exchange for food, clothes and shelter through her abject poverty. The woman who becomes a slave in this way cannot buy back her freedom. She has fewer rights than the slave who is bought or who sells herself. The daughter of any slave who dies in service continues in slavery. In the event of the marriage of her mistress such a slave ranks as a part of the matrimonial dot. ”

“ If the Koreans could be taught the rudiments of horse-mastering and a more humane principle of loading and packing their rough saddles, as well as some practical veterinary knowledge, the lot of the unlucky little pony of the capital might be softened. But the spectacle of broken knees, raw necks, bleeding backs, and sore heels which these poor animals present, as they pass in quick succession along the streets of Seoul, is revolting. The American missionaries boast so much of their good deeds that it seems strange that they should neglect such a crying evil as this. ”