William Elliot Griffis

“ In a word, Korea, as it comes from the hand of God and as Nature has endowed it, is gloriously beautiful, like that land of promise described in the eighth chapter of Deuteronomy—if the natives and men besotted with Confucianism only knew it! The soil being above the average in fertility, is able to bring forth more than enough food for the people who dwell in it. ”

“ To the islander, who is a forester by habit, Korea is the Land of Treeless Mountains.
"Wilful waste makes woful want." To-day the energies of millions are wasted in raking up grass and leaves for fuel and warmth where abundance of excellent timber ought to be and might yet, by wisdom and care, be at hand. Already have the new masters of the land replanted millions of little trees to redeem the error of the past. Forbidding are the bare hills and inhospitable seems the land from a ship's deck, but once within, the rich valleys and fertile farms reverse grandly the picture. ”

“ It seems almost the law of the universe, as it certainly is the voice of human history, that in place of those who do not hear, understand, or obey the divine command to "replenish and subdue," there comes sooner or later another race of men, who, hearing and obeying, demonstrate of what the earth is capable. That law has been demonstrated in Korea, which is now an integral part of the Empire of Japan. The Korean realm is no more a Hermit Nation. ”

“ One might almost call this the Land of Lilies, were it not that other families of flowers, violets, eglantine, roses, white and red, lilacs and rhododendrons are equally prolific, while in the orchards, peach and pear blossoms fill the land with glory and beauty. In the endless procession of the seasons there are lovely blossoms from snowfall to snowfall again. ”

“ When the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 was precipitated by the Russian spoliation of the great timber forests at the head waters of the Yalu, the world was surprised at the amazing resources of Korea in lumber.
Like country, like people. As one must not judge the face of the land wholly by its appearance along the coast, so must one withhold his verdict upon the people when studied only at the seaports, or by tourists who get up late and saunter out doors. ”

“ One may easily believe in the recently elaborated theory that all great races and civilisations are permanently maintained only in regions visited by a certain number of storms annually and where the climate is, in large measure, an uncertainty. In this view, Korea, which has one of the most delightful climates in the world, with seasons that are almost too regular, is not calculated to breed a hardy, self-reliant race capable of the greatest achievements. ”

“ Unreformed countries in Asia, before the advent of true Christianity, all bore a common likeness. Their ancient history ends and their modern story begins when the religion of Jesus sways the hearts of men. Yet before the temple of truth can rise, Christianity saps and rends hoary structures, causing at first much ruin, as it reduces to rubbish the long buttressed false- hoods of ages, on which the moss of artistic charm has gathered and over which the vines of sentiment have luxuriantly grown. ”

“ The student of history, with the eyes of science and imagination, sees in the colonial America of a hundred, or the Europe of five hundred years ago, pretty much everything that is, or only lately was, visible in China, Korea, and Japan. Human nature and the race are one. ”

“ Even if one were blind, he would learn from the Korean's delighted exclamations while on the road, from his heart that speaks in his face, from his poetry and folklore, from the habits of travellers and even from the common burden bearers who are cultured to enjoy, how fair is nature and how lovely is the landscape to the native. ”

“ One mighty range furnishes the eastern back-bone of the peninsula, while the lower western hills and slope give the land its fertile fields. From the peak which crowns all Korea, the Ever White Mountain, containing in its crater, the Dragon's Pool, flow the two streams that create Korea's northern frontier. By the rivers and the mountain chains, the old eight provinces were divided one from the other, Nature thus dictating the lines of demarcation, and making convenient divisions. Of late years, five of the large provinces have been partitioned into halves, making thirteen in all. ”

“ Let no one judge, while at sea, the country's resources or dwell in his prejudices created by coast impressions. Looking like a cave from the outside, it is like Ali Baba's crypt of treasures when seen from within. ”

“ Even when in ripest knowledge of the natives — and he was, both as a scholar and a preacher, ever in living contact with the people — Appenzeller, while he hated what marred and ruined both their bodies and souls, was ever affectionate to them as human beings. He felt about the Koreans as he did about his own countrymen. "We should be ashamed of what some Americans do, but never ashamed of being Americans" was a famous saying of his. ”

“ In a word, for ten months, nature makes life a delight. A more uncertain and bracing climate, with the steady discipline of uncertainty, would breed a tougher type of man, and richer in moral stamina. One hardly looks in Korea for the kind of people that are grown in Old or New England, or in Scotland, Holland, Denmark, or Scandinavia. ”

“ Yet despite the abundant watering of the land, in its valleys and river channels, the supply from the river of heaven is by no means regular. Since rice is the most precarious of all crops, requiring plenty of moisture at certain critical periods, the crop fails if the rain does not fall in the nick of time. Korea, like China and old Japan, has often known what famine is, and the Government realises that when the storehouses are empty, riot, tumult, and political disorder, sprout in place of grain. ”

“ To a few, who have borne the cross of grief, it is the sleeping-chamber of the Beloved Dead and ante-room of resurrection glory. To the Christian, it is The Land of Golden Opportunity. In prosaic fact, Korea, in which great cities are absent, is The Land of Villages. ”

“ To the reflective mind, however, the situation provokes the wonder that man, put on this beautiful land, as tenant at will, but with large powers as an agent, given by his Master, has not done more to make the willing earth yield more abundantly and to win out of the ocean, the treasure-stored hills, and the rivers rich in golden sand, more substance for the comfort, enrichment, and exaltation of life. ”

“ Korea is above all a farming and village country. Nine-tenths of the people till the soil. The peasantry is a hardy and industrious one.
The land is well watered. The rivers are sufficiently abundant to carve and cut through the rocks, make beautiful scenery, furnish a certain amount of navigation, yield moisture for greenery and storage of irrigation for rice — the great food crop for her millions. ”

“ As if the blendings and variegations of earth and sky, of the interplay of aerial moisture and sunshine did not sufficiently enrich Nature's palette, there are other tints, varied and abundant in the plumage of the birds and the fur of a rich fauna. ”

“ The timber preserves of the northern forests, the possibilities of communication, and the whole inventory of natural resources and potencies, when considered, either in the light of the devout believer, or the man of science, call fourth in the human spirit ascription of glory to God and of thankfulness to Nature. ”

“ Those with a passion for colour will find in the veinings and stains of the rocks, the tinting of the soil, the variety in gems, metals and building stones much to please the eye, even though granite is the predominating rock, its mass making mountains, and its attrition the whitish-looking soil seen everywhere. ”

“ Oftener there is patiently borne suffering, with multitudinous deaths. On the whole, however, the conditions favouring agriculture are excellent. In the long run, Korea has been a land in which people were fairly well fed, cases of starvation not common, and beggars rare. ”

“ In valleys in the north, snow to the depth of three feet lies on the ground a fourth part of the year and river ice three feet thick is known, but the winter over the larger area of population is rather mild. South of the Han River one hardly ever thinks of sleighs or skates, though these furnish temporary fun for alien dwellers in the country. The winter, for the most part, is delightful. ”

“ We have thus the Land of Gentle Manners, the Country of the Eight Circuits, or Provinces, the Realm of the Twelve Thousand Serrated Peaks, the Land of the Plum Blossom, and the Country of Kija, the legendary founder of Korean civilisation. In poetry the chief ruler is the Sovereign of Ten-Thousand Isles, the people being sentimentally "Our Twenty Millions." In census mathematics, there are about two hundred islands and twelve million souls. To not a few visitors, Korea is the Land of Mosquitoes and Malaria ”

“ The most depressing of all seasons is that of the heavy rainfall of July and August, when the rivers rise with a rapidity that perils life and property. Then Soul, a cavity among the mountains, becomes a bath tub, with shower attachment and steam galore. Twenty inches of rain are deposited on the surface of the earth and occasionally a fall of five inches is recorded. ”

“ What is good in Asia, the mother continent, must be conserved and not lost. We are not to doubt but that with the everlasting righteousness which is fresh every morning, new resultants of power will be gained. ”

“ Long ago these summits wore God's clothing and were rich in forests, the growth of ages, but exactly like the wasteful Chinese of ancient, and Americans of modern date, the Koreans cut down their trees, neglecting to replant. Hence their land has suffered as China has and America will, while the Japanese, on the contrary, plant two trees for every one cut down. ”

“ The Buddhists have given names appropriate to the land of the former glories of their church and there are various others bestowed by travellers, which suggest geography, the face of the country, the social life of the people, or describe the last, but now extinct dynasty. ”

“ The surrounding oceans form an endless storehouse of food, as well as material for light and the fertilising of the fields. The rocks are rich in lodes and galleries of mineral wealth. The precious and the useful metals are fairly abundant. ”

“ A man of system and scrupulous regard for both exact facts and general truth, this servant of Christ of high ideals and master of details kept, from his youth up, journals, note and common-place books, copies of important doctiments and letters ”