Eugene R. Smith, Editor.

JANUARY, 1

Country and People

HE Koreans claim as the father of their descenda

country, Ki-tsze, who lived about three
Their historians say:

thousand years ago.

Korean F

In the

by armie

"On the overthrow of the Chow dynasty of feudal China, 1122 B. C., the viscount (tsze) of the state province

of Ki, preferred to remain loyal to his old master of the house of Chow rather than to pay court to the new usurper. Ki-tsze therefore emigrated with 5,000 followers to the northeast. Well-received by the aborigines, he founded a kingdom on the principles of Chinese feudalism, and civilized the inhabitants by introducing letters, the arts, medicine and agriculture. He named his dominions Chosen, which means Fresh Morning, or Calm of Dawn."

generatio

of kings

The pr peninsula which we

In 912, thrown b

the old k brought

the styles of hat and hair dressing became fixed in their drawn over the head and present condition.

The direct succession of the royal line founded by Ni Taijo, in 1392, came to an end in 1864, and a lad twelve years old, (the present king), was nominated heir by Queen Cho, his father, Ni Kung, being made the regent of the kingdom.

This lad came to the throne in 1873, and has shown himself as possessing decided abilities, and has sought to establish such institutions as would benefit the country. The king is now thirty three years of age. In December, 1884, he appointed a cabinet, all the members of which belonged to the Progressive Party, but the Chinese troops interfered, and these men were all killed, or driven into exile. The Conservative Party came into power, but are not able to prevent the carrying out of the plans previously formed and sanctioned by the king for the advancement of the people, especially the introduction of the usages of western civilization.

On the seventh of May, 1882, a treaty was made between the United States and Korea, opening Korea to the Americans under specified conditions. This had been preceded by negotiations continued for several years, and by an attack upon and capture of some of the forts in Korea by military forces from the United States. In February, 1883, General L. H. Foote was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Korea, and on May 19, 1883, the formal exchange of the ratifications of the treaty was made in Seoul. In November of the same year, a treaty with Korea was signed in behalf of Great Britain and Germany.

The Rev. J. R. Wolfe, missionary in China, has lately visited Korea, and gives the following account of the country and people:

"The city of Seoul is situated in a valley, the beauty and loveliness of which it is hard to describe. It is fertilized by the deep and broad waters of the Han, which roll down from the mountains on the east and bring much of the precious ore which the natives collect from the beds of its diverging streams. The hills which bound it on all sides are well covered with trees, and its fields and gardens are well cultivated with wheat, millet, rice, beans, and other vegetables. The country abounds with game, and in the Valley of Seoul I saw immense flocks of wild geese hovering about, apparently fearless of man and ready to alight upon a large rice crop in a field hard by. "The city itself is not well built; the houses are of the very poorest description, and betoken a condition of extreme poverty among its inhabitants; but this can hardly be the case, for every one looks gayly dressed

hidden from the gaze of

elderly women who are younger women, except t scarcely ever seen in publ class, old and young, hav would think it, of walkin and faces uncovered.

"In the city of Seoul t night at 9 o'clock, after ulation are to retire withi risk of their lives to diso still in force, does not ap tionalities living in the ci the men retite, the wome some fresh air. I heard over the city, but my curi enough to transgress pro o'clock at night in the st taking fresh air.

"The abominable and of foot-binding is unkno fanticide, also so comm Celestials, is a crime pun scarcely, if ever, practice

"The population of Se account given me by Mr. of Customs, and a Minis The population of the w was not less than fifteen are very friendly to fore in the streets by two Ko horns and pencils and w lowing words in Chinese a friend who comes but nal leaves of the maple t literati of Korea are as w China as are the Chinese their classic characters Koreans are a fine stalwa Their physique is infinit Chinese or the Japanese of pigmies beside the K

"I was much intereste idol or an idol-temple in city of Seoul. The peop and they erect no templ temple in the entire capi have no system of relig traces of it exist here ar

0,000, according to the orf, the Commisioner te to the Korean king. dom, he assured me, The people of Seoul On one occasion I was o produced their inkpocketbook the fol old you is like seeing r, like the red autum ay remark that the in the literature of s, and they can write These ey and ease. obust race of men. to that of either the er looks like a nation

rised at not seeing an y anywhere, or in the ave no love for idols. ds. There is not a ctically, the Koreans Buddhism, though he remote and seicion, and

"The

spirit fearing people. They deify and worship the knows h
spirits of deceased heroes and public benefactors, and the need.
worship of deceased ancestors is universally practiced.
"Fetichism is also extensively practiced by this peo-
ple. Favorite trees and stones are worshiped, and along
the road it is common to see some tree gayly covered ren of a

service,

makes a

slave fat

those wh the moth

with rugs hung on the branches as tokens to the deity
that the individual who placed them there has paid his
devotions to the tree. Others, in order to obtain for-
giveness of their sins, carry round stones to the top of
some mountain or hill, and leave them there, after they
have paid their devotions to them or to the spirit which
is supposed to reside in them. The fear of ghosts and
spirits also haunts this poor darkened people, and they
have recourse to the most childish expedients to relieve
themselves of this fear and frighten away these spirits."
Rev. W. E. Griffis gives us the following account of
the Koreans:

"For martial affairs the king keeps abundance of
soldiers in his capital city, who have no other employ-
ment than to keep guard about his person and to attend
him when he
abroad.
goes
All the provinces are
obliged, once in seven years, to send all their freeman to
keep guard about the king for two months; so that
during that year the province is under arms, sending all
the men in their turn to court. Each province has its

"Kor sea, ever provided erally tv of which sort of g

ing and and abu

"The

forces a

country for, in

houses t

erally of upon th away. been sai

him to clothe him, which in all are worth a pistole, which is part of the pay of the troops that are in the capital of the kingdom. This is what is raised from the people, who know no other duties or taxes.

"Justice is severely executed among the Koreans, and particularly upon criminals. He that rebels against the king is destroyed, with all his race; his houses are thrown down, and no man does ever rebuild them, and all his goods forfeited, and sometimes given to some private person. When the king has once made a decree, if any man is so presumptuous as to make any objection to it, nothing can protect him from severe punishment; as we have often seen it executed.

"Thus they punish murder: After they have long trampled upon the criminal, they pour vinegar on the raw body, which they then pour down the offender's throat through a funnel, and when he is full they beat him on the belly with cudgels till he bursts. Thieves are trampled to death; and though this be a dreadful punishment, yet the Koreans are much addicted to stealing.

"As for religion, the Koreans have scarce any. The common sort make some old grimaces before the idols, but pay them little respect; and the great ones honor them much less, because they think themselves to be something more than an idol. To prove this, when one of their kindred or friends dies they all appear to honor the dead man at the offering the priest makes before his image, and frequently travel thirty or forty leagues to be present at this ceremony, whether to express their gratitude to some great man or to show the esteem they have for some learned religious man, and that they preserve the memory of him. On festivals the people repair o the temple, and every one lights a bit of sweet wood; then putting it into a vessel for that purpose, they go offer it to the idol, and placing it before him make a low bow and depart. This is their worship.

"For their belief, they are of opinion that he who lives well shall be rewarded, and he who lives ill shall be punished. Beyond this they know nothing of preaching nor of mysteries, and therefore they have no disputes of religion, all believing and practicing the same thing throughout the kingdom. The religious men offer perfumes before an idol twice a day and on festivals; all the religious of a house make a noise with drums, basins and kettles. The monasteries and temples, with which the kingdom swarms, are for the most part on the mountains, each under the liberty of some There are monasteries of five or six hundred

town.

mon and at least four thou nd of them within

however, generally spe not much more respecte great taxes they are ob are forced to do. The especially when they equal with the great m the 'king's religious me clothes; they have the officers, and make their well received and enter

"These religious mu they shave their heads versing with women.

thor give him.