ppf Qass^ Book Ql^ THE KRESS COLLEaiON< (LINGUISTICS) €^ %^-r IVoRKS BY IV M. Elliot Griffis THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE JAPANESE FAIRY WORLD COREA, THE HERMIT NATION MATTHEW CALBRAITH PERRY OOEEA The Hermit Nation I.— ANCIENT AND MEDIAEVAL HISTORY II.— POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CORE A III.— MODERN AND RECENT HISTORY BY WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS liATE OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OP TOKIO, JAPAN AUTHOR OP "THE MIKADO'S EMPIRE" Fourth Edition NEW YOEK CHAKLES SCRIBNEK'S SONS 1894 ; CopxKiGHT, 1882. 1888, by CHARLES SCRIBNBR'S SONS. 409416 ^ '31 4- \ TO ALL COREAN PATRIOTS: WHO SEEK BY THE AID OF SCIENCE, TRUTH, AND PURE RELIGION, TO ENLIGHTEN 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. PEEFACE TO THE THIED EDITIOIST. The reception of this work, both in the United States and Eu- rope, as well as in the East, has been most kindly. From those best able to criticise it thoroughly, by having made themselves familiar by travel in the interior of Corea beyond the ports and capital, have come gratifying words of high appreciation. Of course errors have been pointed out, and these, wherever proved, have been corrected in the present edition. The publishers have also generously permitted the introduction of new matter, in the form of foot-notes, and the addition of a supplementary chapter. The author returns hearty thanks to Ensign G. C. Foulke and Lieutenant J. G. Bernadon, United States Navy ; General Lucius H. Foote, Mr. Pierre L. Jouy, Kev. Horace C. Underwood, Dr. H. N. Allen, Mr. W. G. Aston, Mr. Percival Lowell, Mr. W. E. Carles, Eev. Henry Loomis, Soh Kwang Pom, Yu Kil Jun, Pien Su, and the other naval officers, natives, travellers, missionaries, and resi- dents in Corea who have aided him with their criticisms, or infor- mation. He will be grateful if others will point out inaccuracies. He is heartily glad that others have entered the field to awaken in- terest in the once "hermit nation," which is soon to become, let us hope, civilized, social, and Christian. W. E. G. Boston, June 30, 1888. PREFATORY NOTES TO SECOND EDITION. The publishers have informed the author of their intention to issue an edition of the present work in a cheaper form. By their courtesy, he would improve the opportunity to add a few words of comment upon our present knowledge of Corea, and upon affairs in Cho-sen since the treaty was made with the United States. Concerning the first matter there is little to be said. A con- siderable number of naval, diplomatic, missionary, and commercial visitors from America and Europe have visited the Corean capital and parts adjacent. Few of them have gone beyond beaten tracks ; and, owing to recent political disorders, thorough research has as yet hai'dly begun. We look, however, for results of value from the presence of the American missionaries and the scientific commission now in the country. We have not, therefore, made any addition to our text. The reception of this work, both in this country and Europe, has been most kindly. Since its issue, in October, 1882, several events of interest have occurred, of which we here take note. The treaty negotiated by Commodore Shufeldt was duly ratified by the United States Senate, and on February 26, 1883, Presi- dent Arthur sent in the name of Lucius H. Foote as minister plenipotentiary to Corea. The appointment was confirmed on the following day. General Foote reached -Chi-mul-po, in the U. S. Steamship Monocacy, May 13th, and the formal ratifications of the treaty were exchanged in the capital six days later. The guns of the Monocacy — the same which shelled the Han forts in 1870 — fired the first salute ever given to the Corean flag. The king responded by sending to the United States an em- bassy of eleven persons, led by Min Yong Ik and Hong Yong Sik, members respectively of the Conservative and Liberal parties. Their interview with President Arthur was in the parlors of the PEEFATORY NOTES TO SECOND EDITION. IX Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, on September 17th. All the Coreans were dressed in their national costume, which they wore habitually while in America. After spending some weeks in the study of American institutions in several cities, part of the embassy returned home by way of San Francisco, leaving one of their num- ber at Salem, Mass., to remain as a student ; while Min Yong Ik and two secretaries embarked on the IT. S. Steamship Trenton, and, after visiting Europe, reached Seoul in June, 1884. The author spent a most profitable and pleasant evening, November 27th, with the three Coreans before they left New York. Many questions con- cerning their country were discussed. Mr. Everett Eraser, No. 123 Front Street, New York City, now acts as his Corean majesty's consul-general in the United States. On that same evening, November 27, 1883, there was a banquet in the Corean capital to celebrate the signing of the treaties made the day before with Great Britain and Germany. Sir Harry Parkes and Herr Zappe had succeeded in negotiating conventions which are even more liberal in their provisions than that made with the United States. The principal foreign adviser of the Corean gov- ernment since 1882 has been Herr Paul von MoUenforf, whom the Coreans employed at the suggestion of Li Hung Chang. Italy and Russia have also entered into diplomatic relations with Corea. Other evidences of the influence of the West upon Corea were the opening of a telegraph-office at Fusan, February 28, 1884, on the completion of the submarine electric cable from Nagasaki, the emis- sion of native silver coins, and the inauguration of light-house and postal systems. While everything seemed to promise well for the nascent civili- zation imported from Christendom, the political situation was one fraught with danger. The military camps of two rival, almost hos- tile, nations were upon the soil. A Corean Liberal declares that the sending of Chinese troops to Corea in 1882 was the work of two or three Chinese leaders, under the pretext of protecting China from Russian invasion. Their real, but secret, purpose was, he de- clares, to prevent the Coreans from adopting western civilization. "The seed of the riot [of December 4-6, 1884] was sown by Chi- nese barbarism, and ripened by Chinese cruelty." X PEEFATORY NOTES TO SECOIN"© EDITION. The affair was in its origin a popular demonstration, instigated by Eadical Progressives against Chinese influence as exhibited by a rapacious and undisciplined soldiery. It took the form of a mur- derous attack upon the conservative or pro-Chinese ministers of the court, five or six of whom were slain. During the excitement an angry mob surrounded the palace, and the king sent for the pro- tection of the Japanese legation-guards. The Chinese military re- sented this, moved on the royal residence, and a collision was pre- cipitated, in which several tens of men were killed. A bloody battle ensued, and the Japanese, greatly outnumbered, retreated in good order to their legation. This building was besieged by the mob, and finally deserted by the Japanese, who, with all their country- men, left the city for Chi-mul-po. The legation, which had cost $80,000, and the army stores were, with much other property in the city, fired by the rioters. The foreigners in Seoul took refuge in General Foote's house, and soon afterward left for Chi-mul-po. Dr. H. N. Allen, the American surgeon, was kept busy for weeks in attendance upon the victims wounded in the rioting, num- bering about one hundred. The house of Hong Yong Sik, who had been beheaded by the Chinese, was by government order turned into a hospital, or " House of Civilized Virtue," and pat in charge of Dr. Allen. Ensign George W. Foulk and Lieutenant J. B. Bernadon, of the U. S. Navy, remained in the legation during the exodus of foreigners from Seoul, our flag not being lowered at any time. Mr. Foulk writes under date of June, 1885 : " In Corea, I used it ["Corea, the Hermit Nation,"] as a field book ; but in the disturbances of December last, my house was looted by the mob, and all my effects carried off. The library of the palace was lost at the same time ; so that I must infer the book you sent to His Majesty was also lost." The Corean Government has recently made claim upon that of Japan for the extradition of the Liberals who had fled to the lat- ter country — a demand very properly refused. Three of these refugees arrived in San Francisco, June 11, 1885. Their names are Pak Yong Ho, a nobleman, and envoy to Japan in 1881 ; So Kwang Pom, secretary to the embassy to the United States in 1883 ; and Sai Jai Pil, a graduate of the Tokio Military Academy. All were PREFATORY NOTES TO SECOND EDITION. XI members of the Liberal ministry overthrown, in December last, during the tumult. Negotiations between China and Japan relative to the affair of December, 1884, were carried on between the Mikado's Ambassador Ito and Li Hung Chang, at Tientsin. They resulted in a treaty, which was formally ratified May 7, 1885. Both powers agreed to withdraw their troops within four months, and to invite the King of Corea to have a sufficient military force drilled for the public security by officers selected from a third power (probably the United States). The text of the treaty was published May 27th. The attention of Christian people is now being concentrated upon Corea as a missionary field. With commendable promptness no less than ten American missionaries are, at this writing, either already in their field, or on the route thither. A number of native refugees in Japan are under Christian influences, and are earnest inquirers. Some are pronounced believers, and one Eijiutei is trans- lating the Bible into his native language. Three representative men are now among us, in our own land, studying our country and the faith of her people. The Corean character seems to be a happy medium between the stolid Chinaman and the changeable Japanese. With the memory of recent martyrdoms, Corea may become Chris- tian sooner and more thoroughly than Japan, and aid in the mighty work of /evangelizing China. This is the faith held by some who have studied the three peoples. The feeling of the progressive men of Corea concerning them- selves and ourselves finds expression in a recent letter from one of their number. These sentiments may fitly conclude our introduc- tory words to an edition of a book designed to make our new treaty-neighbor better. known : "We are the weakest nation in the orient, on account of our having been for thousands of years in a hermit condition." "We are a new-born nation, and but three years of age." " If we should reckon our national age, in regard to our political relations to other nations in the world, it would begin from the treaty that we made with the United States." Schenectady, N. Y., July 6, 1885. PREFACE. In the year 1871, while living at Fukui, in the province of Echizen, Japan, I spent a few days at Tsurnga 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 Kogo, Ojin, and Takenouchi, whose names in Japanese tra- ditions 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 produ- cing 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 Cho-sen, while in the villages, where dwelt the Eta, or social outcasts, I beheld the de- scendants of Corean prisoners of war. Everywhere the finger of tradition pointed westward across the waters to the Asian main- land, 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 PREFACE. Xlll 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 Cho-ka (Japan) open Cho-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 mas- ter 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 em- belHsh the narrative, though I have sought infonnation from sources from within and without Corea, in maps and charts, coins and pottery, the language and art, notes and narratives of eye-wit- nesses, pencil-sketches, paintings and photographs, the standard histories of Japan and China, the testimony of sailor and diploma- tist, missionary and castaway, and the digested knowledge of critical scholars. I have attempted nothing more than a historical outline ^f the nation and a glimpse at the political and social life of the people. For lack of space, the original manuscript of " Kecent and Modern History," part m., 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 XIV PREFACE. ^ 1880 ; since vvhich time the literature of the subject has been en- riched by Boss's "Corea" and *'Corean Primer," besides the Gram- mar 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 ob- tain much needed data. I have borrowed largely from Pallet's " Histoire d'Eglise de Coree," especially in the chapters devoted to Folk-lore, Social Life, and Christianity. In the Bibliography fol- lowing 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 stu- dents, Hasegawa, Hiraii, Haraguchi, Matsui, and Imadatte, 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 Kioto and Tokio, 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 th8 United States Transit of Venus Survey, for four photographs of the Corean villages in Eussian Manchuria ; Mr. R. Ideura, of Tokio, 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 AnnapoHs, captured in the Han forts ; to Fleet- Surgeon H. O. Mayo, and other officers of the United States Navy, for valuable informa- tion, I hereby express my grateful appreciation of kindness shown. I would that Admiral John Rodger s. 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 PREPACK XY set of charts of the coast of Corea ; to Mr. Metcalfe, of Milwaukee, for photographs of Coreans ; to Miss Marshall, of New York, foi 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 Tokio, Dr. D. B. McCartee, Hon. David Murray, Kev. J. L. Amerman, and others whose names I need not mention. To Gen. George W. McCuUum, Vice-President, and to Mr. Leopold Lin- dau, Librarian, of the American Geographical Society, I return my warmest thanks ; as weU 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 wit- nesses, in many times and places, before him, he views the whole subject and reduces the many impressions of detail to unity, cor- recting one by the other. Travellers usually see but a portion of the country at one time. The compiler, if able even in part to con- trol his authorities, and if anything more than a tyro in the art of literary appraisement, may be able to furnish a hand-book of in- formation more valuable to the general reader. In the use of my authorities I have given heed to Bacon's ad- vice — 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 civil- ization. Corea, like Cyprus between Egypt and Greece, will yet XVI PREFACE. supply many missing details to the comparative student of language, art, science, the development of civilization, and the distribution oi 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 deter- mine 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, Eoman, Greek or Eeformed, should be welcomed ; while to the hnguist, the man of science, and the political economist, the new country opened by American diplomacy presents problems of profound in- terest. W. E. G. Schenectady, N. Y., October 2, 1883. 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 (f). 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 I'Extreme 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. f 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 Tartaric Chinoise, par P. du Halde. * The K5jiki and Nihongi, written in Japan during the eighth century, throws much light on the early history of Corea. * Wakan-San-sai Dzuye. Article on Cho-sen in this great Japanese Encyclo- paedia, f Tong-Kuk Tong-Kan (General View of the Eastern Kingdom), a native Co- rean 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. Il- lustrations and maps. Paisley, 1880. * The Chinese Reader's Manual, by W. Fred. Mayers. 1 vol. , pp. 440. Shang- hae, 1874. An invaluable epitome of Chinese history, biography, chro- nology, bibliography, and whatever is of interest to the student of Chinese literature. * K6-cho Rekidai Enkaku Zukai. Historical Periods and Changes of the Japanese Empire, with maps and notes, by Otsuki Toyo. XVlll BIBLIOGRAPHY. **San Koku Tsu-ran To-setsu. Mirror of the Three [Tributary] Kingdoms, Cho-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 Cho-sen. Digested also in Siebold's Archiv. **Archiv zur Bescriebung 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 uber Korai, Japan's Beziige mit der Koraischen Halbinsel und mit Schina. * * Corea und dessen Einfiuss auf die Be volkerung Japans. Zeit. f iir Ethnol- ogie, Zitzungbericht VIII. p. 78, 1876. P. Kempermann. ** O Dai Ichi Ran. This work, containing the annals of the emperors of Ja- pan, 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 Lon- don, 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 I'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. f A Heap of Jewels in a Sea of Learning (Gei Kai Shu Jin ; Jap. pron.). A chapter from this Chinese book treats of Corea. f Cho-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. Lon- don, 1880. ** An Outline History of Japanese Education, New York, 1876. This mono- graph, 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, T5kio, 1880. An in- valuable 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 ex- pressed 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 Mon- golia, and Manchuria, illustrating the Mongol conquests. f Ch5-sen Ki-che. (Memorandum upon Corean Affairs. ) The Chinese ambassa- dor 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 Cho-sen and China at that time. Quoted by M. Scherzer, but not translated. BIBLIOGRAPHY. XIX * Nih.on Guaishi. Military History of Japan, by Rai Sanyo. This is the Japanese standard history. It was published in 1827 in twenty-two vol- umes. 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 Clio-sen, 1592-97, is outlined. * Cho-sen Seito Shimatsuki. 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 Yama- zaki Masanagi and Miura Katsuyoshi. * Illustrated History of the Invasion of Cho-sen. Written by Tsurumine . 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 Hideyoshi's invasion. It is copiously illustrated with first-class wood engravings. It has not been translated. * Cho-sen Monogatari. A Diary and Narrative of the Japanese Military Opera- tions in Cho-sen during the Campaign of 1594-97, by Okoji Hidemoto. 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 de- scribed, 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 Cho-sen by Hideyoshi 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. 5.8. ** 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 Hak- luyt, London, 1600. *• Hideyoshi'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 cam- paign 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 Chr^tienne au Japon. Par Leon Pages. 2 vols. , text and documents. Paris, 1869. ** Histoire des deux Conquerans Tartares, qui ont subjuge la Chine, par le R. P. Pierre Joseph D'Orliens. *Cho-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. XX BIBLIOGRAPHY. * 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 I'Eglise de Coree, par Ch. Dallet. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. 982. Paris, 1874. This excellent work contains 192 pages of introduction, full of ac- curate information concerning the political social life, geography, and language of Corea, and a history of the introduction and progress of Ro- man 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 Coree. In la Tour du Monde for 1873 there is an ar- ticle 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 excel- lent descriptive paper by an eye-witness. * Diary of a Chinese Envoy to Corea (Journal d'une Mission en Coree), by ^oei Ling, Ambassador of his Majesty the Emperor of China, to the court of Cho-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. f Many memoirs and special papers prepared by French officers in the expedi- tion to Corea in 1866 were prepared and read before local societies at Cherbourg, Lyons, etc. f Expedition de Coree. Revue maritime et coloniale, February, 1867, pp. 474-481. f Paris Moniteur, 1866-67. ** Lettre sur la Coree et son Eglise Chretienne. Bulletin de la Societe 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. Com- piled from the letters of the French missionaries. **N'ouvelle Geographic 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 Francois de Gallon 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.) BIBLIOGRAPHY. * XXI * 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 T5ki5 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, pis. 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. f 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, Gen- san, etc. These have been partly translated for the English press at Yo- kohama. * Correspondence, Notes, Editorials, etc., in the English and French newspa- pers published in China and Japan. ** Maru-maru Shimbun (Japanese Punch). * Ch5-sen : Its Eight Administrative Divisions. 1 vol. Tokio, Japan, 1882. * Cho-sen Jijo. A short Account of Corea, its History, Productions, etc. 2 vols. Tokio, 1875. * Cho-sen Bunkenroku (Things Seen and Heard concerning Corea). By Sato Hakushi. 2 vols. Tokio, 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. fiir 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. Lon- don, 1870. Besides a chapter on Corea, this work contains an excellent map of the country north and east of Cho-sen ** The Middle Kingdom. By S. Wells Williams. XXll BIBLIOGRAPHY. ** 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 he desired as a guide-book, contains several references to Corean art and history. ** The Wild Coasts of Mpon. 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. ** Darlegun aus der Geschichte und Geographie Coreas. Pfizmaier. 8vo, pp. 56. Vienna, 1874. f Petermann's Mittheilungen, No. 1, Carte No. 19, 1871. ** Das Konigreich Korea. Von Kloden. Aus alien Welth., x., Nos. 5 u. 6. f Corea. Geographical Magazine. (S. Mossman.) vi. p. 148, 1877. f 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 illus- trations. 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 Tokio 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. f Bulletin de la Societe Geographique, 1875. Corean villages in the Russian possessions described. ** Ravensteins, The Russians on the Amoor. London, 1861. f Die Insel Quelpart. Deutsche Geogr. Blatter, 1879. iii.. No. 1, S. 45-46. j 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. f La Coree, par M. Paul Tournafond, editor of L'Exploration, a geographical journal published in Paris, which contains frequent notes on Corea. f La Coree, ses Ressources, son avenir commercial, par Maurice Jametel. L'Economiste Fran9ais, 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. BIBLIOGRAPHY. XXIII Chautauqua Text-Books, No. 84. 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. Cyclopaedia of Political Science, etc., article Corea. Chicago, 1881. The Corean Origin of Japanese Art. Century Magazine. December, 1883. 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 cir- cumstances, possible. The Coreans themselves have no uniform system of spelling proper names, nor do the French missionaries agree in their render- ings — 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, e as in prey, e as in men, i as in mcidiine, o as in hone, u as in tune, u 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, I, q, s used as z, .r, and the combinations ph and th are not used. The long vowel, rather diphthong o, or oho, is marked o. The most familiar Chinese names are retained in their usual English form. Corean words are transliterated on the same general principles as the Japa- :Aese, though ears familiar with Corean will find the obscure sound between and short u is written with either of these letters, as Chan-yon, or In-chitin, or Kiung-sang. Ch may sometimes be used instead oij; 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. PAGS 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 ChuUa-do, 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 end of wlume. CONTENTS. PART I. ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL HISTOKY. CHAPTER I. PAGE The Corean Peninsula, . . .1 CHAPTER 11. The Old Kingdom of Clio-sen, .11 CHAPTER HI. 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 VIL Epoch of the Three Kingdoms. — Sliinra, 45 CHAPTER Vin. Japan and Corea, . 51 Xxvi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PAGE Korai, or United Corea, ......... 63 CHAPTER X. Cathay, Zipangu, and the Mongols, 70 CHAPTER XI. New Cho-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 Ki5to and Peking, 124 CHAPTER XVin. The Second Invasion, 129 CHAPTER. tXIX. 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 CONTENTS. XXVii PART IL POLITICAL AND SOCIAL COEEA. CHAPTER XXIII. PAGE riie 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, 2'62 CHAPTER XXXI. Mourning and Burial, .......... 277 CHAPTER XXXII. Out-door Life. — Characters and Employments, 284 CHAPTER XXXIII. Shamanism and Mythical Zoology, ... • . . . . 300 XXVlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXIV. PAGH 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. PAGE 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 CONTENTS. XXIX CHAPTER XLV. PAGE A Body-Snatcliing 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 Supplementary Chapter, 443 APPENDIX. The Corean Language, 455 Measures, Weights, Money, Time, Calculation, .... 463 Cartography, 468 INDEX, 469 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Citj of Seoul, FTontispiece. Corean Coin, 10 Coin of Modern Cho-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 Tahle 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 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. COREA: THE HERMIT NATION CHAPTER I. THE COREAN PENINSULA. Core A, though unknown even by name in Europe until the six- teenth century, was the subject of description by Arab geogra- phers 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 mediaeval 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 Tempio Shoho [February, 754 a.d.], the Japan- ese 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 Em- peror Gen-sho, on New Year's Day [January 18th], the ambassadors 2 COREA. 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 assign- ing 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 Eich- thofen 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 gin- seng, deerhorn, aloes, camphor, nails, saddles, porcelain, satin, zimmit (cinnamon ?) and galanga (ginger?)." Bichthofen 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. *HE COREAN PENINSULA. 3 The French Jesuits at Peking Gallicized this into Coree. Fol- lowing the genius of their language, they call it La Coree, just as they speak of England as L'Angleterre, Germany as L'AUemande, and America as L'Amerique. Hence has arisen the curious desig- nation, 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 Cho-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, Cho-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 YeUow Sea. These waters are so shallow that the eleva- tion 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 4 COREA. of the peninsula. The former is comparativelj^ destitute of harbors, and the shore is high, monotonous, and but sHghtly 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 amaz- ing 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 dot- ting 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 cliflfs, 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 Monas- tery, 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 geogTa- phy of Cho-sen, heretofore generally known, is that chain of moun- tains which traverses the peninsula from North to South, not in a straight line, but in an exceedingly sinuous course, similar to the THE CORE AN PENINSULA. 5 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 paral- lel, 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 south- west, 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 de- serted 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 de- termines largely its configuration, climate, river system and water- shed, 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 west- ward 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 epi- thets. 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 do, 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 dis- charge part of their waters into streams emptying beyond their 6 COREA. boundaries. The Yalu, and the Han — "the river"— are the only streams whose sources lie beyond their own provinces. In rare in- stances 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 YeUow Sea Basin, of which Northeastern China forms the opposite rim. The three east- ern do, 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 moimtainous and sea-girt a country there are, of course, great climatic varieties even in the same prov- inces. 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 THE CORBAN PENINSULA. 7 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 tor- rents that blockade the roads and render travelling and transport next to impossible. Toward the end of September occurs the pe- riod 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 com- mon. 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 sacri- ficial purposes. The dog serves for food as well as for companion- ship 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 win- ter, 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 Manchu- ria. 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. 8 COREA. For centuries, only the wild beasts, fugitives from justice, and outlaws from both countries, have inhabited this fertile but forbid- den 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 pecu- liar 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 bor- der which, two centuries and more ago, were strong, high, guarded and kept in repair, have year by year, dm-ing 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 bor- der 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. Al- ready 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 vari- ous hordes called Tartars, or Tatars, 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 Eoman Empire ; who extinguished Christianity in Asia and Africa, and nearly in Europe ; who, after conquering India and China threatened Christendom, and holding Eussia 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. Cho-sen since acting the hermit policy of ancient Egypt and me- diaeval China, has preserved two loopholes at Fusan and Ai-chiu, the former on the sea toward Japan, and the latter in the north- west, on the Chinese border. What in time of peace is a needle's THE CORBAN PENINSULA. 9 eye, is in time of war a flood-gate for enemies. From the west, tlie 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 Kivers. 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, Cho-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 conquer- ing 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, dif- ferent from either. As Ireland is not England or Scotland, neither is Cho-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 misgov- ernment 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, let- ters, 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 Eome 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 Cho- 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 civili- zation of his native country in a book entitled ''Precious Jewels from a Neighbor Country.* 10 CORBA. 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 weak- ness 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 gHmpses 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 foreign- ers 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, ethnol- ogy, 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. Corean Coin — " Eastern Kingdom, Precious Treasure. CHAPTEE II. THE OLD KINGDOM OF CHO-SEN. Like almost every country on earth, whose history is known, Corea is inhabited by a race that is not aboriginal. The present occupiers of the land drove out or conquered the people whom they found upon it. They are the descendants of a stock whose ances- tral seats were beyond those ever white mountains which buttress the northern frontier. Nevertheless, for the origins of their national history, we must look to one whom the Coreans of this nineteenth century still call the founder of their social order. The scene of his labors is laid partly vrithin the peninsula, and chiefly in Manchuria, on the well watered plains of Shing-king, formerly called Liao Tung. The third dynasty of the thirty-three or thirty-four lines of rulers who have filled the oft-changed throne of China, is known in history as the Shang (or Yin). It began b.c. 1766, and after a line of twenty-eight sovereigns, ended in Chow Sin, who died b.c. 1122. He was an unscrupulous tyrant, and has been called "the Nero of China." One of his nobles was Ki Tsze, viscount of Ki (or Latinized, Kicius). He was a profound scholar and author of important por- tions of the classic book, entitled the Shu King. He was a coun- sellor of the tyrant king, and being a man of upright character, was greatly scandalized at the conduct of his licentious and cruel master. The sage remonstrated with his sovereign hoping to turn him from his evil ways. In this noble purpose he was assisted by two other men of rank named Pi Kan and Wei Tsze. All theii- efforts were of no avail, and finding the reformation of the tyrant hopeless, Wei Tsze, though a kinsman of the king, voluntarily exiled him- self from the realm, while Pi Kan, also a relative of Chow Sin, was crueUy murdered in the following manner : The king, mocking the wise counsellor, cried out, "They say 12 CORBA. that a sage has seven orifices to his heart ; let us see if this is the case with Pi Kan, " This Chinese monarch, himself so much like Herod in other respects, had a wife who in her character re- sembled Herodias. It was she who expressed the bloody wish to see the heart of Pi Kan. By the imperial order the sage was put to death and his body ripped open. His heart, torn out, was brought before the cruel pair. Ki Tsze, the third counsellor, was cast into prison. Meanwhile the people and nobles of the empire were rising in arms against the tyrant whose misrule had become intolerable. They were led on by one Wu Wang, who crossed the Yellow Kiver, and met the tyrant on the plains of Muh. In the great battle that ensued, the army of Chow Sin was defeated. Escaping to his pal- ace, and ordering it to be set on fire, he perished in the flames. Among the conqueror's first acts was the erection of a memorial mound over the grave of Pi Kan, and an order that Ki Tsze should be released from prison, and appointed Prime Minister of the realm. But the sage's loyalty exceeded his gratitude. In spite of the magnanimity of the offer, Ki Tsze frankly told the conqueror that duty to his deposed sovereign forbade him serving one whom he could not but regard as a usurper. He then departed into the regions lying to the northeast. With him went several thousand Chinese emigrants, mostly the remnant of the defeated army, now exiles, who made him their king. It is not probable that in his distant realm he received investment from or paid tribute to King Wu. Such an act would be a virtual acknowledgment of the righteousness of rebellion and revolution. It would prove that the sage forgave the usurper. Some Chinese historians state that Ki Tsze accepted a title from Wu Wang. Others maintain that the investiture "was a euphemism to shield the character of the ances- tor of Confucius." The migration of Ki Tsze and his followers took place 1122 e.g. Ki Tsze began vigorously to reduce the aboriginal people of his realm to order. He policed the borders, gave laws to his subjects, and gradually introduced the principles and practice of Chinese etiquette and polity throughout his domain. Previous to his time the people lived in caves and holes in the ground, dressed in leaves, and were destitute of manners, morals, agriculture and cooking, being ignorant savages. The divine being, Dan Kun, had partially civilized them, but Kishi, who brought 5,000 Chinese colonists with THE OLD KINGDOM OF CHOSEN. 13 Mm, taught the aborigines letters, reading and writing, medicine, many of the arts, and the pohtical principles of feudal China. The Japanese pronounce the founder's name Kishi, and the Coreans Kei-tsa or Kysse. The name conferred by Kishi, the civilizer, upon his new domain is that now in use by the modern Coreans — Cho-sen or Morning Calm. This ancient kingdom of Cho-sen, according to the Coreans, comprised the modern Chinese province of Shing-king, which is now about the size of Ohio, having an area of 43,000 square miles, and a population of 8,000,000 souls. It is entirely outside and west of the limits of modern Corea. In addition to the space already named, the fluctuating bound- aries of this ancient kingdom embraced at later periods much terri- tory beyond the Liao Eiver toward Peking, and inside the line now marked by the Great Wall. To the east the modern province of Ping-an was included in Cho-sen, the Ta-tong Kiver being its most stable boundary. " Scientific frontiers," though sought for in those ancient times, were rather ideal than hard and fast. With all due allowance for elastic boundaries, we may say that ancient Cho-sen lay chiefly within the Liao Tung peninsula and the Corean province of Ping-an, that the Liao and the Ta-tong Rivers enclosed it, and that its northern border lay along the 42d parallel of latitude. The descendants of Ki Tsze are said to have ruled the country until the fourth century before the Christian era. Their names and deeds are alike unknown, but it is stated that there were fort}'- one generations, making a blood-line of eleven hundred and thirty- one 3^ears. The line came to an end in 9 a.d., though they had lost power long before this time. By common consent of Chinese and native tradition, Ki Tsze is the founder of Corean social order. If this tradition be true, the civilization of the hermit nation nearly equals, in point of time, that of China, and is one of the very oldest in the world, being contemporaneous with that of Egypt and Chaldea. It is certain that the natives plume themselves upon their antiquity, and that the particular vein of Corean arrogance and contempt for western civilization is kindred to that of the Hindoos and Chinese. From the lofty height of thirty centuries of tradition, which to them is unchallenged history, they look with pitying contempt upon the upstart nations of yesterday, who live beyond the sea under some other heaven. When the American Admiral, John Rodgers, in 14 COREA. 1871, entered tlie Han Eiver with his fleet, hoping to make a treaty, he was warned off with the repeated answer that " Corea was satis- fied with her civihzation of four thousand years, and wanted no other." The perpetual text of all letters from Seoul to Peking, of all proclamations against Christianity, of all death-warrants of con- verts, and of the oft-repeated refusals to open trade with foreign- ers is the praise of Ki Tsze as the founder of the virtue and order of "the little kingdom," and the loyalty of Corea to his doctrines. In the letter of the king to the Chinese emperor, dated Novem- ber 25, 1801, the language following the opening sentence is as given below : "His Imperial Majesty knows that since the time when the remnants of the army of the Yin dynasty migrated to the East [1122 B.C.], the little kingdom has always been distinguished by its exactness in fulfilUng all that the rites prescribe, justice and loyaltj^, and in general by fidelity to her duties," etc., etc. In a royal proclamation against the Christian religion, dated January 25, 1802, occurs the following sentence : "The kingdom granted to Ki Tsze has enjoyed great peace dur- ing four hundred years [since the establishment of the ruling dy- nasty], in all the extent of its territory of two thousand ri and more," etc. These are but specimens from official documents which illus- trate their pride in antiquity, and the reverence in which their first law giver is held by the Coreans. Nevertheless, though Kishi may possibly be called the founder of ancient Cho-sen, and her greatest legislator, yet he can scarcely be deemed the ancestor of the people now inhabiting the Corean peninsula. For the modern Coreans are descended from a stock of later origin, and quite different from the ancient Cho-senese. From Ki Tsze, however, sprang a line of kings, and it is possible that his blood courses in some of the noble families of the king- dom. As the most ancient traditions of Japan and Corea are based on Chinese writings, there is no discrepancy in their accounts of the beginning of Cho-sen history. Ki Tsze and his colonists were simply the first immigrants to the country northeast of China, of whom history speaks. He found other people on the soil before him, concerning whose origin nothing is known in writing. The land was not densely populated, but of their numbers, or time of coming of the aborigines, or THE OLD KINGDOM OF CHO-SEK 15 whether of the same race as the tribes in the outlying islands of Japan, no means yet in our power can give answer. Even the story of Ki Tsze, when critically examined, does not satisfy the rigid demands of modern research. Mayers, in his "Chinese Keader's Manual" (p. 369), does not concede the first part of the Chow dynasty (1122 b.c.-255 a.d.) to be more than semi-historical, and places the beginning of authentic Chinese his- tory between 781 and 719 b.c., over four centuries after Ki Tsze's time. Ross (p. 11) says that " the story of Kitsu is not impossible, but it is to be received with suspicion." It is not at all improbable that the Cho-sen of Ki Tsze's founding lay in the Sungari valley, and was extended southward at a later period. It is not for us to dissect too critically the tradition concerning the founder of Corea, nor to locate exactly the scene of his labors. Suffice it to say that the general history, prior to the Christian era, of the country whose story we are to tell, divides itself into that of the north, or Cho-sen, and that of the south, below the Ta-tong River, in which region three kingdoms arose and flourished, with varying fortunes, during a millennium. We return now to the well-established history of Cho-sen. The Great Wall of China was built by Cheng, the founder of the Tsin dynasty (b.c. 255-209), who began the work in 239 a.d. Before his time, China had been a feudal conglomerate of petty, warring kingdoms. He, by the power of the sword, consolidated them into one homogeneous empire and took the title of the "First Univer- sal Emperor" (Shi Whang Ti). Not content with sweeping away feudal institutions, and building the Great Wall, he ordered all the literary records and the ancient scriptures of Confucius to be de- stroyed by fire. Yet the empire, whose perpetuity he thought to secure by building a rampart against the barbarians without, and by destroying the material for rebellious thought within, fell to pieces soon after, at his death, when left to the care of a foolish son, and China was plunged into bloody anarchy again. One of these petty kingdoms that arose on the ruins of the em- pire was that of Yen, which began to encroach upon its eastern neighbor Cho-sen. In the later days of the Ki Tsze family, great anarchy prevailed, and the last kings of the Hue were unable to keep their domain in order, or guard its boundaries. Taking advantage of its weakness, the king of Yen began boldly and openly to seize upon Cho-sen territory, annexing thousands of 16 COREA. square miles to his own domain. By a spasmodic effort, the suc- cessors of Ki Tsze again became ascendant, reannexing a large part of the territory of Yen, and receiving great numbers of her people, who had fled from civil war in China, within the borders of Cho-sen for safety and peace. Thus the spoiler was spoiled, but, later on, the kingdom of Yen w^as again set up, and the rival states fixed their boundaries and made peace. The Han dynasty in b.c. 206 claimed the imperial power, and sent a summons to the king of Yen to become vassal. On his refusing, the Chinese emperor despatched an army against him, defeated his forces in battle, extinguished his dynasty, and an- nexed his kingdom. One of the survivors of this revolt, named Wei-man, with one thousand of his followers, fled to the east. Dressing themselves like wild savages they entered Cho-sen, pretending, with Gibeoni- tish craft, that they had come from the far west, and begged to be received as subjects. Kijun, the king, like another Joshua, believing their profes- sions, welcomed them and made their leader a vassal of high rank, with the title of ' Guardian of the Western Frontier.' He also set apart a large tract of land for his salary and support. In his post at the west, Wei-man played the traitor, and collect- ing a number of his former countrymen from the Yen province, suddenly sent to Kijun a messenger, informing him that a large Chinese army of the conquering Han was about to invade Cho-sen. At the same time, he suggested that he should be called to the royal side and be made Protector of the Capital. His desire being granted, he hastened with his forces and suddenly appearing before the royal castle, attacked it. Kijun was beaten, and fled by sea, escaping in a boat to the southern end of the peninsula. Wei-man then proclaimed himself King of Cho-sen, 194 b.c. He set out on a career of conquest and seized several of the neighbor- ing provinces, and Cho-sen again expanded her boundaries to cover an immense area. Wei-man built a city somewhere east of the Ta- tong Kiver. It was named Wang-hien. Two provinces of modern Corea were thus included vdthin Cho- sen at this date. The new kingdom grew in wealth, power, and intelligence. Many thousands of the Chinese gentry, fleeing before the conquering arms of the Han "usurpers," settled within the lim- its of Cho-sen, adding greatly to its prosperity. During the reign of Yukio (Chinese, Yow Jin), the grandson of THE OLD KINGDOM OF CHO-SEN. 17 Wei-man, he received a summons ro become vassal to the Chinese emperor, who subhmely declared that henceforward the eastern frontier of China should be the Ta-tong River — thus virtually wip- ing out Cho-sen with a proclamation. In b.c. 109, a Chinese am- bassador sailed over from China, entered the Ta-tong River, and visited Yukio in his castle. He plead in vain with Yukio to render homage to his master. Nevertheless, to show his respect for the emperor and his envoy, Yukio sent an escort to accompany the latter on his way. The sullen Chinaman, angry at his defeat, accepted the safe conduct of the Cho-sen troops until beyond the Ta-tong River, and then treacherously put their chief to death. Hurrying back to his mas- ter, he glossed over his defeat, and boasted of his perfidious murder. He was rewarded with the appointment of the governorship of Liao Tung. Smarting at the insult and menace of this act, Yukio, raising an army, marched to the west and slew the traitor. Having thus un- furled the standard of defiance against the mighty Han dynasty, he returned to his castle, and awaited with anxious preparation the coming of the invading hosts which he knew would be hurled upon him from China. The avenging expedition, that was to carry the banners of China farther toward the sunrise than ever before, was despatched both by land and sea, b.c. 108. The horse and foot soldiers took the land route around the head of Liao Tung Gulf, crossed on the ice of the Yalu River, and marched south to the Ta-tong, where the Cho-sen men attacked their van and scattered it. The fleet sailed over from Shantung, and landed a force of several thousand men on the Corean shore, in February or March, B.C. 107. Without waiting for the entire army to penetrate the country, Yukio attacked the advance guards and drove them to the mountains in disorder. Diplomacy was now tried, and a representative of the emperor was sent to treat with Yukio. The latter agreed to yield and be- come vassal, but had no confidence in the general whom he had just defeated. His memory of Chinese perfidy was still so fresh, that he felt unable to trust himself to his recently humbled ene- mies, and the negotiations ended in failure. As usual, with the unsuccessful, the Chinaman lost his head. Recourse was again had to the sword. The Chinese crossed the Ta-tong River on the north, and defeating the Cho-sen army, 2 18 COREA. marched to the king's capital, and laid siege to it in conjunction with the naval forces. In spite of their superior numbers, the in- vaders were many months vainly beleaguering the fortress. Yet, though the garrison wasted daily, the king would not yield. •Knowing that defeat, with perhaps a cruel massacre, awaited them, four Cho-sen men, awaiting their opportunity, during the fighting, discharged their weapons at Yukio, and leaving him dead, opened the gates of the citadel, and the Chinese entered. With the planting of the Han banners on the city walls, b.c. 107, the existence of the kingdom of Cho-sen came to an end. Henceforth, for several centuries, Liao Tung and the land now com- prised within the two northwestern provinces of Corea, were parts of China. The conquered territory was at once divided into four provinces, two of which comprised that part of Corea north of the Ta-tong Eiver. The other two were in Liao Tung, occupying its eastern and its western half. Within the latter was the district of Kokorai, or Kaokuli, at whose history we shall now glance. Coin of Modern Cho-sen. " Cho-sen, Current Treasur*." CHAPTER III. THE FUYU RACE AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. Somewhere north of that vast region watered by the Stmgari River, itself only a tributary to the Amnr, there existed, according to Chinese tradition, in very ancient times, a petty kingdom called Korai, or To-li. Out of this kingdom sprang the founder of the Corean race. Slightly altering names, we may say in the phrase of Genesis: "Out of Korai went forth Ko and builded Corea," though what may be sober fact is wrapped up in the following fantastic legend. Long, long ago, in the kingdom called To-li, or Korai (so pro-, nounced, though the characters are not those for the Korai of later days), there lived a king, in whose harem was a waiting-maid. One day, while her master was absent on a hunt, she saw, floating in the atmosphere, a glistening vapor which entered her bosom. This ray or tiny cloud seemed to be about as big as an egg. Under its influence, she conceived. The king, on his return, discovered her condition, and made up his mind to put her to death. Upon her explanation, how- ever, he agreed to spare her life, but at once lodged her in prison. The child that was born proved to be a boy, which the king promptly cast among the pigs. But the swine breathed into his nostrils and the baby lived. He was next put among the horses, but they also nourished him with their breath, and he lived. Struck by this evident will of Heaven, that the child should live, the king listened to its mother's prayers, and permitted her to nourish and train him in the palace. He grew up to be a fair youth, full of energy, and skiKul in archery. He was named "Light of the East," and the king appointed him Master of his stables. One day, while out hunting, the king permitted him to give an exhibition of his skill. This he did, drawing bow with such un- erring aim that the royal jealousy was kindled, and he thought of 20 COREA. nothing but how to compass the destruction of the youth. Know- ing that he would be killed if he remained in the royal service, the young archer fled the kingdom. He directed his course to the southeast, and came to the borders of a vast and impassable river, most probably the Sungari. Knowing his pursuers were not far behind him he cried out, in a great strait. The Founder of Fuyu Crossing Ihe Sungari River. (Drawn by G. Hashinnoto, Yedo, 1853.) "Alas ! shall I, who am the child of the Sun, and the grandson of the Yellow River, be stopped here powerless by this stream." So saying he shot his arrows at the water. Immediately all the fishes of the river assembled together in a thick shoal, making so dense a mass that their bodies became a floating bridge. On this, the young prince (and according to the THE FUYU RACE AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. 21 Japanese version of the legend, three others with him), crossed the stream and safely reached the further side. No sooner did he set foot on land than his pursuers appeared on the opposite shore, when the bridge of fishes at once dissolved. His three compan- ions stood ready to act as his guides. One of the three was dressed in a costume made of sea-weeds, a second in hempen gar- ments, and a third in embroidered robes. Arriving at their city, he became the king of the tribe and kingdom of Fuyu, which lay in the fertile and well-watered region between the Sun- gari River and the Shan Alyn, or Ever- White Mountains. It ex- tended several hundred miles east and west of a line drawn south- ward through Kirin, the larger half lying on the west. Fuyu, as described by a Chinese writer of the Eastern Han dynasty (25 B.C.-190 a.d.), was a land of fertile soil, in which "the five cereals" (wheat, rice, millet, beans, and sorghum) could be raised. The men were tall, muscular, and brave, and withal generous and courteous to each other. Their arms were bows and arrows, swords, and lances. They were skilful horsemen. Their ornaments were large pearls, and cut jewels of red jade. They made spirits from grain, and were fond of drinking bouts, feast- ing, dancing, and singing. With many drinkers there were, few cups. The latter were rinsed in a bowl of water, and with great ceremony passed from one to another. They ate with chopsticks, out of bowls, helping themselves out of large dishes. I^; is a striking fact that the Fuyu people, though Hving so far from China, were dwellers in cities which they surrounded with palisades or walls of stakes. They lived in wooden houses, and stored their crops in granaries. In the administration of justice, they were severe and prompt. They had regular prisons, and fines were part of their legal sys- tem. The thief must repay twelve-fold. Adultery was punished by the death of both parties. Further revenge might be taken upon the woman by exposing her dead body on a mound. Cer- tain relatives of a criminal were denied burial in a coffin. The other members of the family of a criminal suffering capital pun- ishment were sold as slaves. Murderers were buried alive with their victims. The Fuyu religion was a worship of Heaven, their greatest festival being in the eleventh month, when they met joyfully to- gether, laying aside all gTudges and quarrels, and freeing their prisoners. Before setting out on a military expedition they wor- 22 COREA. shipped Heaven, and sacrificed an ox, examining the hoof, to obtain an omen. If the cloven part remained separated, the portent was evil, if the hoof closed together, the omen was auspicious. The Fuyu chief men or rulers were named after the domestic beasts, beginning with their noblest animal, the horse, then the ox, the dog, etc. Rulers of cities were of this order. Their king was buried at his death in a coffin made of jade. Evidently the Fuyu people were a vigorous northern race, well clothed and fed, rich in grain, horses and cattle, possessing the arts of life, with considerable literary culture, and well ad- vanced in social order and political knowledge. Though the Chi- nese writers classed them among barbarians, they were, in con- trast with their immediate neighbors, a civilized nation. Indeed, to account for such a high stage of civilization thus early and so far fom China, Mr. Ross suggests that the scene of the Ki Tsze's labors was in Fuyu, rather than in Cho-sen. Certain it is that the Fuyu people were the first nation of Manchuria to emerge from barbarism, and become politically well organized. It is signifi- cant, as serving to support the conjecture that Ki Tsze founded Fuyu, that we discern, even in the early history of this vigor- ous nation, the institution of feudalism. "We find a king and no- bles, with fortified cities, and wealthy men, with farms, herds of horses, cattle, and granaries. We find also a class of serfs, created by the degradation of criminals or their relatives. The other Manchurian people, or barbarians, surrounding China, were still in the nomadic or patriarchal state. Why so early beyond China do we find a well-developed feudal system and high political or- ganization ? It was from feudal China, the China of the Yin dynasty, from which Ki Tsze emigrated to the northeast. Knowing no other form of government, he, if their founder, doubtless introduced feudal forms of government. Whatever may be thought of the theory there suggested, it is certainly surprising to find a distinctly marked feudal system, already past the rudimentary stage, in the wilderness of Man- churia, a thousand miles away from the seats of Chinese culture, as early as the Christian era. As nearly the whole of Europe was at some time feudalized, so China, Corea, and Japan have each passed through this stage of political life. The feudal system in China was abolished by Shi Whang Ti, THE FUYU RACE AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. 23 tlie first universal Emperor, b.c. 221, but that of Japan only after an interval of 2,000 years, surviving until 1871. It lingers still in Corea, whose history it has greatly influenced, as our subsequent narrative will prove. In addition to the usual features of feudal- ism, the existence of serfdom, in fact as well as in form, is proved by the testimony of Dutch and French observers, and of the lan- guage itself. The richness of Corean speech, in regard to every phase and degree of servitude, would suffice for a Norman land- holder in mediaeval England, or for a Carolina cotton-planter be- fore the American civil war. Out of this kingdom of Euyu came the people who are the ancestors of the modern Coreans. In the same Chinese history which describes Euyu, we have a picture of the kingdom of Koko- rai (or Kao-ku-li), which had Euyu for its northern and Cho-sen for its southern neighbor. "The land was "two thousand /z square, and contained many gTeat mountains, and deep valleys." There was a tradition among the Eastern barbarians that they were an offshoot from Euyu. Hence their language and laws were very much alike. The nation was divided into five families, named after the four points of the compass, with a yellow or central tribe. Evidently this means that a few families, perhaps five in num- ber, leaving Euyu, set out toward the south, and in the valleys west of the Yalu Kiver and along the 42d parallel, founded a new nation. Their first king was Ko, who, perhaps, to gain the prestige of ancient descent, joined his name to that of Korai (\^T:itten however with the characters which make the sound of modern Korai) and thus the realm of Kokorai received its name. A Japanese writer derives the term Kokorai from words se- lected out of a j)assage in the Chinese classics referring to the high mountains. The first character Ko, in Kokorai, means high, and it was under the shadows of the lofty Ever White Mountains that this vigorous nation had its cradle and its home in youth. Here, too, its warriors nourished their strength until their clouds of horsemen burst upon the frontiers of the Chinese empire, and into the old kingdom of Cho-sen, The people of this young state were rich in horses and cattle, but less given to agTiculture. They lived much in the open air, and were fierce, impetuous, strong, and hardy. They were fond of music and pleasure at night. Especially characteristic Avas their love of decoration and display. At their public gatherings they decked themselves in 24 COREA. dresses embroidered with gold and silver. Their houses were also adorned in various ways. Their chief display was at funerals, when a prodigal outlay of precious metals, jewels, and embroi- deries was exhibited. In their religion they sacrificed to Heaven, to the spirits of the land, and of the harvests, to the morning star, and to the celestial and invisible powers. There were no prisons, but when crimes were committed the chiefs, after deliberation, put the criminal to death and reduced the wives and children to slavery. In this way serfs were provided for labor. In their burial customs, they made a cairn, and planted fir-trees around it, as many Japanese tombs are made. In the general forms of their social, religious, and political Hfe, the people of Fuyu and Kokorai were identical, or nearly so; while both closely resemble the ancient Japanese of Yamato. The Chinese authors also state that these people were already in possession of the Confucian classics, and had attained to an un- usual degree of literary culture. Their officials were divided into twelve ranks, which was also the ancient Japanese number. In the method of divination, in the wearing of flowery costumes, and in certain forms of etiquette, they and the Japanese were alike. As is now well known, the ancient form of government of the Yamato Japanese (that is, of the conquering race from Corea and the north) was a rude feudalism and not a monarchy. Further, the central part of Japan, first held by the ancestors of the mi- kado, consists oifive provinces, like the Kokorai division, into five clans or tribes. At the opening of the Christian era we find the people of Ko- korai already strong and restless enough to excite attention from the Chinese court. In 9 a.d. they were recognized as a nation with their ovni "kings," and classified with Huentu, one of the districts of old Cho-sen. One of these kings, in the year 30, sent tribute to the Chinese emperor. In 50 a.d. Kokorai, by invitation, sent their warriors to assist the Chinese army against a rebel horde in the northwest. In a.d. 70 the men of Kokorai descended upon Liao Tung, and having now a taste for border war and conquest, they marched into the petty kingdom of Wei, which lay in what is now the extreme northeast of Corea. Absorbing this little coun- try, they kept up constant warfare against the Chinese. Though their old kinsmen, the Fujoi men, were at times allies of the Han, yet they gradually spread themselves eastward and southward, so THE FUYU RACE AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. 25 Fuyu and Manchiu. 26 COREA. that by 169 a.d. the Kokorai kingdom embraced the whole of the territory of old Cho-sen, or of Liao Tung, with all the Corean peninsula north of the Ta-tong, and even to the Tumen Eiver. This career of conquest sufiered a check for a time, when a Chinese expedition, sailing up the Yalu Eiver, invested the capital city of the king and defeated his army. The king fled beyond the Tumen Eiver. Eight thousand people are said to have been made prisoners or slaughtered by the Chinese. For a time it seemed as though Kokorai were too badly crippled to move again. Anarchy broke out in China, on the fall of the house of Han, A.D. 220, and lasted for half a century. That period of Chinese his- tory, from 221 to 277, is called the "Epoch of the Three King- doms." During this period, and until well into the fifth century, while China was rent into "Northern" and "Southern" divisions, the military activities of Kokorai were employed with varying re- sults against the petty kingdoms that rose and fell, one after the other, on the soil between the Great Wall and the Yalu Eiver. During this time the nation, free from the power and oppression of China, held her own and compacted her power. In the fifth cen- tury her warriors had penetrated nearly as far west as the modern Peking in their cavalry raids. Wily in diplomacy, as brave in war, they sent tribute to both of the rival claimants for the throne of China which were likely to give them trouble in the future. Dropping the family name of their first king, they retained that of their ancestral home-land, and called their nation Korai. Meanwhile, as they multiplied in numbers, the migration of Ko- korai people, henceforth known as Korai men, set steadily south- ward. Weakness in China meant strength in Korai. The Chinese had bought peace with their Eastern neighbors by titles and gifts, which left the Koraians free to act against their southern neigh- bors. In steadily displacing these, they came into collision with the little kingdom of Hiaksai, whose history will be narrated farther on. It wiU be seen that the Korai men, people of the Fuyu race, finally occupied the territory of Hiaksai. Already the Koraians, sure of further conquest southward, fixed their capital at Ping-an. In 589 A.D. the house of Sui was established on the dragon throne, and a portentous message was sent to the King of Korai, which caused the latter to make vigorous war preparations. Evi- dently the Chinese emperor meant to throttle the young giant of the north, while the young giant was equally determined to Hve. THE FUYU RACE AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. 27 The movement of a marauding force of Koraians, even to the inside of the Great Wall, gave the bearded dragon not only the pretext of war but of annexation. For this purpose an army of three hundred thousand men and a fleet of several hundred war-junks were prepared. The latter were to sail over from Shantung, and enter the Ta-tong Eiver, the goal of the expedition being Ping-an city, the Koraian capital. The horde started without provisions, and arrived in mid-sum- mer at the Liao River in want of food. While waiting, during the hot weather, in this malarious and muddy region, the soldiers died by tens of thousands of fever and plague. The incessant rains soon rendered the roads impassable and transport of provisions an impossibihty. Disease melted the mighty host away, and the army, reduced to one-fifth its numbers, was forced to retreat. The war- junks fared no better, for storms in the Yellow Sea drove them back or foundered them by the score. Such a frightful loss of life and material did not deter the next emperor, the infamous Yang (who began the Grand Canal), from following out the scheme of his father, whom he conveni- ently poisoned while already dying. In spite of the raging fam- ines and losses by flood, the emperor ordered magazines for the armies of invasion to be established near the coast, and contin- gents of troops for the twenty-four corps to be raised in every province. All these preparations caused local famines and drove many of the people into rebellion. This army, one of the greatest ever assembled in China, num- bered over one million men. Its equipment consisted largely of banners, gongs, and trumpets. The undisciplined horde began their march, aiming to reach the Liao Eiver before the hot season set in. They found the Koraian army ready to dispute their pas- sage. Three bridges, hastily constructed, were thrown across the stream, on which horse and foot pressed eagerly toward the enemy. The width of the river had, however, been miscalcula- ted and the bridges were too short, so that many thousands of the Chinese were drowned or killed by the Koraians, at unequal odds, while fighting on the shore. In two days, however, the bridges were lengthened and the whole force crossed over. The Chinese van pursued their enemy, slaughtering ten thousand before they could gain the fortified city of Liao Tung. Once inside their walls, however, the Korai soldiers were true to their reputation of being splendid garrison fighters. Instead of easy victory the 28 CORBA. Chinese army lay around the city unable, even after several months' besieging, to breach the walls or weaken the spirit of the defenders. Meanwhile the other division had marched northward and eastward, according to the plan of the campaign. Eight of these army corps, numbering 300,000 men, arrived and went into camp on the west bank of the Yalu River. In spite of express orders to the contrary, the soldiers had thrown away most of the -hundred days' rations of grain with which they started, and the commissa- riat was very low. The Koraian commander, carrying out the Fabian policy, tempted them away from their camp, and led them by skirmishing parties to within a hundred miles of Ping-an. The Chinese fleet lay within a few leagues of the invading army, but land and sea forces were mutually ignorant of each other's vi- cinity. Daring not to risk the siege of a city so well fortified by nature and art as Ping-an, in his present lack of supplies, the Chi- nese general reluctantly ordered a retreat, which began in late summer, the nearest base of supplies being Liao Tung, four hun- dred miles away and through an enemy's country. This was the signal for the Koraians to assume the offensive, and like the Cossacks, upon the army of Napoleon, in Russia, they hung upon the flanks of the hungry fugitives, slaughtering thou- sands upon thousands. When the Chinese host were crossing the Chin-chion River, the Koraian army fell in full force upon them, and the fall of the commander of their rear-guard turned defeat into a rout. The disorderly band of fugitives rested not till well over and beyond the Yalu River. Of that splendid army of 300,000 men only a few thousand reached Liao Tung city. The weapons, spoil, and prisoners taken by the Koraians were "myriads of myriads of myriads." The naval forces in the river, on hearing the amazing news of their comrades' defeat, left Corea and crept back to China. The Chinese emperor was so enraged at the utter failure of his prodigious enterprise, that he had the fugitive officers publicly put to death as an example. In spite of the disasters of the previous year, the emperor Yang, in 613, again sent an army to besiege Liao Tung city. On this occasion scaling ladders, 150 feet long, and towers, mounted on wheels, were used with great effect. Just on the eve of the completion of their greatest work and tower the Chinese camp was suddenly abandoned, the emperor being called home to put THE FUYU RACE AND THEIR MIGRATIONS. 29 down a formidable rebellion. So cautious were the besieged and so sudden was the flight of the besiegers, that it was noon before a Koraian ventured into camp, and two days elapsed before they discovered that the retreat was not feigned. Then the Koraian garrison attacked the Chinese rear-guard with severe loss. The rebellion at home having been put dovm the emperor again cherished the plan of crushing Korai, but other and greater insurrections broke out that required his attention ; for the three expeditions against Corea had wasted the empire even as they had sealed the doom of the Sui dynasty. Though no land forces could be spared, a new fleet was sent to Corea to lay siege to Ping-an city. Even with large portions of his dominions in the hands of rebels, Yang never gave up his plan of humbling Korai. This project was the cause of the most frightful distress in China, and seeing no hope of saving the country except by the murder of the infa- mous emperor, coward, drunkard, tyrant, and voluptuary, a band of conspirators, headed by YU Min, put him to death and Korai had rest. To summarize this chapter. It is possible that Ki Tsze was the founder of Fuyu*. The Kokorai tribes were people who had migrated from Fuyu, and settled north and west of the upper waters of the Yalu E-iver. They entered into relations with the Chinese as early as 9 a.d., and coming into collision with them by the year 70, they kept up a fitful warfare with them, sustaining mighty invasions, until the seventh century, while in the mean- time Korai, instead of being crushed by China, grew in area and numbers until the nation had spread into the peninsula, and over- inin it as far as the Han Eiver. Thus far the history of Corea has been that of the northern and western part of the peninsula, and has been derived chiefly from Chinese sources. We turn now to the southern and eastern portions, and in narrating their history we shall point out their relations with Japan as well as with China, relying largely for our information upon the Japanese annals. CHAPTER W. SAM-HAN, OR SOUTHERN COREA. At tlie time of the suppression of Cho-sen and the incorpora- tion of its territory with the Chinese Empire, b.c. 107, all Corea Map of Sam-han in Southern Corea. south of the Ta-tong Kiver was divided into three han, or geo- graphical divisions. Their exact boundaries are uncertain, but their general topography may be learned from the map. SAM-HAN, OR SOUTHERN COREA. 31 MA-HAN AND BEN-HAN. This little country included fifty-four tribes or clans, each one independent of the other, and living under a sort of patriarchal government. The larger tribes are said to have been composed of ten thousand, and the smaller of a thousand, families each. Kound numbers, however, in ancient records are vrorth little for critical purposes. South of the Ma-han was the Ben-han, in which were twelve tribes, having the same manners and customs as the Ma-han, and speaking a different yet kindred dialect. One of these clans formed the little kingdom of Amana, from which came the first visit of Coreans recorded in the Japanese annals. After the overthrow of his family and kingdom by the traitor Wei-man, Kijun, the king of old Cho-sen escaped to the sea and fled south toward the archipelago. He had with liim a number of his faithful adherents, their wives and children. He landed among one of the clans of Ma-han, composed of Chinese refugees, who, not wishing to live under the Han emperors, had crossed the Yellow Sea. On account of their numbering, originally, one hun- dred families, they called themselves Hiaksai. Either by conquest or invitation Kijun soon became their king. Glimpses of the manner of life of these early people are given by a Chinese writer. The Ma-han people were agricultural, dwelling in villages, but neither driving nor riding oxen or horses, most probably because they did not possess them. Their huts were made of earth banked upon timber, with the door in the roof. They went bare- headed, and coiled or tied their hair in a knot. They set no value on gold, jewels, or embroidery, but wore pearls sewed on their clothes and hung on their necks and ears. Perhaps the word here translated "pearl" may be also applied to drilled stones of a cylindrical or curved shape, like the magatama, or "bent jewels," of the ancient Japanese. They shod their feet with sandals, and wore garments of woven stuff. In etiquette they were but slightly advanced, paying little honor to women or to the aged. Like our Indian bucks, the young men tested their endurance by torture. Slitting the skin of the back, they ran a cord through the flesh, upon which was hung a piece of wood. This was kept suspended till the man, unable longer to endure it, cried out to have it taken off 39 CORBA. After the field work was over, in early summer, they held drinking bouts, in honor of the spirits, with songs and dances. Scores of men, quickly following each other, stamped on the ground to beat time as they danced. In the late autumn, after harvests, they repeated these ceremonies. In each clan there was a man, chosen as ruler, to sacrifice to the spirits of heaven. On a great pole they hung drums and beUs for the service of the heavenly spirits. Perhaps these are the originals of the tall and slender pagodas with their pendant wind-bells at the many eaves and corners. Among the edible products of Ma-han were fowls with tails five feet in length. These "hens with tails a yard long" were evi- dently pheasants — stiU a delicacy on Corean tables. The large apple-shaped pears, which have a wooden taste, half way between a pear and an apple, Avere then, as now, produced in great num- bers. The flavor improves by cooking. As Kijun's government was one of vigor, his subjects advanced in civilization, the Hiaksai people gradually extended their au- thority and influence. The clan names in time faded away or be- came symbols of family bonds instead of governmental authority, so that by the fourth century Hiaksai had become paramount over all the fifty-four tribes of Ma-han, as well as over some of those of the other two han. Thus arose the kingdom of Hiaksai (called also Kudara by the Japanese, Petsi by the Chinese, and Baiji by the modern Coreans), which has a history extending to the tenth century, when it was extinguished in name and fact in united Corea. Its relations with Japan were, in the main, friendly, the island- ers of the Sunrise Kingdom being comrades in arms with them against their invaders, the Chinese, and their hostile neighbors, the men of Shinra — whose origin we shall now proceed to detail. SHIN-HAN. After the fall of the Tsin dynasty in China, a small body of refugees, leaving their native seats, fled across the Yellow Sea toward the Sea of Japan, resting only when over the great moun- tain chain. They made settlements in the valleys and along the sea-coast. At first they preserved their blood and language pure, forming one of the twelve clans or tribes into which the han or country was divided. SAM-HAN, OR SOUTHERN COREA. 33 This name Shin (China or Chinese), which points to the origin of the clan, belonged to but one of the twelve tribes in eastern Corea. As in the case of Hiaksai, the Shin tribe, being possessed of sijperior power and intelligence, extended their authority and boundaries, gTadually becoming very powerful. Under their twenty-second hereditary chief, or "king," considering themselves paramount over all the clans, they changed the name of their country to Shinra, which is pronounced in Chinese Sinlo. Between the years 29 and 70 a.d., according to the Japanese histories, an envoy from Shinra arrived in Japan, and after an audience had of the mikado, presented him with mirrors, swords, jade, and other works of skill and art. In this we have a hint as to the origin of Japanese decorative art. It is evident from these gifts, as well as from the reports of Chinese historians concern- ing the refined manners, the hereditary aristocracy, and the for- tified strongholds of the Shinra people, that their grade of civili- zation was much higher than that of their northern neighbors. It was certainly superior to that of the Japanese, who, as we shall see, were soon tempted to make descents upon the fertile lands, rich cities, and defenceless coasts of their visitors from the west. How long the Chinese colonists who settled in Shin-han pre- served their language and customs is not known. Though these were lost after a few generations, yet it is evident that their influ- ence on the aborigines of the country was very great. From first to last Shinra excelled in civilization all the petty states in the peninsula, of which at first there were seventy-eight. Unlike the Ma-han, the Shin-han people lived in palisaded cities, and in houses the doors of which were on the ground and not on the roof. They cultivated mulberry-trees, reared the silk-worm, and wove silk into fine fabrics. They used wagons with yoked oxen, and horses for draught, and practised "the law of the road." Marriage was conducted with appropriate ceremony. Dancing, drinking, and singing were favorite amusements, and the lute was played in addition to drums. They understood the art of smelt- ing and working iron, and used this metal as money. They car- ried on trade with the other han, and with Japan. How far these arts owed their encouragement or origin to traders, or travelling merchants from China, is not known. Evidently Shinra enjoyed leadership in the peninsula, largely from her culture, wealth, and knowledge of iron. The cui'ious custom, so well known among 3 34 CORBA. American savages, of flattening the heads of newly born infants, is noted among the Shin-han people. Neither Chinese history nor Japanese tradition, though they give lis some account of a few hundred families of emigrants from China who settled in the already inhabited Corean peninsula, throws any light on the aborigines as to whence or when they came. The curtain is lifted only to show us that a few people are already there, with language and customs different from those of China. The descendants of the comparatively few Chinese settlers were no doubt soon lost, with their language and ancestral customs, among the mass of natives. These aboriginal tribes were destined to give way to a new people from the far north, as we shall learn in our further narrative. The Japanese historians seem to distin- guish between the San Han, the three countries or confederacies of loosely organized tribes, and the San Goku, or Three Kingdoms. The Coreans, however, speak only of the Sam-han, meaning thereby the three political divisions of the peninsula, and using the word as referring rather to the epoch. The common " cash," or fractional coin current in the country, bears the characters meaning "circulating medium of the Three Kingdoms," or Sam- han. These were Korai in the north, Shinra in the southeast, and Hiaksai in the southwest. Other Japanese names for these were respectively Kome, Shiriaki, and Kudara, the Chinese terms being Kaoli, Sinlo, and Pe-tsi. Like the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Wales, called also Britannia, Caledonia, and Cambria, these Corean states were distinct in origin, were conquered by a race from without, received a rich infusion of ahen blood, struggled in rivalry for centuries, and were finally united into one nation, with one flag and one sovereign. Coin of the Sam-han or the Three Kingdoms. " Sam-han, Current Treasure." CHAPTEE Y. EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. —HI AKSAL The history of the peninsular states from the time in which it is first known until the tenth century, is that of almost continuous civil war or border fighting. The boundaries of the rival king- doms changed from time to time as raid and reprisal, victory or defeat, turned the scale of war. A series of maps of the penin- sula expressing the political situation during each century or half-century would show many variations of boundaries, and re- semble those of Great Britain when the various native and con- tinental tribes were struggling for its, mastery. Something like an attempt to depict these changes in the political geography of the peninsula has been made by the Japanese historian, Otsuki Toyo, in his work entitled "Historical Periods and Changes of the Japanese Empire." Yet though our narrative, through excessive brevity, seems to be only a picture of war, we must not forget that Hiaksai, once low- est in civilization, rapidly became, and for a while continued, the leading state in the peninsula. It held the lead in literary culture until crushed by China. The classics of Confucius and Mencius, with letters, writing, and their whole train of literary blessings, were introduced first to the peninsula in Hiaksai. In 374 a.d. Ko-ken was appointed a teacher or master of Chinese literature, and enthusiastic schobors gathered at the court. Buddhism fol- lowed with its educational influences, becoming a focus of Hght and culture. As early as 372 A.r). an apostle of northern Buddh- ism had penetrated into Liao Tung, and perhaps across the Yalu. In 384 a.d. the missionary Marananda, a Thibetan, for- mally established temples and monasteries in Hiaksai, in which women as well as men became scholastics. Long before this new element of civilization was rooted in Shinra or Korai, the faith of India was established and flourishing in the little kingdom of Hi- aksai, so that its influences were felt as far as Japan. The first 36 CORBA. teacher of Chinese letters and ethics in Nippon was a Corean named Wani, as was also the first missionary who carried the im- ages and sutras of northern Buddhism across the Sea of Japan. To Hiaksai more than to any other Corean state Japan owes her first impulse toward the civilization of the west. Hiaksai came into collision with Kokorai as early as 345 a.d., at which time also Shinra suffered the loss of several cities. In the fifth century a Chinese army, sent by one of the emperors of the Wei dynasty to enforce the payment of tribute, was defeated by Hiaksai. Such unexpected military results raised the reputa- tion of "the eastern savages" so high in the imperial mind, that the emperor offered the King of Hiaksai the title of "Great Protector of the Eastern Frontier." By this act the independence of the little kingdom was virtually recognized. In the sixth century, having given and received Chinese aid and comfort in alliance with Shinra against Korai, Hiaksai was ravaged in her borders by the troops of her irate neighbor on the north. Later on we find these two states in peace with each other and allied against Shin- ra, which had become a vassal of the Tang emperors of China. From this line of China's rulers the kingdoms of Korai and Hiaksai were to receive crushing blows. In answer to Shinra's prayer for aid, the Chinese emperor, in 660, despatched from Shantung a fleet of several hundred sail with 100,000 men on board. Against this host from the west the Hiaksai army could make little resistance, though they bravely attacked the invaders, but only to be beaten. After a victory near the mouth of the Ein-yin Eiver, the Chinese marched at once to the capital of Hi- aksai and again defeated, with terrible slaughter, the provincial army. The king fled to the north, and the city being nearly empty of defenders, the feeble garrison opened the gates. The Tang banners fluttered on aU the walls, and another state was ab- sorbed in the Chinese empire. For a time Hiaksai, like a fly snapped up by an angry dog, is lost in China. Not long, however, did the little kingdom disappear from sight. In 670 a Buddhist priest, fired with patriotism, raised an army of monks and priests, and joining Fuku-shin (Fu-sin), a brave general, they laid siege to a city held by a large Chinese garrison. At the same time they sent word to the emperor of Japan praying for succor against the "robber kingdom." They also begged that Hclsho (Fung), the youthful son of the late king, then a hostage and pupil at the mikado's court, might be invested EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS.— HI AKSAL 37 with the royal title and sent home. The mikado despatched a fleet of 400 junks and a large body of soldiers to escort the royal heir homeward. On his arrival Hosho was proclaimed king. Meanwhile the priest-army and the forces under Fuku-shin had reconquered nearly all their territory, when they suffered a severe defeat near the sea-coast from the large Chinese force hastily despatched to put down the rebellion. The invaders marched eastward and effected a junction with the forces of Shinra. The prospects of Hiaksai were now deplorable. For even among the men of Hiaksai there was no unity of pur- pose. Fuku-shin had put the priest-leader to death, which arbi- trary act so excited the suspicions of the king that he in turn ordered his general to be beheaded. He then sent* to Japan, ap- pealing for reinforcements. The mikado, willing to help an old ally, and fearing that the Chinese, if victorious, might invade his own dominions, quickly responded. The Japanese contingent ar- rived and encamped near the mouth of the Han River, prepara- tory to a descent by sea upon Shinra. Unsuspecting the near presence of an enemy, the allies neglected their usual vigilance. A fleet of war-junks, flying the Tang streamers, suddenly ap- peared off the camp, and while the Japanese were engaging these, the Chinese land forces struck them in flank. Taken by surprise, the mikado's warriors were driven like flocks of sheep into the water and drowned or shot by the Chinese archers. The Japanese vessels were burned as they lay at anchor in the bloody stream, and the remnants of the beaten army got back to their islands in pitiable fragments. Hosho, after witnessing the destruction of his host, fled to Korai, and the country was given over to the waste and pillage of the infuriated Chinese. The royal line, after thirty generations and nearly seven centuries of rule, became ex- tinct. The sites of cities became the habitations of tigers, and once fertile fields were soon overgrown. Large portions of Hiak- sai became a wilderness. Though the Chinese Government ordered the bodies of those killed in war and the white bones of the victims of famine to be buried, yet many thousands of Hiaksai families fled elsewhere to find an asylum and to found new industries. The people who remained on their fertile lands, as well as all Southern Corea, fell under the sway of Shinra. The fragments of the beaten Japanese army gradually returned to their native country or settled in Southern Corea, Thousands 38 COREi. of the people of Hiaksai, detesting the idea of living as slaves ol China, accompanied or followed their allies to Japan. On their arrival, by order of the mikado, 400 emigrants of both sexes were located in the province of Omi, and over 2,000 were distributed in the Kuanto, or Eastern Japan. These colonies of Coreans founded potteries, and their descendants, mingled by blood with the Japan- ese, follow the trade of their ancestors. In 710 another body of Hiaksai people, dissatisfied with the poverty of the country and tempted by the offers of the Japan- ese, formed a colony numbering 1,800 persons and emigrated to Japan. They were settled in Musashi, the province in which Tokio, the modern capital, is situated. Various other emi- grations of Coreans to Japan of later date are referred to in the annals of the latter country, and it is fair to presume that tens of thousands of emigrants from the peninsula fled from the Tang in- vasion and mingled with the islanders, producing the composite race that inhabit the islands ruled by the mikado. Among the refugees were many priests and nuns, who brought their books and learning to the court at Nara, and thus diffused about them a literary atmosphere. The establishment of schools, the awaken- ing of the Japanese intellect, and the first beginnings of the litera- ture of Japan, the composition of their oldest historical books, the Kojiki and the Nihongi — all the fruits of the latter half of the seventh and early part of the eighth century — are directly trace- able to this influx of the scholars of Hiaksai, which being de- stroyed by China, lived again in Japan. Even the pronunciation of the Chinese characters as taught by the Hiaksai teachers re- mains to this day. One of them, the nun Homio, a learned lady, made her system so popular among the scholars that even an im- perial proclamation against it could not banish it. She established her school in Tsushima, a.d. 655, and there taught that system of [Chinese] pronunciation [ Go-on] which still holds sv/ay in Japan, among the ecclesiastical literati, in opposition to the Kan-on of the secular scholars. The Go-on, the older of the two pronunciations, is that of ancient North China, the Kan-on is that of mediaeval South- ern China (Nanking). Corea and Japan having phonetic alpha- bets have preserved and stereotyped the ancient Chinese pronun- ciation better than the Chinese language itself, since the Chinese have no phonetic writing, but only ideographic characters, the pronunciation of which varies during the progress of centuries. Hiaksai had given Buddhism to Japan as early as 552 a.d., but EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. —HI AKSAL 39 opposition had prevented its spread, the temple was set on fire, and the images of Buddha thrown in the river. In 684 one Say6ld brought another image of Buddha from Corea, and Umako, son of Iname, a minister at the mikado's court, enshrined it in a chapel on his own grounds. He made Yeben and Simata, two Coreans, his priests, and his daughter a nun. They celebrated a festival, and henceforth Buddhism ' grew apace. The country toward the sunrise was then a new land to the peninsulars, just as "the West" is to us, or Australia is to Eng- land ; and Japan made these fugitives welcome. In their train came industry, learning, and skill, enriching the island kingdom with the best infusion of blood and culture. Hiaksai was the first of the three kingdoms that was weak- ened by civil war and then fell a victim to Chinese lust of con- quest. The progress and fall of the other two kingdoms will now be narrated. Beginning with Korai, we shall follow its story from the year 613 a.d., when the invading hordes of the Tang dynasty had been driven out of the peninsula with such awful slaughter by the Koraians, ' There are colossal stone images at Pe-chiu (Pha-jiu) in the capital prov- ince, and at Un-jin in Chung-chong D5. The former, discovered by Lieuten- ant J. G. Bernadon, U.S.N. , are in the midst of a fir- wood, and are carved in half-figure out of bowlders in place, the heads and caps projecting over the tops of the trees. One wears a square cap and the other a round one, from which Mr. G. W. Aston conjectures that they symbolize the male and female elements in nature (p. 329). At Un-jin in Chung-chong Do Mr. G, C. Foulke, U.S.N. , saw, at a distance of fifteen miles, what seemed to be a lighthouse. On approach, this half-length human figure proved to be a pinnacle of white granite, sixty-four feet high, cut into a representation of Buddha. Similar statues may perhaps be discovered elsewhere. Coreans call such figures mi- ryek (stone men, as the Chinese characters given in the French-Corean dic- tionary read), or miriok, from the Chinese Mi-le^ or Buddha. (In Japanese, the Buddha to come is Miroku-hutsu — a verbal coincidence.) Professor Terrien de Lacouperie has written upon this theme with great learning. Besides the lop-ears, forehead-mark, and traditional covintenance seen in the Buddhas of Chinese Asia, there is on the Un-jin figure a very high double cap, on which are set two slabs of stone joined by a central column, suggesting both the cere- monial cap of ancient Chinese ritual and the Indian pagoda-like umbrella. These miriok stand in what was once Hiaksai. In his " Life in Corea," Mr, Carles gives a picture of the one at Un-jin. Smaller ones exist near monas- teries and temples. CHAPTER VI. EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS.— KORAL Ai'TER the struggle in which the Corean tiger had worsted the Western Dragon, early in the seventh century, China and Korai were for a generation at peace. The bones of the slain were buried, and sacrificial fires for the dead soothed the spirits of the victims. The same imperial messenger, who in 622 was sent to supervise these offices of religion, also visited each of the courts of the three kingdoms. So successful was he in his mission of peaceful diplomacy, that each of the Corean states sent envoys with tribute and congratulation to the imperial throne. In proof of his good wishes, the emperor returned to his vassals all his prisoners, and declared that their young men would be re- ceived as students in the Imperial University at his capital. Henceforth, as in many instances during later centuries, the sons of nobles and promising youth from Korai, Shinra, and Hiaksai went to study at Nanking, where their envoys met the Arab traders. Korai having been divided into five provinces, or circuits, named respectively the Home, North, South, East, and West divi- sions, extended from the Sea of Japan to the Liao River, and en- joyed a brief spell of peace, except always on the southern border; for the chronic state of Korai and Shinra was that of mutual hos- tility. On the north, beyond the Tumen River, was the kingdom of Pu-hai, with which Korai was at peace, and Japan was in inti- mate relations, and China at jealous hostility. The Chinese court soon began to look with longing eyes on the territory of that part of Korai lying west of the Yalu River, believing it to be a geographical necessity that it should become their scientific frontier, while the emperor cherished the hope of soon rectifying it. Though unable to forget the fact that one of his predecessors had wasted millions of lives and tons of treasure in vainly attempting to humble Kokorai, his ambition and pride EPOCH OP THE THREE KINGDOMS— KORAL 41 spurred him on to wade througli slaughter to conquest and re- venge. He waited only for a pretext. This time the destinies of the Eastern Kingdom were pro- foundly influenced by the character of the feudalism brought into it from ancient times, and which was one of the characteristic insti- tutions of the Fuyu race. The Government of Korai was simply that of a royal house, holding, by more or less binding ties of loyalty, powerful nobles, who in turn held their lands on feudal tenure. In certain con- tingencies these noble land-holders were scarcely less powerful than the king himseK. In 641 one of these liegemen, whose ambition the king had in vain attempted to curb and even to put to death, revenged him- self by killing the king with his own hands. He then proclaimed as sovereign the nephew of the dead king, and made himself prime minister. Having thus the control of all power in the state, and being a man of tremendous physical strength and mental ability, all the people submitted quietly to the new order of things, and were at the same time diverted, being sent to ravage Shinra, annexing all the country down to the 37th parallel. The Chinese emperor gave investiture to the new king, but ordered this Corean Warwick to recall his troops from invading Shinra, the ally of China. The minister paid his tribute loyally, but re- fused to acknowledge the right of China to interfere in Corean politics. The tribute was then sent back with insult, and war be- ing certain to follow, Korai prepared for the worst. War with China has been so constant a phenomenon in Corean history that a special term, Ho-ran, exists and is common in the national an- nals, since the "Chinese wars" have been numbered by the score. Again the sails of an invading fleet whitened the waters of the YeUow Sea, carrying the Chinese army of chastisement that was to land at the head of the peninsula, while two bodies of troops were despatched by different routes landward. The Tang em- peror was a stanch believer in Whang Ti, the Asiatic equivalent of the European doctrine of the divine right of kings to reign — a tenet as easily found by one looking for it in the Confucian clas- sics, as in the Hebrew scriptures. He professed to be marching simply to vindicate the honor of majesty and to punish the regi- cide rebel, but not to harm nobles or people. The invaders soon overran Liao Tung, and city after city feU, The emperor himself accompanied the army and burned his bridges after the crossing 42 COREA. of every river. In spite of the mud and the summer rains he steadily pushed his way on, helping with his own hands in the works at the sieges of the walled cities — the ruins of which still litter the plains of Liao Tung. In one of these, captured only after a protracted investment, 10,000 Koraians are said to have been slain. In case of submission on summons, or after a slight defence, the besieged were leniently and even kindly treated. By July all the country west of the Yalu was in possession of the Chinese, who had crossed the river and arrived at Anchiu, only forty miles north of Ping-an city. By tremendous personal energy and a general levy in mass, an army of 150,000 Korai men was sent against the Chinese, which took up a position on a hill about three miles from the city. The plan of the battle that ensued, made by the Chinese emperor him- self, was skilfully carried out by his lieutenants, and a total defeat of the entrapped Koraian army followed, the slain numbering 20,000. The next day, with the remnant of his army, amounting to 40,000 men, the Koraian general surrendered. Fifty thousand horses and 10,000 coats of mail were among the spoils. The foot soldiers were dismissed and ordered home, but the Koraian lead- ers were made prisoners and marched into China. After so crushing a loss in men and material, one might expect instant surrender of the besieged city. So far from this, the gar- rison redoubled the energy of their defence. In this we see a striking trait of the Corean military character which has been no- ticed from the era of the Tangs, and before it, down to Admiral Kodgers. Chinese, Japanese, French, and Americans have experi- enced the fact and marvelled thereat. It is that the Coreans are poor soldiers in the open field and exhibit slight proof of personal valor. They cannot face a dashing foe nor endure stubborn fight- ing. But put the same men behind walls, bring them to bay, and the timid stag amazes the hounds. Their whole nature seems re- inforced. They are more than brave. Their courage is sublime. They fight to the last man, and fling themselves on the bare steel when the foe clears the parapet. The Japanese of 1592 looked on the Corean in the field as a kitten, but in the castle as a tiger. The French, in 1866, never found a force that could face rifles, though behind walls the same men were invincible. The American handful of tars kept at harmless distance thousands of black heads in the open, but inside the fort they met giants in bravery. No nobler foe ever met American steel. Even when dis- EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS— KORAL 43 armed they fought their enemies with dust and stones until slain to the last man. The sailors found that the sheep in the field were lions in the fort. The Coreans themselves knew both their forte and their foible, and so understood how to foil the invader from either sea. Shut out from the rival nations on the right hand and on the left by the treacherous sea, buttressed on the north by lofty mountains, and separated from China by a stretch of barren or broken land, the peninsula is easily secure against an invader far from his base of suppHes. The ancient policy of the Coreans, by which they over and over again foiled their mighty foe and finally secured their independence, was to shut themselves up in their weU-pro- visioned cities and castles, and not only beat off but starve away their foes. In their state of feudalism, when every city and strate- gic town of importance was well fortified, this was easily accom- plished. The ramparts gave them shelter, and their personal valor secured the rest. Reversing the usual process of starving out a beleaguered garrison, the besiegers, unable to fight on empty stomachs, were at last obliged to raise the siege and go home. Long persistence in this resolute policy finally saved Corea from the Chinese colossus, and preserved her individuality among nations. Faithful to their character, as above set forth, the Koraians held their own in the city of Anchiu, and the Chinese could make no impression upon it. In spite of catapults, scaling ladders, movable towers, and artificial mounds raised higher than the walls, the Koraians held out, and by sorties bravely captured or destroyed the enemy's works. Not daring to leave such a fortified city in their rear, the Chinese could not advance further, while their failing provisions and the advent of frost showed them that they must retreat. Hungrily they turned their faces toward China. In spite of the intense chagrin of the foiled Chinese leader, so great was his admiration for the valor of the besieged that he sent the Koraian commander a valuable present of rolls of silk. The Koraians were unable to pursue the flying invaders, and few fell by their weapons. But hunger, the fatigue of crossing impassa- ble oceans of worse than Virginia mud, cold winds, and snow storms destroyed thousands of the Chinese on their weary home- ward march over the mountain passes and quagmires of Liao Tung. The net results of the campaign were great glory to Korai ; 44 COREA. and besides the loss of ten cities, 70,000 of her sons were captives in China, and 40,000 lay in battle graves. According to a custom which Californians have learned in our day, the bones of the Chinese soldiers who died or were killed in the campaign were collected, brought into China, and, with due sacrificial rites and lamentations by the emperor, solemnly buried in their native soil. Irregular warfare still continued between the two countries, the offered tribute of Korai being refused, and the emperor waiting until his resources would justify him in sending another vast fleet and army against defiant Korai. While thus waiting he died. After a few years of peace, his successor found occasion for war, and, in 660 a.d., despatched the expedition which crushed Hiaksai, the ally of Korai, and worried, without humbling, the lat- ter state. In 664 Korai lost its able leader, the regicide prime minister — that rock against which the waves of Chinese invasion had dashed again and again in vain. His son, who would have succeeded to the office of his father, was opposed by his brother. The latter, fleeing to China, became guide to the hosts again sent against Korai "to save the people and to chastise their rebellious chiefs." This time Korai, without a leader, was doomed. The Chinese armies having their rear well secured by a good base of supplies, and being led by skilful com- manders, marched on from victory to victory, until, at the Yalu River, the various detachments united, and breaking the front of the Korai army, scattered them and marched on to Ping-an. The city surrendered without the discharge of an arrow. The line of kings of Korai came to an end after twenty-eight generations, rul- ing over 700 years. All Korai, with its five provinces, its 176 cities, and its four or five millions of people, was annexed to the Chinese empire. Tens of thousands of Koraian refugees fled into Shinra, thousands into Pu-hai, north of the Tumen, then a rising state; and many to the new country of Japan. Desolated by slaughter and ravaged by fire and blood, war and famine, large portions of the land lay waste for generations. Thus fell the second of the Corean king- doms, and the sole dominant state now supreme in the peninsula was Shinra, an outline of whose history we shall proceed to give. CHAPTER YII. EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS.— SHINR A. "When Shinra becomes first known to us from Japanese tradi- tion, her place in the peninsula is in the southeast, comprising por- tions of the modern provinces of Kang-wen and Kiung-sang. The people in this warm and fertile part of the peninsula had very probably sent many colonies of settlers over to the Japanese Isl- ands, which lay only a hundred miles off, with Tsushima for a stepping-stone. It is probable that the ''rebels " in Kiushiu, so often spoken of in old Japanese histories, were simply Coreans or their descendants, as, indeed, the majority of the inhabitants of Kiushiu originally had been. The Yamato tribe, which gradually became paramount in Japan, were probably immigrants of old Ko- korai stock, that is, men of the Fuyu race, who had crossed from the north of Corea over the Sea of Japan, to the land of Sunrise, just as the Saxons and Engles pushed across the North Sea to England. They found the Kumaso, or Kiushiu "rebels," trouble- some, mainly because these settlers from the west, or southern mainland of Corea, considered themselves to be the righteous owners of the island rather than the Yamato people. At all events, the pretext that led the mikado Chiu-ai, who is said to have reigned from 192 to 200 a.d., to march against them was, that these people in Kiushiu would not acknowledge his authority. His wife, the Amazonian queen Jingu, was of the opinion that the root of the trouble was to be found in the peninsula, and that the army should be sent across the sea. Her husband, having been killed in battle, the queen was left to carry out her purposes, which she did at the date said to be 202 a.d. She set sail from Hizen, and reached the Asian mainland probably at the harbor of Fusan. Unable to resist so weU-appointed a force, the king of Shinra submitted and became the declared vassal of Japan. En- voys from Hiaksai and another of the petty kingdoms also came to the Japanese camp and made friends with the invaders. After 46 COREA. a two months' stay, the victorious fleet, richly laden with precious gifts and spoil, returned. How much of truth there is in this narrative of Jingu it is diffi- cult to tell. The date given cannot be trustworthy. The truth seems at least this, that Shinra was far superior to the Japan of the early Christian centuries. Buddhism was formally established in Shinra in the year 528 ; and as early as the sixth century a steady stream of immigrants — traders, artists, scholars, and teachers, and later Buddhist missionaries— passed from Shinra into Japan, in- terrupted only by the wars which from time to time broke out. The relations between Nippon and Southern Corea will be more fully related in another chapter, but it will be well to remember that the Japanese always laid claim to the Corean peninsula, and to Shinra especially, as a tributary nation. They supported that claim not only whenever embassies from the two nations met at the court of China, but they made it a more or less active part of their national policy down to the year 1876. Many a bloody war grew out of this claim, but on the other hand many a benefit accrued to Japan, if not to Shinra. Meanwhile, in the peninsula the leading state expanded her borders by gradual encroachments upon the little "kingdom" of Mimana to the southwest and upon Hiaksai on the north. The latter, having always considered Shinra to be inferior, and even a dependant, war broke out between the two states as soon as Shinra assumed perfect independence. Korai and Hiaksai leagued them- selves against Shinra, and the game of war continued, with various shifting of the pieces on the board, until the tenth century. The three rival states mutually hostile, the Japanese usually friends to Hiaksai, the Chinese generally helpers of Shinra, the northern nations beyond the Tumen and Sungari assisting Korai, varying their operations in the field with frequent alliances and counter- plots, make but a series of dissolving-views of battle and strife, into the details of which it is not profitable to enter. Though Korai and Hiaksai felt the heaviest blows from China, Shinra was harried oftenest by the armies of her neighbors and by the Japan- ese. Indeed, from a tributary point of view, it seems question- able whether her alliances with China were of any benefit to her. In times of peace, however, the blessings of education and civiliza- tion flowed freely from her great patron. Though farthest east from China, it seems certain that Shinra was, in many respects, the most highly civilized of the three states. Especially was this EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS— SHINRA. 47 the case during the Tang era (618-905 a.d.), when the mutual re- lations between China and Shinra were closest, and arts, letters, and customs were borrowed most liberally by the pupil state. Even at the present time, in the Corean idiom, " Tang-yang " (times of the Tang and Yang dynasties) is a synonym of prosperity. The term for "Chinese," applied to works of art, poetry, coins, fans, and even to a certain disease, is "Tang," instead of the ordinary word for China, since this famous dynastic title repre- sents to the Corean mind, as to the student of Kathayan his- tory, one of the most brilliant epochs known to this longest-lived of empires. What the names of Plantagenet and Tudor repre- sent to an Anglo-Saxon mind, the terms Tang and Sung are to a Corean. During this period. Buddhism was being steadily propagated, until it became the prevailing cult of the nation. Reserving the story of its progress for a special chapter, we notice in this place but one of its attendant blessings. In the civilization of a nation, the possession of a vernacular alphabet must be acknowledged to be one of the most potent factors for the spread of intelligence and culture. It is believed by many linguists that the Choc- taws and Coreans have the only two perfect alphabets in the world. It is agreed by natives of Cho-sen that their most pro- found scholar and ablest man of intellect was Chul-chong, a statesman at the court of Kion-chiu, the capital of Shinra. This famous penman, a scholar in the classics and ancient languages of India as well as China, is credited with the invention of the Nido, or Corean syllabary, one of the simplest and most perfect " alpha- bets " in the world. It expresses the sounds of the Corean lan- guage far better than the kata-kana of Japan expresses Japanese. Chul-chong seems to have invented the Nido syllabary by giving a phonetic value to a certain number of selected Chinese characters, which are ideographs expressing ideas but not sounds. Perhaps the Sanskrit alphabet suggested the model both for manner of use and for forms of letters. The Nido is composed almost entirely of straight lines and circles, and the letters belonging to the same class of labials, dentals, etc., have a similarity of form easily recognized. The Coreans state that the Nido was invented in the early part of the eighth century, and that it was based on the Sanskrit alphabet. It is worthy of note that, if the date given be true, the Japanese kata-kana, invented a centui-y later, was per- haps suggested by the Corean. 48 COREA. One remarkable effect of the use of phonetic writing in Corea and Japan has been to stereotype, and thus to preserve, the ancient sounds and pronunciation of words of the Chinese, which the latter have lost. These systems of writing outside of China have served, like Edison's phonographs, in registering and reproducing the manner in which the Chinese spoke, a whole millennium ago. This fact has already opened a fertile field of research, and may yet yield rich treasures of discovery to the sciences of history and linguistics. Certainly, however, we may gather that the Tang era was one of learning and literary progress in Corea, as in Japan — all coun- tries in pupilage to China feeling the glow of literary splendor in which the Middle Kingdom was then basking. The young nobles were sent to obtain their education at the court and schools of Nanking, and the fair damsels of Shinra bloomed in the harem of the emperor. Imperial ambassadors frequently visited the court of this kingdom in the far east. Chinese costume and etiquette were, for a time, at least, made the rigorous rule at court. On one occasion, in 653 a.d., the envoy from Shinra to the mikado came arrayed in Chinese dress, and, neglecting the ceremonial forms of the Japanese court, attempted to observe those of China. The mikado was highly irritated at the supposed insult. The premier even advised that the Corean be put to death ; but better counsels prevailed. Duiing the eighth and ninth centuries this flourish- ing kingdom was well known to the Arab geographers, and it is evident that Mussulman travellers visited Shinra or resided in the cities of the peninsula for purposes of trade and commerce, as has been shown before. Kion-chiu, the capital of Shinra, was a brilliant centre of art and science, of architecture and of literary and religious light. Imposing temples, grand monasteries, lofty pagodas, halls of scholars, magnificent gateways and towers adorned the city. In campaniles, equipped with water-clocks and with ponderous bells and gongs, which, when struck, flooded the valleys and hiU-tops with a rich resonance, the sciences of astronomy and horoscopy were cultivated. As from a fountain, rich streams of knowledge flowed from the capital of Shinra, both over the peninsula and to the court of Japan. Even after the decay of Shinra's power in the political unity of the whole peninsula, the nation looked upon Kion-chiu as a sacred city. Her noble temples, halls, and towers stood in honor and repair, enshrining the treasures of India, Per- EPOCH OF THE THREE KINGDOMS— SHINR A. 49 sia, and China, until the ruthless Japanese torch laid them in ashes in 1596. The generation of Corean people during the seventh century, when the Chinese hordes desolated large portions of the penin- sula and crushed out Hiaksai and Korai, saw the borders of Shinra extending from the Everlasting White Mountains to the Island of Tsushima, and occupying the entire eastern half of the peninsula. From the beginning of the eighth until the tenth century, Shinra is the supreme state, and the political power of the Eastern Kingdom is represented by her alone. Her ambition tempted, or her Chinese master commanded, her into an invasion of the kingdom of Pu-hai beyond her northern border, 733 a.d. Her armies crossed the Tumen, but met with such spirited resist- ance that only half of them returned. Shinra's desire of con- quest in that direction was appeased, and for two centiu-ies the land had rest from blood. Until Shinra fell, in 934 a.d., and united Corea rose on the ruins of the three kingdoms, the history of this state, as found in the Chinese annals, is simply a list of her kings, who, of course, received investiture from China. On the east, the Japanese, hav- ing ceased to be her pupils in civilization during times of peace, as in time of war they were her conquerors, turned their atten- tion to Nanking, receiving directly therefrom the arts and sci- ences, instead of at second-hand through the Corean peninsula. They found enough to do at home in conquering all the tribes in the north and east and centralizing their system of government after the model of the Tangs in China. For these reasons the sources of information concerning the eighth and ninth centuries fail, or rather it is more exact to say that the history of Shinra is that of peace instead of war. In 869 we read of pirates from her shores descending upon the Japanese coast to plunder the tribute ships from Buzen province, and again, in 893, that a fleet of fifty junks, manned by these Corean rovers, was driven off from Tsus- hima by the Japanese troops, with the loss of three hundred slain. Another descent of "foreign pirates," most probably Coreans, upon Iki Island, in 1019, is recorded, the strangers being beaten off by reinforcements from the mainland. The very existence of these marauders is, perhaps, a good indication that the power of the Shinra government was falling into decay, and that lawless- ness within the kingdom was preparing the way for some mighty hand to not only seize the existing state, but to unite aU Corea 50 COREA. into political, as well as geographical, unity. In the- far north another of those great intermittent movements of population was in process, which, though destroying the kingdom of Puhai beyond the Tumen, was to repeople the desolate land of Korai, and again call a dead state to aggressive life. From the origin to the fall of Shinra there were three royal families of fifty-five kings, ruling nine hundred and ninety-three years, or seven years less than a millennium. Despite tlie modern official name of the kingdom, Cho-sen, the people of Corea still call their country Gaoli, or Korai, clinging to the ancient name. In this popular usage, unless we are mistaken, there is a flavor of genuine patriotism. Cho-sen does indeed mean Morning Calm, but the impression made on Western ears, and more vividly upon the eye by means of the Chinese characters, is apt to mislead. The term is less a reflection of geo- graphical position than of the inward emotions of those who first of all were jnore Chinese than Corean in spirit, and of a desire for China's favor. The term Ch5-sen savors less of dew and dawn than of policy and prosy fact. It is probable, despite the Corean's undoubted love of nature and beautiful scenery, that Americans and Europeans have been led astray as to the real significance of the phrase "morning calm." At the bottom, it means rather peace with China than the serenity of dewy morning. Audience of the Chinese emperor to his vassals is always given at daybreak, and to be graciously received after the long and tedious prostrations is an auspicious beginning as of a day of heav- en upon earth. To the founder of Corea, Ki Tsze, the gracious favor of the Chow emperor was as *' morning calm ; " and so to Ni Taijo, in 1392 A.D., was the sunshine of the Ming emperor's favor. In both instances the name Cho- sen given to their realm had, in reality, immediate reference to the dayspring of China's favor, and ' ' the calm of dawn " to the smile of the emperor. CHAPTEE Yin. JAPAN AND CORBA. It is as nearly impossible to write the history of Corea and ex- clude Japan, as to tell the story of mediaeval England and leave out France. Not alone does the finger of sober history point di- rectly westward as the immediate source of much of what has been hitherto deemed of pure Japanese origin, but the fountain-head of Japanese mythology is found in the Sungari valley, or under the shadows of the Ever- White Mountains. The first settler of Japan, like him of Euyu, crosses the water upright upon the back of a fish, and brings the rudiments of literature and civilization with him. The remarkable crocodiles and sea-monsters, from which the gods and goddesses are born and into which they change, the dragons and tide-jewels and the various mystic symbols which they employ to work their spells, the methods of divination and system of prognostics, the human sacrifices and the manner of their rescue, seem to be common to the nations on both sides of the Sea of Japan, and point to a common heritage from the same ancestors. Language comes at last with her revelations to furnish proofs of identity. The mischievous Susanoo, so famous in the pre-historic legends, told in the Kojiki, half scamp, half benefactor, who planted all Japan with trees, brought the seeds from which they grew from Corea. His rescue of the maiden doomed to be devoured by the eight-headed dragon (emblem of water, and symbolical of the sea and rivers) reads like a gallant fellow saving one of the human beings who for centuries, until the now ruling dynasty abolished the custom, were sacrificed to the sea on the Corean coast front- ing Japan. In Kioto, on Gi-on Street, there is a temple which tradition declares was "founded in 656 a.d. by a Corean envoy in honor of Susanoo, to whom the name of Go-dzu Tenno (Heavenly King of Go-dzu) was given, because he was originally worshipped in Go-dzu Mountain in Corea." 52 COREA. Dogs are not held in any lionor in Japan, as they were an- ciently in Kokorai. Except the silk-haired, pug-nosed, and large- eyed chin, which the average native does not conceive as canine, the dogs run at large, ownerless, as in the Levant ; and share the work of street scavenging with the venerated crows. Yet there are two places of honor in which the golden and stone effigies of this animal — highly ideahzed indeed, but still inu — are en- throned. The ama-inu, or heavenly dogs, in fanciful sculpture of stone or gilt wood, represent guardian dogs. They are found in pairs guarding the entrances to miya or temples. As all miya (the name also of the mikado's residence) were originally intended to serve as a model or copy of the palace of the mikado and a re- minder of the divinity of his person and throne, it is possible that the ama-inu imitated the golden Corean dogs which support and guard the throne of Japan. Access to the shrine was had only by passing these two heavenly dogs. These creatures are quite dis- tinct from the "dogs of Fo," or the "lions" that flank the gate- ways of the magistrate's office in China. Those who have had audience of the mikado in the imperial throne-room, as the writer had in January, 1873, have noticed at the foot of the throne, serv- ing as legs or supports to the golden chair, on which His Majesty sits, two dogs sitting on their haunches, and upright on their fore- legs. These fearful-looking creatures, with wide-open mouths, hair curled in tufts, especially around the front neck, and with tails bifurcated at their upright ends, are called "Corean dogs." For what reason placed there we know not. It may be in witness of the conquest of Shinra by the empress Jingu, who called the king of Shinra "the dog of Japan," or it may point to some for- gotten symboHsm in the past, or typify the vassalage of Corea — so long a fimdamental dogma in Japanese politics. It is certainly strange to see this creature, so highly honored in Fuyu and dis- honored among the vulgar in Japan, placed beneath the mikado's throne. The Japanese laid claim to Corea from the second century until the 27th of February, 1876. On that day the mikado's min- ister plenipotentiary signed the treaty, recognizing Cho-sen as an independent nation. Through all the seventeen centuries which, according to their annals, elapsed since their armies first com- pelled the vassalage of their neighbor, the Japanese regarded the states of Corea as tributary. Time and again they enforced their JAPAN AND COREA 53 claim with bloody invasion, and when through a more enlightened policy the rulers voluntarily acknowledged their former enemy as an equal, the decision cost Japan almost immediately afterward seven months of civil war, 20,000 lives, and fifty millions of dol- lars in treasure. The mainspring of the " Satsuma rebellion " of 1877 was the official act of friendship by treaty, and the refusal of the Tokio Government to make war on Corea. From about the beginning of the Cliristian era until the fif- teenth century the relations between the two nations were very close and active. Alternate peace and war, mutual assistance given, and embassies sent to and fro are recorded with lively frequency in the early Japanese annals, especially the Nihongi and Kojiki. A more or less continual stream of commerce and emigration seems to have set in from the peninsula. Some writers of high authority, who are also comparative students of the languages of the two countries, see in these events the origin of the modern Japanese. They interpret them to mean nothing less than the peopling of the archipelago by continental tribes passing through the peninsula, and landing in Japan at various points along the coast from Kiushiu to Kaga. Some of them think that Japan was settled wholly and only by Tungusic races of Northeastern Asia coming from or through Corea. They base their belief not only on the general stream and tendency of Japanese tradition, but also and more on the proofs of language. The first mention of Corea in the Japanese annals occurs in the fifth volume of the Nihongi, and is the perhaps half-fabulous narrative of ancient tradition. In the 65th year of the reign of the tenth mikado, Sujin (97-30 b.c.), a boat filled with people from the west appeared off the southern point of Cho-shiu, near the modern town of Shimonoseki. They would not land there, but steered their course from cape to cape along the coast until they reached the Bay of Keji no Wara in Echizen, near the modern city of Tsuruga. Here they disembarked and announced them- selves from Amana Sankan (Amana of the Three Han or King- doms) in Southern Corea. They unpacked their treasures of finely wrought goods, and their leader made offerings to the mikado Sujin. These immigrants remained five years in Echizen, not far from the city of Fukui, till 28 b.c. Before leaving Japan, they presented themselves in the capital for a farewell audience. The mikado Mimaki, having died three years before, the visi- tors were requested on their return to call their country Mimana, 54 COREA. after their patron, as a memorial of their stay in Japan. To this they assented, and on their return named their district Mimana. Some traditions state that the first Corean envoy had a horn growing out of his forehead, and that since his time, and on ac- count of it, the bay near which he dwelt was named Tsunaga (Horn Bay) now corrupted into Tsuruga. It may be added that nearly all mythical characters or heroes in Japanese and Chinese history are represented as having one or more very short horns growing out of their heads, and are so de- lineated in native art. Six years later an envoy from Shinra arrived, also bringing pre- sents to the mikado. These consisted of mirrors, jade stone, swords, and other precious articles, then common in Corea but doubtless new in Japan. According to the tradition of the Kojiki (Book of Ancient Le- gends) the fourteenth mikado, Chiu-ai (a.d. 192-200) was holding his court at Tsuruga in Echizen, in a.d. 194, when a rebellion broke out in Kiushiu. He marched at once into Kiushiu, agamst the rebels, and there fell by disease or arrow. His consort, Jingu Kogo, had a presentiment that he ought not to go into Kiushiu, as he would surely fail if he did, but that he should strike at the* root of the trouble and sail at once to the west. After his death she headed the Japanese army and, leading the troops in person, quelled the revolt. She then ordered all the available forces of her realm to assemble for an invasion of Shinra. Japanese modern writers have laid great stress upon the fact that Shinra began the aggressions which brought on war, and in this fact justify Jingu's action and Japan's right to hold Corea as an honestly acquired possession. All being ready, the doughty queen regent set sail from the coast of Hizen, in Japan, in the tenth month a.d. 202, and beached the fleet safely on the coast of Shinra. The King of Shinra, accus- tomed to meet only with men from the rude tribes of Kiushiu, was surprised to see so well-appointed an army and so large a fleet from a land to the eastward. Struck with terror he resolved at once to submit. Tying his hands in token of submission and in presence of the queen Jingu, he declared himself the slave of Japan. Jingu caused her bow to be suspended over the gate of the palace of the king in sign of his submission. It is even said that she wrote on the gate "The King of Shinra is the dog of Japan." Perhaps JAPAN AND COREA. 55 these are historic words, which find their meaning to-day in the two golden dogs forming part of the mikado's throne, like the Scotch "stone of Scone," under the coronation chair in Westmin- ster Abbey. The followers of Jingu evidently expected a rich booty, but after so peaceful a conquest the empress ordered that no looting- should be allowed, and no spoil taken except the treasures consti- tuting tribute. She restored the king to the throne as her vassal, and the tribute was then collected and laden on eighty boats with hostages for future annual tribute. The offerings comprised pic- tures, works of elegance and art, mirrors, jade, gold, silver, and silk fabrics. Preparations were now made to conquer Hiaksai also, when Jingu was surprised to receive the voluntary submission and offers of tribute of this country. The Japanese army remained in Corea only two months, but this brief expedition led to great and lasting results. It gave the Japanese a keener thirst for martial glory, it opened their eyes to a higher state of arts and civilization. From this time forth there flowed into the islands a constant stream of Corean emigrants, who gave a great impulse to the spirit of improvement in Japan. The Japanese accept the story of Jingu and her conquest as sound history, and adorn their greenback paper money with pictures of her foreign exploits. Critics reject many elements in the tradi- tion, such as her controlling the waves and drowning the Shinra army by the jewels of the ebbing and the flowing tide/ and the delay of her accouchement by a magic stone carried in her girdle. The Japanese ascribe the glory of victory to her then unborn babe, afterward deified as Ojin, god of war, and worshipped by Buddhists as Hachiman or the Eight-bannered Buddha. Yet many temples are dedicated to Jingu, one especially famous is near Hiogo, and Koraiji (Corean village) near Oiso, a few miles from Yokohama, has another which was at first built in her honor. Evidently the core of the narrative of conquest is fact. At the time when the faint, dim light of trustworthy tradition dawns, we find the people inhabiting the Japanese archipelago to be roughly divided, as to their political status, into four classes. In the central province around Kioto ruled a kingly house — ' The storj, told in full in tlie Heike Monogatom^ is given in Englisli in " Japanese Fairy World." 56 COREA. the mikado and his family— with tributary nobles or feudal chiefs holding their lands on military tenure. This is the ancient classic land and realm of Yamato. Foiir other provinces adjoining it have always formed the core of the empire, and are called the Go- Kinai, or five home provinces, suggesting the five clans of Kokorai. To the north and east stretched the Httle known and less civil- ized region, peopled by tribes of kindred blood and speech, who Map of Ancient Japan and Corea. spoke nearly the same language as the Yamato tribes, and who had probably come at some past time from the same ancestral seats in Manchuria, and called the Kuan-to, or region east (to) of the barrier (kuan) at Ozaka ; or poetically Adzuma. Still further north, on the main island and in Yezo, lived the Ainos or Ebisti, probably the aborigines of the soil — the straight- eyed men whose descendants still live in Yezo and the Kuriles. JAP AIT AND COREA. 57 The northern and eastern tribes were first conquered and thor- oughly subdued by the Yamato tribes, after which all the far north was overrun and the Ainos subjugated. In the extreme south of the main island of Japan and in Kiu- shiu, then called Kumaso by the Yamato people, lived a number of tribes of perhaps the same ethnic stock as the Yamato Japan- ese, but further removed. Their progenitors had probably de- scended from Manchuria through Corea to Japan. Their blood and speech, however, were more mixed by infusions from Malay and southern elements. Into Kiushiu — it being nearest to the conti- nent — the peninsulars were constantly coming and mingling with the islanders. The allegiance of the Kiushiu tribes to the royal house of Ya- mato was of a very loose kind. The history of these early centu- ries, as shown in the annals of Nihon, is but a series of revolts against the distant warrior mikado, whose life was chiefly one of war. He had often to leave his seat in the central island to march at the head of his followers to put down rebellions or to conquer new tribes. Over these, when subdued, a prince chosen by the conqueror was set to rule, who became a feudatory of the mikado. The attempts of the Yamato sovereign to wholly reduce the Kiushiu tribes to submission, were greatly frustrated by their stout resistance, fomented by emissaries from Shinra, who insti- gated them to "revolt," while adventurers from the Corean main- land came over in large numbers and joined the "rebels," who were, in one sense, their own compatriots. From the time of Jingu, if the early dates in Japanese history are to be trusted, may be said to date that belief, so firmly fixed in the Japanese mind, that Corea is, and always was since Jingu's time, a tributary and dependency of Japan. This idea, akin to that of the claim of the English kings on France, led to frequent expeditions from the third to the sixteenth century, and which, even as late as 1874, 1875, and 1877, lay at the root of three civil wars. All these expeditions, sometimes national, sometimes filibuster- ing, served to drain the resources of Japan, though many impulses to development and higher civilization were thus gained, espe- cially in the earlier centuries. It seemed, until 1877, almost im- possible to eradicate from the military mind of Japan the convic- tion that to surrender Corea was cowardice and a stain on the national honor. But time will show, as it showed centuries ago 58 CORBA. in England, that the glory and prosperity of the conqueror were increased, not diminished, when Japan relinquished all claim on her continental neighbor and treated her as an equal. The Coreans taught the Japanese the arts of peace, while the Coreans profited from their neighbors to improve in the business of war. We read that, in 316 a.d., a Corean ambassador, bringing the usual tribute, presented to the mikado a shield of iron which he believed to be invulnerable to Japanese arrows. The mikado called on one of his favorite marksmen to practice in the presence of the envoy. The shield was suspended, and the archer, dravdng bow, sent a shaft through the iron skin of the buckler to the as- tonishment of the visitor. In all their battles the Coreans were rarely able to stand in open field before the archers from over the sea, who sent true cloth-yard shafts from their oak and bamboo bows. The paying of tribute to a foreign country is never a pleasant duty to perform, though in times of prosperity and good harvests it is not difficult. In periods of scarcity from bad crops it is well nigh impossible. To insist upon its payment is to provoke rebel- lion. Instances are indeed given in Japanese history where the conquerors not only remitted the tribute but even sent ship loads of rice and barley to the starving Coreans. "When, however, for reasons not deemed sufficient, or out of sheer defiance, their vas- sals refused to discharge their dues, they again felt the iron hand of Japan in war. During the reign of Yuriaki, the twenty-second mikado (a.d. 457-477), the three states failed to pay tribute. A Japanese army landed in Corea, and conquering Hiaksai, com- pelled her to return to her duty. The campaign was less suc- cessful in Shinra and Korai, for after the Japanese had left the Corean shores the '' tribute " was sent only at intervals, and the temper of the half-conquered people was such that other expe- ditions had to be despatched to inflict chastisement and compel payment. The gallant but vain succor given by the Japanese to Hiaksai during the war with the Chinese, in the sixth century, which re- sulted in the destruction of the little kingdom, has already been detailed. Among the names, forever famous in Japanese art and tradition, of those who took part in this expedition are Sate-hiko and Kasi-wade. The former sailed away from Hizen in the year 536, as one of the mikado's body-guard to assist their allies the men of Hiaksai. A poetical legend recounts that his wife, Sayo- JAPAN AND COREA. 59 Jhime, climbed tlie hills of Matsura to catch the last glimpse of his receding sails. Thus intently gazing, with straining eyes, she turned to stone. The peasants of the neighborhood still discern in the weathern-worn rocks, high up on the cliffs, the figure of a lady in long trailing court dress with face and figure eagerly bent over the western waves. Not only is the name Matsura Sayohime the symbol of devoted love, but from this incident the famous author Bakin constructed his romance of "The Great Stone Spirit of Matsura," Kasiwade, who crossed over to do "frontier service " in the peninsula a few years later, was driven ashore by a snow squall at an unknown part of the coast. While in this defenceless condi- tion his camp was invaded by a tiger, which carried off and de- voured his son, a lad of tender age. Kasiwade at once gave chase and followed the beast to the mountains and into a cave. The tiger leaping out upon him, the wary warrior bearded him with his left hand, and buried his dirk in his throat. Then finish- ing him with his sabre, he skinned the brute and sent home the trophy. From olden times Cho-sen is known to Japanese chil- dren only as a land of tigers, while to the soldier the "marshal's baton carried in his knapsack " is a tiger-skin scabbard, the emblem and possession of rank. As the imperial court of Japan looked upon Shinra and Hiak- sai as outlying vassal states, the frequent military movements across the sea were reckoned under "frontier service," Hke that beyond the latitude of Sado in the north of the main island, or in Kiushiu in the south. "The three countries" of Corea were far nearer and more familiar to the Japanese soldiers than were Yezo or the Eiu Kiu Islands, which were not part of the empii-e till several centuries afterward. Kara Kuni, the country of Kara (a corruption of Korai ?), as they now call China, was then ap- pHed to Corea. Not a little of classic poetry and legend in the Yamato language refers to this western frontier beyond the sea. The elegy on Ihemaro, the soldier-prince, who died at Iki Island on the voyage over, and that on the death of the Corean nun Kiguwan, have been put into English verse by Mr. Cham- berlain (named after the English explorer and writer on Corea, Basil Hall), in his "Classical Poetry of the Japanese." This Corean lady left her home in 714, and for twenty-one years found a home with the mikado's Prime Minister, Otomo, and his wife, at Nara, She died in 735, while her hosts were away at the mineral 60 COREA. springs of Arima, near Kobe ; and the elegy was written by tlieir daughter. One stanza describes her life in the new country. " And here with aliens thou didst choose to dwell, Year in, year out, in deepest sympathy ; And here thou builtest thee a holy cell, And so the peaceful years went gliding by." An interesting field of research is still open to the scholar who will point out all the monuments of Corean origin or influence in the mikado's empire, in the arts and sciences, household customs, diet and dress, or architecture ; in short, what by nature or the hand of man has been brought to the land of Sunrise from that of Morning Calm. One of the Corean princes, who settled in Japan early in the seventh century, founded a family which afterward ruled the famous province of Nagato or Choshiu. One of his de- scendants welcomed Francis Xavier, and aided his work by gifts of ground and the privilege of preaching. Many of the temples in Kioto still contain images, paintings, and altar furniture brought from Corea. The "Pheasant Bridge " still keeps its name from bygone centuries ; in a garden near by pheasants were kept for the supply of the tables of the Corean embassies. The Arab and Per- sian treasures of art and fine workmanship, in the imperial archives and museums of Nara, which have excited the wonder of foreign visitors, are most probably among the gifts or purchases from Shinra, where these imports were less rare. A Buddhist monk named Shiuho has gathered up the traditions and learning of the subject, so far as it illustrated his faith, and in "Precious Jewels from a Neighboring Country," published in 1586, has written a narrative of the introduction of Buddhism from Corea and its liter- ary and missionary influences upon Japan. Under the chapters on Art and Beligion we shall resume this topic. As earnestly as the Japanese are now availing themselves of the science and progress of Christendom in this nineteenth cen- tury, so earnestly did they borrow the culture of the west, that is of Corea and China, a thousand years ago. The many thousands of Coreans, who, during the first ten centu- ries of the Christian era, but especially in the seventh, eighth, and ninth, settled in Japan, lived peaceably with the people of their adopted country, and loyally obeyed the mikado's rule. An exception to this course occurred in 820, when seven hundred men who some time before had come from Shinra to Totomi and Suruga revolted, JAPAN AND COREA. 61 killed many of the Japanese, seized the rice in the store-houses, and put to sea to escape. The people of Musashi and Sagami pur- sued and attacked them, putting many of them to death. The general history of the Coreans in Japan divides itself into two parts. Those who came as voluntary immigrants in time of peace were in most cases skilled workmen or farmers, who settled in lands or in villages granted them, and were put on political and social equality with the mikado's subjects. They founded indus- tries, intermarried with the natives, and their identity has been lost in the general body of the Japanese people. With the prisoners taken in war, and with the laborers im- pressed into their service and carried off by force, the case was far different. These latter were set apart in villages by themselves — an outcast race on no social equality with the people. At first they were employed to feed the imperial falcons, or do such menial work, but under the ban of Buddhism, which forbids the destruction of life and the handling of flesh, they became an ac- cursed race, the " Etas " or pariahs of the nation. They were the butchers, skinners, leather-makers, and those whose business it was to handle corpses of criminals and all other defiling things. They ' exist to-day, not greatly changed in blood, though in costume, lan- guage, and general appearance, it is not possible to distinguish them from Japanese of purest blood. By the humane edict of the mikado, in 1868, granting them all the rights of citizenship, their social condition has gTeatly improved. From the ninth century onward to the sixteenth, the relations of the two countries seem to be unimportant. Japan was engaged in conquering northward the barbarians of her main island and Yezo. Her intercourse, both political and religious, grew to be so direct with the court of China, that Corea, in the Japanese annals, sinks out of sight except at rare intervals. Nihon in- creased in wealth and civilization while Cho-sen remained station- ary or retrograded. In the nineteenth century the awakened Sun- rise Kingdom has seen her former self in the hermit nation, and has stretched forth willing hands to do for her neighbor now, what Corea did for Japan in centuries long gone by. Still, it must never be forgotten that Corea was not only the bridge on which civilization crossed from China to the archipelago, but was most probably the pathway of migration by which the rulers of the race now inhabiting Nihon reached it from their an- cestral seats around the Sungari and the Ever- White Mountains. 62 CORBA. True, it is not absolutely certain whether the homeland of the mi- kado's ancestors lay southward in the sea, or westward among the mountains, but that the mass of the Corean and Japanese people are more closely allied in blood than either are with the Chinese, Manchius, or Malays, seems to be proved, not only by language and physical traits, but by the whole course of the history of both nations, and by the testimony of the Chinese records. Both Co- reans and Japanese have inherited the peculiar institutions of their Fuyu ancestors — that race which alone of all the peoples sprung from Manchuria migrated toward the rising, instead of toward the setting, sun, CHAPTEE IX. KORAI, OR UNITED CORBA. The fertile and well-watered region drained by the Amur Kiver and its tributaries, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to Lake Bai- kal, covers the ancestral seats of many nations, and is perhaps the home of nations yet to arise. It may be likened to a great inter- mittent geyser-spring which, at intervals, overflows with terrific force and volume. The movements of population southward seem, on a review of Chinese and Corean history, almost as regular as a law of nature. As the conquerors from the central Asian plateaus have over and over again descended into India, as the barbarians overran the Roman empire, so out of the region drained by the Amur and its tributaries have burst forth, time and again, floods of conquest to overwhelm the rich plains of China. Or, if we regard the flowery and grassy lands of Manchuria and beyond as a great hive, full of busy life which, from the pressure of increasing num- bers, must swarm off to relieve the old home, we shall have a true illustration. Time and again have clouds of human bees, with the sting of their swords and the honey of their new energy, issued from this ancient hive. The swarms receive different names in history : Hun, Turk, Tartar, Mongol, Manchiu, but they all emerge from the same source, giving or receiving dynastic names, but being in reality Tungusic people of the same basic stock. A tribe inhabiting one of the ravines or rich river flats of the Sungari region increases in wealth and numbers. A powerful chief leads them to war and victory. Tribes and lands are an- nexed. Martial valor, wealth, and strength increase. Ambition and the pressure of numbers tempt to farther conquest. Over and beyond the Great Wall is the ever-glittering prize — teeming China. The march begins southward. After many a battle, and only, it may be, after a generation of war against the imperial le- gions beyond the frontiers, the goal is reached. The Middle Kingdom is conquered and a new dynasty sits on the Dragon 64 COREA. Throne, until long peace enervates and luxury weakens. Then out of the old northern seats of population rolls a new flood of conquest, and a new swarm of conquerors is hived off. Thus we see the original land embracing the Amur and Sun- gari valleys has had its periods of power and decay, of historical and unhistorical life. Unity and movement make history, disin- tegration and apathy cause the page of history to be blank. But the land is still there with the people and the possibilities of the future. In spite of the associations of hoary antiquity that clustel around Asiatic countries, the reader of history does not expect to hear of single empires enduring through many centuries. With the exception of Japan, no nation of Asia can show a dynastic line extending through a millennium. The empires founded by Asia- tic conquerors are short-lived. The countries and the people remain, but the rulers constantly change, and the building up, flourishing, decay, and dissolution suggest the seasons rather than the centuries. No enduring political fabrics, like those of Bome or Britain, are known in Asia. Though China and India abide like the oak, their rulers change like the leaves. Socially, these coun- tries are the symbols of petrifaction, politically they are as the kaleidoscope. From this law of continuous political mutation, Corea has not been free. In one of these epochs of historical movement, at the opening of the eighth century, there arose the kingdom of Puhai, the capi- tal of which was the present city of Kirin. Its northern bounda- ries first touched the Sungari, and later the Amur, shifting to the Sungari again. Its southern border was at first the Tumen Kiver, and later the modern province of Ham-kiung was included in it. Lines drawn southwardly through Lake Hanka on the east, and Mukden on the west, would enclose its longitude. Its life lasted from about 700 to 925 a,d. This kingdom was continually on bad terms with China, and the Tang emperors for nearly a century at- tempted to crush it into vassalage. Puhai made brave resistance, being aided not only by the large numbers of Koraians, who had fled when beaten by the Chinese across the Tumen Biver, but also by the Japanese, whose supremacy they acknowledged by payment of tribute. With the latter their relations were always of a peace- ful and pleasant nature, and the correspondence and other docu- ments of the visiting embassies to the mikado's court are still pre- served in Japan. KORAI, OR UNITED COREA. 65 Yet though Puhai was able to resist China and hold part of the old territory of Korai, it fell before the persistent attacks of the Kitan tribes, whose empire, lasting from 907 to 1125 a.d., stretched from west of Lake Baikal to the Pacific Ocean. In the early part of the tenth century this Puhai kingdom, whose age was scarcely two centuries, melted away again into tribes and vil- lages, each with its chief. The country being without political unity returned to unhistorical obscurity, as part of the Kitan em- ph'e. Without crossing the Tumen, to enter China by way of Corea, the Kitans marched at once around the Ever- White Moun- tains and down the Liao Tung valley into China. The breaking up of Puhai was not without its influence on the Corean peninsula. As early as the ninth century thousands of refugees, driven before the Kitans or dissatisfied with nomad life on the plains, recrossed the Tumen and a great movement of emi- gration set into Northern Corea, which again became populous, cultivated, and rich. With increasing prosperity better govern- ment was desired. The worthlessness of the rulers and the pros- pect of a successful revolution tempted the ambition of a Buddh- ist monk named Kung-wo who, in 912 a.d., left his monastery and raised the flag of rebellion. He set forth to establish another political fabric of mushroom duration, which was destined to make way for a more permanent kingdom, and, in the end, united Corea. With his followers, Kung-wo attacked the city of Kaichow (in the modern Kang-wen province), and was so far successful as to enter it and proclaim himself king. His personal success was of short duration. His lieutenant, Wang-ken, that is Wang the founder, was a descendant of the old kingly house of Korai. Dur- ing all the time of Chinese occupancy, or Shinra supremacy, his family had kept alive their spirit, traditions, and claims. Think ing he could inile better than a priest, Wang put the ex-monk to death and proclaimed himself the true sovereign of Korai. All this went on without the interference of China, which at this time was torn by internal disorder and the ravages of the same Kitan tribes that had destroyed Puhai. Wang made Ping-an and Kai- chow the capitals of his kingdom, and resolved to take full advan- tage of his opportunity to conquer the entire peninsula and unite all its parts under his sceptre. Circumstances made this an easy task. With China passive, Shinra weak, through long absorption in luxury and the arts of GQ CORBA. peace, and with most part of the population of the peninsula of Korain blood and descent, the work was easy. The whole country, from the Ever-White Mountains to Quelpart Island, was overrun and welded into unity. The name of Shinra was blotted out after a line of fifty-six kings and a hfe of nine hundred and ninety-three years. For the first time the peninsula became a political unit, and the name Korai, springing to life again like the Arabian phoenix out of its ashes, became the symbol alike of united Corea and of the race which peopled it. Even yet the name Korai (Gauli or Gori in the vernacular) is generally used by the people. The probabilities are that the people of the old Euyu race, descendants of the tribes of Kokorai, as the more vigorous stock, had already so far supplanted the old aboriginal people inhabiting Southern Corea as to make conquest by Wang, who was one of their own blood, easy. This is shown in a series of maps repre- senting the three kingdoms of Corea from 201 to 655 a.d., by the Japanese scholar Otsuki Toyo. At the former date the Kokorai people beyond that part of their domain conquered by China have occupied the land as far south as the Han River, or to the 37th parallel. Later, Shinra, in 593, and again in 655, backed by Chi- nese armies, had regained her territory a degree or two northward, and in the eighth and ninth centuries, acting as the ally of China, ruled all the country to the Tumen River. Yet, though Shinra held the land, the inhabitants were the same, namely, the stock of Korai, ready to rise against their rulers and to annihilate Shinra in a name and monarchy that had in it nationality and the pres- tige of their ancient freedom and greatness. Thoroughly intent on unifying his realm, Wang chose a central location for the national capital. Kion-chiu, the metropolis of Shinra, was too far south, Ping-an, the royal seat of old Korai, was too far north ; but one hundred miles nearer "the river " Han, was Sunto. This city, now called Kai-seng, is twenty-five miles from Seoul and equally near the sea. Wang made Sunto what it has been for over nine centuries, a fortified city of the first rank, the chief commercial centre of the country, and a seat of learning. It remained the capital until 1392 a.d. Wang-ken or Wang, the founder of the new dynasty under which the people were to be governed for over four hundred years, was an ardent Buddhist. Spite of his having put the monk to death to further personal ends, he became the defender of the India faith and made it the official religion. Monasteries were founded and temples built in KORAI, OR UNITED COREA. 67 great numbers. To furnish revenues for the support of these, tracts of land were set apart as permanent endowment. The four centuries of the house of Korai are the palmy days of Corean Buddhism. From China, which at this time was enjoying that era of liter- ary splendor, for which the Sung dynasty was noted, there came an impulse both to scholastic activity and to something approach- ing popular education. The Nido, or native syllabary, which had been invented by Chul-chong, the statesman of Shinra, now came into general use. While Chinese literature and the sacred books of Buddhism were studied in the original Sanscrit, popular works were composed in Corean and written out in the Nido, or vernacular syllables. The printing press, invented by the Sung scholars, was introduced and books were printed from cut blocks. The Japanese are known to have adopted printing from Corea as early as the twelfth century, when a work of the Buddhist canon was printed from wooden blocks. "A Corean book is known which dates authentically from the period 1317-1324, over a century before the earliest printed book known in Europe." The use of metal type, made by mould- ing and casting, is not distinctly mentioned in Corea until the year 1420, and the invention and use of the Unmun, a true native al- phabet, seems to belong to the same period. The eleven vowels and fourteen consonants serve both as an alphabet and a syllabary, the latter being the most ancient system, and the former an im- provement on it. The unifier of Corea died in 945 and was succeeded by his son Wu. Fifteen years later the last of the five weak dynasties that had rapidly succeeded each other in China, fell. The Chinese emperor proposing, and the Corean king being willing, the latter hastened to send tribute, and formed an alliance of friendship with the imperial Sung, who swayed the destinies of China for the next 166 years (960-1101). Korai soon came into collision with the Kitans in the following manner. The royal line of united Corea traced their descent di- rectly from the ancient kings of Kokorai, and therefore claimed relationship with the princes of Puhai. On the strength of this claim, the Koraian king asserted his right to the whole of Liao Timg, which had been formerly held by Puhai. The Kitans, hav- ing matters of greater importance to attend to at the time, allowed its temporary occupation by Korai troops. Nevertheless the king 68 COREA. thouglit it best to send iiomage to tlie Kitan emperor, in order to get a clear title to the territory. In 1012 lie despatched an em- bassy acknowledging the Kitan supremacy. This verbal message did not satisfy the strong conqueror, who demanded that the Koraian king should come in person and make obeisance. The latter refused. A feud at once broke out between them, which led to a war, in which Korai was worsted and stripped of all her terri- tory west of the Yalu River. Palladius has pointed out the interesting fact that a little vil- lage about twenty miles north of Tie-ling, and seventy miles north of Mukden, called Gauli-chan (Korai village) still witnesses by its name to its former history, and to the possession by Corea of ter- ritory west of the Yalu. The Kitans, not satisfied with recovering Liao Tung, crossed the river and invaded Korai, in 1015. By this time a new nation, under the name of Niijun or Ninchi, had formed around Lake Hanka, in part of the territory of extinct Puhai. With their new frontagers the Koraians made an alliance " as solid as iron and stone," and with their aid drove back the Kitan invaders. Henceforth the boundaries of Corea remained stationary, and have never extended beyond the limits with which the western world is familiar. An era, of peace and prosperity set in, and a thriving trade sprang up between the Nujun and Korai. The two nations, ce- mented in friendship through a common fear of the Kitans, grew apace in numbers and prosperity. The Kitans were known to Chinese authors as early as the fifth century, seven nomad tribes being at that time confederate under their banners. At the beginning of the tenth century, these wan- derers had been transformed into hordes of disciplined cavalry. Their wealth and intelligence having increased by conquest, they formed a great empire in 925, which extended from the Altai Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, and from within the Great Wall to the Yablonoi Mountains, having Peking for one of its capitals. It flourished until the twelfth century (a.d. 1125), w^hen it gave way to the Kin empire, which held Mongolia and still more terri- tory than the Kitans possessed within what is now China proper. This Kin empire was founded by the expansion of the Niijun, who, from their seats north of the Tumen and east of the Sungari, had gradually widened, and by conquest absorbed the Kitans. Aguta, the founder of the new empire, gave it the name of the KORAI, OR UNITED COREA. 69 Golden Dominion. During its existence Corea was not troubled by her great neighbor, and for two hundred years enjoyed peace within her borders. Her commerce now flourished at all points of the compass, both on land, with her northern and western neighbors, with the Japanese on the east, and the Chinese south and west. Much direct intercourse in ships, guided by the mag- netic needle, "the chariot of the south," took place between Ningpo and Sunto. Mr. Edkins states that the oldest recorded instance of the use of the mariner's compass is that in the Chinese historian's account of the voyage of the imperial ambassador to Corea, from Nanking by way of Ningpo, in a fleet of eight vessels, in the year 1122. The Arabs, who about this time were also trading with the Coreans, and had lived in their country, soon afterward introduced this silent friend of the mariner into their own country in the west, whence it found its way into Europe and to the hands of Columbus. To the eye of the Corean its mysterious finger pointed to the south. To the western man it pointed to the lode-star. The huge wide-open eyes which the sailors of Chinese Asia paint at the prow of their ship, to discover a path in the sea, became more than ever an empty fancy before this unerring path- finder. As useless as the ever-open orbs on a mummy lid, these Hdless eyes were relegated to the domain of poetry, while the swinging needle opened new paths of science and discovery. Coin of Korai. "Ko.ka" (Name of Year-Period). "Current Money.' CHAPTEK X. CATHAY, ZIPANGU, AND THE MONGOLS. After a long breathing-spell — as one, in reading history, might call it — the old hive in the north was again ready to swarm. It was to be seen once more how useless was the Great Wall of China in keeping back the many-named invaders, known in history by the collective term Tatars. A new people began descending from their homeland, which lay near the northern and eastern shores of Lake Baikal. This inland sea — scarcely known in the school geographies, or printed in the average atlas in such proportionate dimensions as to suggest a pond — is one of the largest lakes in the world, bein^ 370 miles long and covering 13,300 square miles of surface. Its shores are now inhabited by Russian colonists and its waters are navigated by whole fleets of ships and steamers. It lies 1,280 feet above the sea. Beginning their migrations from this point, in numbers and bulk that suggest only the snowball, the Mongol horsemen moved with resistless increase and momentum, consolidating into their mass tribe after tribe, until their horde seemed an avalanche of humanity that threatened to crush all civilization and engulph the whole earth. These mounted highlauders from the north were creatures who seemed to be horse and man in one being, and to actualize the old fable of the Centaurs. With a tiger-skin for a saddle, a thong loop with only the rider's great toe thrust in it for a stirrup, a string in the horse's lower jaw for a bridle, armed with spear and cimeter, these conquerors who despised walls went forth to level cities and slaughter all who resisted. In their raids they found food ever ready in the beasts they rode, for a reeking haunch of horse-meat, cut from the steed whose saddle had been emptied by arrow or accident, was usually found slung to their pommels. A slice of this, raw or warmed, served to sustain life for these hard riders, who lived all day in the saddle and at night slept with it wrapped around them. For a century the power of these nomads was steadily grow- CATHAY, ZIPANGU, AND THE MONGOLS. 71 ing, before they emerged clearly into history and loomed up before the frontiers of the empire. The master mind and hand that moulded them into unity was Genghis Khan (1160-1227 a.d.). Who was Genghis Khan ? A Japanese writer, who is also a traveller in Corea and China, has written in English a thesis which shows, with strong probability, at least, that this unifier of Asia was Gen-Ghike, or Yoshitsune. This Japanese hero, born in 1159, was the field-marshal of the army of the Minamoto who annihilated the Taira family/ In 1189, having fled from his jealous brother, Yori- tomo, he reached Yezo and thence crossed, it is believed, to Man- churia. His was probably the greatest military mind which Japan ever produced. That Yoshitsune and Genghis Khan were one person is argued by Mi\ Suyematz,^ who brings a surprising array of coincidences to prove his thesis. These are in names, titles, ages, dates, personal characteristics, flags and banners, myths and traditions, nomen- clature of families, localities and individuals, and Japanese relics, coins, arms, and fortresses in Manchuria. Without reaching the point of demonstration, it seems highly probable that this wonder- ful personality, this marvellous intellect, was of Japanese origin. Whoever this restless spirit was, it is certain that he gathered tribes once living in freedom like the wild waves into the unity of the restless sea. Out from the grassy plains of Manchuiia rolled a tidal-wave of conquest that swept over Asia, and flung its last drops of spray alike over Japan, India, and Russia. Among the na- tions completely overrun and overwhelmed by the Mongol hordes was Corea. In 1206, Yezokai — the word in Japanese means Yezo Sea — the leader of the Mongols, at the request of his chieftains, took the name of Genghis Khan and proclaimed himself the ruler of an empire. He now set before himself the task of subduing the Kitans and ab- sorbing their land and people, preparatory to the conquest of China. This was accomplished in less than six years. Liao Tung was invaded and, in 1213, his armies were inside the Great Wall. Three mighty hosts were now organized, one to overrun all China to Nepal and Anam, one to conquer Corea and Japan, and one to bear the white banners of the Mongols across Asia into Europe. This work, though not done in a day, was nearly completed before 1 The Mikado's Empire, Chapters XIII. and XIV. ^ The Identity of the Great Conqueror, Genghis Khan, with the Japanese Hero Yoshitsune, by K. Suyematz of Japan. London, 1879. 72 COREA. a generation passed.^ Genghis Khan led the host that moved to the west. In 1218 the Corean king declared himself a vassal of Genghis. In 1231 the murder of a Mongol envoy in Corea was the cause of the first act of war. The Mongols invaded the coun- try, captured forty of the principal towns, received the humiliation of the king, who had fled to Kang-wa Island, and began the aboli- tion of Corean independence by appointing seventy-two Mongol prefects to administer the details of local government. The people, exasperated by the new and strange methods of their foreign con- querors, rose against them and murdered them all. This was the signal for a second and more terrible invasion. A great Mongol army overran the country in 1241, fought a number of pitched battles, defeated the king, and again imposed heavy tribute on their humbled vassal. In 1256 the Corean king went in person to do homage at the court of the conqueror of continents. In the details of the Mongol rule kindness and cruelty were blended. The most relentless military measures were taken to secure obedience after the conciliatory policy failed. By using both methods the great Khan kept his hold on the little peninsula, although the Coreans manifested a constant disposition to revolt. About this time began a brilliant half century of intercourse between Europe and Cathay, which has been studied and illustra- ted in the writings of Colonel H. Yule. The two Franciscan monks Carpinini and Kubruquis visited China, and the camps of the great Khan, between the years 1245 and 1253. By their graphic narra- tives, in which the wars of Genghis were described, they made the name of Cathay (from Kitai, or Kitan) familiar in Europe. Matteo, Nicolo, and Marco Polo, who came later, as representatives of the commerce which afterward flourished between Venice and Genoa, and Ningpo and Amoy, were but a few among many merchants and travellers. Embassies from the Popes and the Khan ex- changed courtesies at Avignon and Cambaluc (Peking). Christian churches were established in Peking and other cities by the Fran- ciscan monks. The various Europeans who have saved their own names and a few others from oblivion, and have left us a roman- tic, but in the main a truthful, picture of mediaeval China and the Mongols, were probably only the scribes among a host who traded or travelled, but never told their story. Among the marvels of the empire of the Mongols, in which one might walk safely from Corea to Russia, was religious toleration. When, however, the Mongols ' See Howortli's History of the Mongols, London, 1876. CATHAY, ZIPANGU, AND THE MONGOLS. 73 of central Asia embraced the creed of Islam, bigotry closed the highway into Europe, and communications ceased. Cathay, Zi- pangu, and Corea again sunk from the eyes of Europe into the night of historic darkness. Khublai Khan having succeeded his grandfather, Genghis, and being now ruler of all the Asiatic mainland, resolved, in 1266, to conquer Japan. He wrote a letter to the mikado, but the envoys were so frightened by the Corean's exaggerated account of the difficulties of reaching the empire in the sea, that they never sailed. Other embassies were despatched in 1271 and 1273, and Khublai began to prepare a mighty flotilla and army of invasion. One hundred of the ships were built on Quelpart Island. His armada, consisting of 300 vessels and 15,000 men, Chinese, Mongols, and Coreans, sailed to Japan and was met by the Japanese off the isl- and of Iki. Owing to their valor, but more to the tempest that arose, the expedition was a total loss, only a few of the original number reaching Corea alive. Evidently desirous of conquering Japan by diplomacy, the great Khan despatched an embassy which reached, not the mi- kado's, but only the sho-gun's court in 1275. His ambassadors were accompanied by a large retinue from his Corean vassals. The Japanese allowed only three of the imposing number to go to Kamakura, twelve miles from the modern Tokio, and paid no attention to the Khan's threatening letters. So irritated were the brave islanders that when another ambassador from the Khan ar- rived, in the following year, he disembarked as a prisoner and was escorted, bound, to Kamakura, where he was thrown into prison, kept during four years, and taken out only to be beheaded. Upon hearing this, Khublai began the preparation of the mighti- est of his invading hosts. To be braved by a little island nation, when his sceptre ruled from the Dnieper to the Yellow Sea, was not to be thought of. Various fleets and contingents sailed from different ports in China and made rendezvous on the Corean coast. The fleet was composed of 3,500 war junks, of large size, having on board 180,000 Chinese, Mongols, and Coreans. Among their en- gines of war were the catapults which the Polos had taught them to make. They set sail in the autumn of 1281. From the very first the enterprise miscarried. The general-in- chief fell sick and the command devolved on a subordinate, who had no plan of operation. The various divisions of the force be- came separated. It is probable that the majority of them never 74 COREA. reached tlie mainland of Japan. The Mongol and Corean contin- gent reached the province of Chikuzen, but were not allowed to make a successful landing, for the Japanese drove them back with sword and fire. The Chinese division, arriving later, was met by a terrible tempest that nearly annihilated them and destroyed the ships already engaged. The broken remnant of the fleet and armies, taking refuge on the island of Iki, were attacked by the Japanese and nearly all slain, imprisoned, or beheaded in cold blood. Only a few reached Corea to tell the tale. The "Mongol civilization," so-called, seems to have had little influence on Corea. The mighty empire of Genghis soon broke into many fragments. The vast fabric of his government melted like a sand house before an incoming wave, and that wave receding left scarcely a sediment recognizable on the polity or social life of Corea. Marco Polo in his book hardly mentions the country, though describing Zipangu or Japan quite fully. One evil effect of their forced assistance given to the Mongols, was that the hatred of the Japanese and Coreans for each other was mutually intensified After the Mongolian invasion begins that series of piratical raidi on their coast and robbery of their vessels at sea, by Japanese adventurers, that made navigation beyond sight of land and ship- building aiiiong the Coreans almost a lost art. The centuries following the Mongol invasion were periods of anarchy and civil war in Japan, and the central government au- thority being weak the pirates could not be controlled. Building or stealing ships, bands of Japanese sailors or ex-soldiers put to sea, capturing Corean boats, junks, and surf -rafts. Landing, they harried the shores and robbed and murdered the defenceless peo- ple. Growing bolder, the marauders sailed into the Yellow Sea and landed even in China and in Liao Tung. They kept whole towns and cities in terror, and a chain of coast forts had to be built in Shan-tung to defend that province. The fire-signals which, in the old days of "the Three King- doms," had flashed upon the headlands to warn of danger seaward, were now made a national service. The system was perfected so as to converge at the capital, Sunto, and give notice of danger from any point on the coast. By this means better protection against the sea-rovers was secured. All this evil experience with the piratical Japanese of the mid- dle ages has left its impress on the language of the Coreans. From this period, perhaps even long before it, date those words CATHAY, ZIPANGU, AND THE MONGOLS. 75 of sinister omen of wliicli we give but one or two examples which, have the prefix wai (Japan) in them. A icai-hol, a huge, fierce man, of gigantic aspect, with a bad head, though perhaps with good heart, a kind of ogre, is a Japanese kol or creature. A destructive wind or typhoon is a Japanese wind. As western Christendom for centuries uttered their fears of the Norse pupates, " From the fury of the Northmen, Good Lord, dehver us," so the Korai people, Two-Masted Corean Vessel (from a Phctograph taken in 1871). along the coast, for many generations offered up constant petition to their gods for protection against these Northmen of the Pacific. This chronic danger from Japanese pirates, which Korai and Cho-sen endured for a period nearly as extended as that of Eng- land from the Northmen, is one of the causes that have contribu- ted to make the natives dread the sea as a path for enemies, and in Corea we see the strange anomaly of a people more than semi- civilized whose wretched boats scarcely go beyond tide-water. CHAPTEE XI. NEW CHO-SEK It will be remembered that the first Chinese settler and civ- ilizer of Corea, Ki Tsze, gave it the name of Cho-sen. Coming from violence and war, to a land of peace which lay eastward of his old home, Ki Tsze selected for his new dwelling-place a name at once expressive of its outward position and his own inward emo- tions — Cho-sen, or Morning Calm. For eleven centuries a part of Manchuria, including, as the Coreans believe, the northern half of the peninsula, bore this name. From the Christian era until the tenth century, the names of the three kingdoms, Shinra, Hiaksai, and Kokorai, or Korai, express the divided political condition of the country. On the fall of these petty states, the united peninsula was called Korai. Korai existed from a.d. 934 until a.d. 1392, when the ancient name of Cho-sen was restored. Though the Coreans often speak of their country as Korai (Gauli, or Gori), it is as the English speak of Britain — with a patriotic feeling rather than for accuracy. Cho- sen is still the official and popular designation of the country. This name is at once the oldest and the newest. The first bestowal of this name on the peninsula was in poetic mood, and was the symbol of a peaceful triumph. The second gift of the name was the index of a political revolution not un- accompanied with bloodshed. The latter days of the dynasty founded by Wang were marked by licentiousness and effeminacy in the palace, and misrule in the country. The people hated the cruelties of their monarch, the thirty-second of his line, and longed for a deliverer. Such a one was Ni Taijo (Japanese, Hi Seiki), who was born in the region of Broughton's Bay, in the Ham-kiung province. It is said of him that from his youth he surpassed all others in virtue, intelligence, and skill in manly exercises. He was especially fond of hunting with the falcon. One day, while in the woods, his favorite bird, in pursuing its NEW CHO-SEN. 77 quarry, flew so far ahead that it was lost to the sight of its master. Hastening after it the young man espied a shrine at the roadside into which he saw his hawk fly. Entering, he found within a her- mit priest. Awed and abashed at the weird presence of the white- bearded sage, the lad for a moment was speechless ; but the old man, addressing him, said : '' What benefit is it for a youth of your abilities to be seeking a stray falcon ? A throne is a richer prize. Betake yourself at once to the capital." Acting upon the hint thus given him, and leaving the falcon behind, Taijo wended his way westward to Sunto, and entered the military service of the king. He soon made his mark and rapidly rose to high command, until he became lieutenant-general of the whole army. He married and reared children, and through the espousal of his daughter by the king, became father-in-law to his sovereign. The influence of Taijo was now immense. While with his soldierly abilities he won the enthusiastic regard of the army, his popularity with the people rested solely on his virtues. Possessed of such influence with the court, the soldiers, and the country at large, he endeavored to reform the abuse of power and to curb the cruelties of the king. Even to give advice to a despot is an act of bravery, but Taijo dared to do it again and again. The king, how- ever, refused to follow the counsel of his father-in-law or to reform abuses. He thus daily increased the odium in which he was held by his subjects. Such was the state of affairs toward the end of the fourteenth century, when everything was ripe for revolution. In China, great events, destined to influence " the little king- dom," were taking place. The Mongol dynasty, even after the breaking up of the empire founded by Genghis Khan, still held the dragon throne ; but during the later years of their reign, when harassed by enemies at home, Corea was neglected and her tribute remained unpaid. A spasmodic attempt to resubdue the lapsed vassal, and make Corea a Mongol castle of refuge from impending doom, was ruined by the energy and valor of Ni Taijo. The would-be invaders were driven back. The last Mongol emperor fell in 1341, and the native Ming, or " Bright," dynasty came into power, and in 1368 was firmly established. Their envoys being sent to Corea demanded pledges of vassal- age. The king neglected, finally refused, and ordered fresh levies to be made to resist the impending invasion of the Chinese. In 78 CORBA. this time of gloom and bitterness against their own monarch, the army contained but a pitifully small number of men who could be depended on to fight the overwhelming host of the Ming veterans. Taijo, in an address to his followers, thus spoke to them : " Although the order from the king must be obeyed, yet the attack upon the Ming soldiers, with so small an army as ours, is Hke casting an egg against a rock, and no one of the army vdll return alive. I do not tell you this from any fear of death, but our king is too haughty. He does not heed our advice. He has ordered out the army suddenly without cause, paying no attention to the suffering which wives and children of the soldiers must luidergo. This is a thing I cannot bear. Let us go back to the capital and the responsibility shall fall on my shoulders alone." Thereupon the captains and soldiers being impressed with the purity of their leader's motives, and admiring his courage, resolved to obey his orders and not the king's. Arriving at Sunto, he promptly took measures to depose the king, who was sent to Kang-wa, the island so famous in modern as in ancient and mediae- val history. The king's v^ath was very great, and he intrigued to avenge himself. His plot was made known, by one of his retainers, to Taijo, who, by a counter-movement, put forth the last radical measure which, in Chinese Asia means, for a private person, disin- heritance ; for a king, deposition ; and for a royal line, extinction. This act was the removal of the tablets of the king's ancestors from their shrine, and the issue of an order forbidding further continu- ance of sacrifice to them. This Corean and Chinese method of clapping the extinguisher upon a whole dynasty was no sooner or- dered than duly executed. Ni Taijo was now made king, to the gTeat delight of the peo- ple. He sent an embassy to Nanking to notify the Ming emperor of affairs in the " outpost state," to tender his loyal vassalage, to seek the imperial approval of his acts, and to beg his investiture as sovereign. This was graciously granted. The ancient name of Cho-sen was revived, and at the petitioner's request conferred upon the country by the emperor, who profited by this occasion to en- force upon the Coreans his calendar and chronology — the recep- tion of these being in itself alone tantamount to a sufficient de- claration of fealty. Friendship being now fully established with the Mings, the king of Cho-sen sent a number of youths, sons of his nobles, to Nanking to study in the imperial Chinese college. NEW CHO-SEN. 79 The dynasty thus estabhshed is still the reigning family in Corea, though the direct line came to an end in 1864. The Co- reans in their treaty with Japan, in 1876, dated the document ac- cording to the 484tli year of Cho-sen, reckoning from the acces- sion of M Taijo to the throne. One of the first acts of the new dynasty was to make a change in the location of the national capital. The new dynasty made choice of the city of Han Yang, The Walls of Seoul (from a Photograph, 1876). situated on the Han River, about fifty miles from its mouth. The king enlarged the fortifications, enclosed the city with a wall of masonry of great extent, extending over the adjacent hills and valleys. On this wall was a rampart pierced with port-holes for archers and over the streams were built arches of stone. He or- ganized the administrative system which, with slight modification, is still in force at the present time. The city being well situated, soon grew in extent, and hence became the seoul or capital (pro- 80 COHEA. nounced by the Chinese king, as in Nanking and Peking, and the Japanese kio, as in Kioto and Tokio). He also re-divided the kingdom into eight do or provinces. This division still maintains. The names, formed each of two Chinese characters joined to that of do (circuit or province); and approximate meanings are given below. ^ "With such names of bright omen, " the eight provinces " entered upon an era of peace aild flourishing prosperity. The people found out that something more than a change of masters was meant by the removal of the capital to a more central situa- tion. Vigorous reforms were carried out, and changes were made, not only in political administration, but in social life, and even in religion. In all these the influence of the China of the Ming em- perors is most manifest. Buddhism, which had penetrated into every part of the country, and had become, in a measure, at least, the religion of the state, was now set aside and disestablished. The Confucian ethics and the doctrines of the Chinese sages were not only more diligently studied and propagated under royal patronage, but were incor- porated into the religion of the state. From the early part of the fifteenth century, Confucianism flourished until it reached the point of bigotry and intolerance ; so that when Christianity was discov- ered by the magistrates to be existing among the people, it was put under the band of extirpation, and its followers thought worthy of death. ^ Beginning at the most northern and eastern, and following the sea line south around up to the northeast, thej are : CoREAN. Japanese. English. 1. Ham-kiung, or Kan-ki5 dd. Perfect Mirror, or Complete View Province. 2. Kang-wen, or Ko-gen do. Bay Meadow Province. 3. Kiung-sang, or Kei-sho do. Respectful Congratulation Province. 4. Julia, or Zen-ra d5. Completed Network Province. 5. Chung-chong, or Chiu-sei do. Serene Loyalty Province. 6. Kiung-kei, or Kei-ki do. The Capital Circuit, or Home Province. 7. Whang-hai, or Ko-kai d5. Yellow Sea Province. 8. Ping-an, or Hei-an d5 Peace and Quiet Province. In this table we have given the names in English which approximate the sounds of the Chinese characters, with which names of the provinces are writ- ten, and as they are heard to-day in Cho-sen. The modern Coreans use the modern Chinese sounds of the characters, while the Japanese cling to the an- cient Chinese pronunciation of the same characters as they received them through Hiaksai and Shinra, eleven or twelve centuries ago. The old pure Core an sounds were Teru-ra tai for Zen-ra d5, Tsiku-shaku tai for Chiu-sei do, etc. NEW CHO-SEN. 81 ' *;V'''' Magistrate and Servant. 82 CORBA. Whatever may have been the motive for supplanting Buddh* ism, whether from sincere conviction of the paramount truth of the ancient ethics, or a desire to closely imitate the Middle King- dom in everything, even in religion, or to obtain easy and great wealth by confiscating the monastery and temple lands, it is certain that the change was sweeping, radical, and thorough. All observ- ers testify that the cult of Shaka in Corea is almost a shadow. On the other hand, in many cities throughout the land, are buildings and halls erected and maintained by the government, in which sit in honor the statues of Confucius and his gTeatest disciples. One great measure that tended to strengthen and make popu- lar the new religious establishment, to weaken the old faith, to give strength and unity to the new government, to foster educa- tion and make the Corean literary classes what they are to-day — critical scholars in Chinese — was what Americans would call " civil service reform." Appointment to office on the basis of merit, as shown in the literary examinations, was made the rule. Modelled closely upon the Chinese system, three grades of examinations were appointed, and three degrees settled. All candidates for military or civil rank and office must possess diplomas, granted by the royal or provincial examiners, before appointment could be made or salary begun. The system, which is still in vogue, is more fully described in the chapter on education. Among the changes in the fashion of social life, introduced under the Ni dynasty, was the adoption of the Ming costume. To the Chinese of to-day the Corean dress and coiffure, as seen in Peking, are subjects for curiosity and merriment. The lack of a long queue, and the very different cut, form, and general appear*- ance of these eastern strangers, strike the eye of mandarin and street laborer alike, very much as a gentleman in knee-breeches, cocked hat, and peruke, or the peasant costumes at Castle Garden, appear to a New Yorker, stepping from the elevated railway, on Broadway. Yet from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, the Chinese gentleman dressed like the Corean of to-day, and the mandarin of Canton or Nanking was as innocent of the Tartar hair-tail as is the citizen of Seoul. The Coreans simply adhere to the fashions pre- valent during the Ming era. The Chinese, in the matter of garb, however loath foreigners may be to credit it, are more progressive than their Corean neighbors. To the house of Ni belongs also the greater honor of abolish- NEW CHO-SEN. 83 ing at least two cruel customs which had their roots in supersti- tion. Heretofore the same rites which were so long in vogue in Japan, traces of which were noticed even down to the seventeenth century, held unchallenged sway in Corea. Ko-rai-chang, though not fuUy known in its details, was the habit of burying old men alive. In-chei was the offering up of human sacrifices, presumably to the gods of the mountains and the sea. Both of these classes of rites, at once superstitious and horrible, were anciently very fre- quent ; nor was Buddhism able to utterly abolish them. In the latter case, they choked the victims to death, and then threw them into the sea. The island of Chansan was especially noted as the place of propitiation to the gods of the sea. The first successors of the founder of the house of Ni held great power, which they used for the good of the people, and hence enjoyed great popularity. The first after Taijo reigned two years, from 1398 to 1400. Hetai-jong, who came after him, ruled eighteen years, and among other benefits conferred, established the Sin-mun-ko, or box for the reception of petitions addressed directly to the king. Into this coffer, complaints and prayers from the people could lawfully and easily be dropped. Though still kept before the gate of the royal palace in Seoul, it is stated that access to it is now difficult. It seems to exist more in name than in fact. Among the first diplomatic acts of King Hetai-jong was to unite with the Chinese emperor, in a complaint to the mikado of Japan, against the buccaneers, whom the authorities of the latter country were unable to control. Hence the remonstrance was only partially successful, and the evil, which was aggravated by Corean renegades acting as pilots, grew beyond all bounds. These rascals made a lucrative living by betraying their own coun- trymen. Siei-jong, who succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Hetai-jong, enjoyed a long reign of thirty-two years, during which the fortifications of the capital were added to and strength- ened. The Manchius beyond the Ever-white Mountains were then beginning to rise in power, and Liao Tung was disturbed by the raids of tribes from Mongolia, which the Ming generals were unable to suppress. When the fighting took place within fifty miles of her own boundary river, Cho-sen became alarmed, and looked to the defence of her own frontier and capital. In 1450, on the death of the king, who " in time of peace prepared for war," Mun-jong, his son, succeeded to royal power. As usual 84 CORBA. on the accession of a new sovereign, a Chinese ambassador was despatched from Peking, which had been the Ming capital since 1614, to Seoul, to confer the imperial patent of investiture. This dignitary, on his return, wrote a book recounting his travels, under the title of '' Memorandum concerning the Affairs of Cho- sen." According to this writer, the military frontier of Corea at that time was at the Eastern Mountain Barrier, a few miles north- west of the present Border Gate. Palladius, the Eussian writer, also states that, during the Ming dynasty, three grades of for- tresses were erected on the territory between the Great Wall and the Yalu Eiver, " to guard against the attacks of the Coreans." It is more in accordance with the facts to suppose that the Chi- nese erected these fortifications to guard against invasion from the Manchius and other northern tribes that were ravaging Liao Tung, rather than against the Coreans. These defences did not avail to keep back the invasion which came a generation or two later, and " the Corean frontier," which the Chinese traveller, in 1450, found much further west than even the present " wall of stakes," shows that the neutral territory was then already established, and larger than it now is. Of this strip of rich forest and ginseng land, with many well-watered and arable valleys, once cultivated and popu- lous, but since the fifteenth century desolate, we shall hear again. In Chinese atlases the space is blank, with not one viUage marked where, until the removal by the Chinese government of the inhabi- tants westward, there was a population of 300,000 souls. The de- population of this large area of fertile soil was simply a Chinese measure of military necessity, which compelled her friendly ally Cho-sen, for her own safety, to post sentinels as far west of her boundary river as the Eastern Mountain Barrier, described by the imperial envoy in 1450. The century which saw America discovered in the west, was that of Japan's greatest activity on the sea. On every coast within their reach, from Tartary to Tonquin, and from Luzon to Siam, these bold marauders were known and feared. The Chinese learned to bitterly regret the day when the magnetic needle, in- vented by themselves, got into the hands of these daring island- ers. The wounded eagle that felt the shaft, which had been feath- ered from his own plumes, was not more to be pitied than the Chinese people that saw the Japanese craft steering across the Yellow Sea to ravage and ruin their cities, guided by the compass bought in China. They not only harried the coasts, but went far NEW CHO-SEK 85 up the rivers. In 1523, they landed even at Ningpo, and in the fight the chief mandarin of the city was killed. Yet, with the exception of incursions of these pirates, Cho-sen enjoyed the sweets of peace, and two centuries slipped away in Morning Calm. The foreign vessels from Europe which first, in 1530, touched at the province of Bungo, in Southern Japan, may possibly have visited some part of the Corean shores. Between y \Xf^ \ f V ) ^ 1 • ) X y /^^-^^ L^y ' / Wate\ /\^ l\r \ ) ^ yt^ The Neutral Teriitory (from a Chinese Atlas). 1540 and 1546 four arrivals of " black ships " from Portugal, are known to have called at points in Japan. It was from these the Japanese learned how to make the gunpowder and firearms which, before the close of the century, were to be used with such deadly effect in Corea. Now came back to Europe accounts of China and Japan — which were found to be the old Kathay, and Zipangu of Polo and the Fran- 86 COREA. ciscans — and of " Coria," whicli Polo had barely mentioned. It was from the Portuguese, that Europe first learned of this middle land between the mighty domain of the Mings, and the empire in the sea. Stirred by the spirit of adventure and enterprise, and un- willing that the Iberian peninsulars should gain aU the glory, an English " Society for the Discovery of Unknown Lands " was formed in 1555. A voyage was made as far as Novaia Zemlia and Weigatz, but neither Corea nor Cathay was reached. Other attempts to find a northeast passage to India failed, and Asia re- mained uncircumnavigated until our own and Nordenskold's day. The other attempts to discover a northwest passage to China around the imaginary cape, in which North America was supposed to terminate, and through the equally fictitious straits of Anian, resulted in the discoveries of the Cabots, and of Hudson and Ero- bisher — of the American continent from the Hudson Eiver to Greenland, but the way to China lay still around Africa. From Japan, the only possibility of danger during these two cen- turies was likely to come. In the north, west, and south, on tl^e main land, hung the banners of the Ming emperors of China, and, as the tribute enforced was very light, the protection of her great neighbor was worth to Cho-sen far more than the presents she gave. From China there was nothing to fear. At first the new dynasty sent ships, embassies, and presents regularly to Japan, which were duly received, yet not at the mi- kado's palace in Kioto, but at the sho- gun's court at Kamakura, twelve miles from the site of the modern Japanese capital, Tokio. But as the Ashikaga family became effeminate in life, their power waned, and rival chiefs started up all over the country. Clan fights and chronic intestine war became the rule in Japan. Only small areas of territory were governed from Kamakura, while the mikado became the tool and prey of rival daimios. One of these petty rulers held Tsushima, and traded at a settlement on the Corean coast called Fusan, by means of which some inter- course was kept up between the two countries. The Japanese government had always made use of Tsushima in its communica- tions with the Coreans, and the agency at Fusan was composed almost exclusively of retainers of the feudal lord of this island. The journey by land and sea from Seoul to Kamakura, often consumed two or three months, and with civil wars inland and piracy on the water, intercourse between the two countries became less and less. The last embassy from Seoul was sent in 1460, but after that. NEW CHO-SEK 87 owing to continued intestine war, the absence of tlie Coreans was not noticed by the Ashikagas, and as the Tsushima men purposely kept their customers ignorant of the weakness of their rulers at Kamakura and Kioto, lest the ancient vassals should cease to fear their old master, the Coreans remained in profound ignorance of the real state of affairs in Japan. As they were never summoned, so they never came. Giving themselves no further anxiety con- cerning the matter, they rejoiced that such disagreeable duties were no longer incumbent upon them. It is even said in Corean histories that their government took the offensive, and under the reign of the king Chung-jong (1506-1544) captured Tsushima and several other Japanese islands, formerly tributary to Corea. What- ever fraction of truth there may be in this assertion, it is certain that Japan afterward took ample revenge on the score both of neglect and of reprisal. So, luider the idea that peace was to last forever, and the morn- ing calm never to know an evening storm, the nation relaxed all vigilance. Expecting no danger from the east, the military re- sources were neglected, the army was disorganized, and the cas- tles were allowed to dilapidate into ruin. The moats filled and became shallow ditches, choked with vegetation, the walls and ramparts crumbled piecemeal, and the barracks stood roofless. As peace wore sweeter charms, and as war seemed less and less probable, so did all soldierly duties become more and more irk- some. The militia system was changed for the worse. The en- rolled men, instead of being called out for muster at assigned camps, and trained to field duty and the actual evolutions of war, were allowed to assemble at local meetings to perform only holi- day movements. The muster rolls were full of thousands of 'names, but off paper the army of Corea was a phantom. The people, dismissing all thought of possibility of war, gave them- selves no concern, leaving the matter to the army ofiicials, who drew pay as though in actual war. They, in turn, devoted them- selves to dissipation, carousing, and sensual indulgence. It was while the country was in such a condition that the summons of Japan's greatest conqueror came to them and the Coreans learned, for the first time, of the fall of Ashikaga, and the temper of their new master. CHAPTER XII. EVENTS LEADING TO THE JAPANESE INVASION. China and Japan are to each other as England and the Unitecl States. The staid. Chinaman looks at the lively Japanese with feelings similar to those of John Bull to his American " cousin." Though as radically different in blood, language, and tempera- ment as are the Germans and French, they are enough alike to find food for mutual jealousy. They discover ground for irritation in causes, which, between nations more distant from each other, would stir up no feeling whatever. China considers Japan a young, vain, and boasting stripling, whose attitude ought ever to be that of the pupil to the teacher, or the child to the father. Japan, on the contrary, considering China as an old fogy, far be- hind the age, decayed in constitution and fortune alike, and more than ready for the grave, resents all dictation or assumption of superiority. Even before their adoption of the forces of occiden- tal civilization in this nineteenth century, something of this haughty contempt for China influenced the Japanese mind. Japan ever refused to become vassal or tributary to China, and the mem- ory of one of her military usurpers, who accepted the honorary title of Nihon-0, or King of Japan, from the Chinese Emperor, is to this day loaded with increasing execration. It has ever been the practice of the Japanese court and people cheerfully to heap upon their mikado all the honors, titles, poetical and divine appallations which belong also to the Chinese emperor. To conquer or humble their mighty neighbor, to cross Iheir slender swords of divine temper with the clumsy blades of the continental braves, has been the ambition of more than one Ja- panese captain. But Hideyoshi alone is the one hero in Japanese annals who actually made the attempt. As the Mongol conquerors issuing from China had used Corea as their point of departure to invade Japan, so Hideyoshi resolved to make the peninsula the road for his armies into China. After EVENTS LEADING TO THE JAPANESE INVASION. 89 two centuiies of anarchy in Japan, he followed up the work which Nobunaga had begun until the proudest daimio had felt the weight of his arm, and the empire was at peace. Yet, although receiving homage and congratulations from his feudal vassals, once proud princes, Hideyoshi was irritated that Cho-sen, which he, with all Japanese, held to be a tributary prov- ince, failed to send like greetings. Since, to the Ashikagas, she had despatched tribute and embassies, he was incensed that similar honors were not awarded to him, though, for over a century, all official relations between the two countries had ceased. On the 31st day of July, 1585, Hideyoshi was made Kuam- baku, or Eegent, and to celebrate his elevation to this, the highest office to which a subject of the mikado's could aspire, he shortly afterward gave a great feast in Kioto, and proclaimed holiday throughout the empire. This feast was graced by the presence of his highest feudatories, lords, and captains, court nobles and palace ladies in their richest robes. Among others w^as one Yasu- hiro, a retainer of the lord of Tsushima. Hideyoshi's memory, had been refreshed by his having had read to him, from the an- cient chronicles, the account of Jingu Kogo's conquests in the second century. He announced to his captains that, though Cho- sen was from ancient times tributary to Japan, yet of late years her envoys had failed to make visits or to send tribute. He then appointed Yasuhiro to proceed to Seoul, and remind the king and court of their duty. The Japanese envoy was a bluff old campaigner, very tall, and of commanding mien. His hair and beard had long since turned white under years and the hardships of war. His conduct was that of a man accustomed to command and to instant obedience, and to expect victory more by brute courage than by address. On his journey to Seoul he demanded the best rooms in the ho- tels, and annoyed even the people of rank and importance with haughty and strange questions. He even laughed at and made sarcastic remarks about the soldiers and their weapons. This conduct, so different from that of previous envoys, gTeatly sur- prised the Corean officials. Heretofore, when a Japanese officer came to Fusan, native troops escorted him from Fusan to Seoul, overawing him by their fierceness and insolence. Yasuhiro, accus- tomed to constant war under Hideyoshi's gourd-banner, rode calmly on his horse, and, amid the lines of lances drawn up as a guard of honor, spoke to his followers in a loud voice, telling them 90 COREA. to watch the escort and note any incivility. In a certain village he joked with a Corean soldier about his spear, saying, with a pun, that it was too short and unfit for use. At this, all the Japanese laughed out loud. The Coreans could not understand the lan- guage, but hearing the laugh were angry and surprised at such boldness. At another town he insulted an aged official who was entertaining him, by remarking to his own men that his hair and that of the Japanese grew gray by years, or by war and manly hardships; "but what," cried he, "has turned this man's hair gray who has lived all his life amid music and dancing ? " This sarcastic fling, at premature and sensual old age, stung the official so that he became speechless with rage. At the capital, creden- tials were presented and a feast given, at which female musicians sang and wine flowed. During the banquet, when all were well di'unk, the old hero pulled out a gourd full of pepper seeds and began to hand them around. The singing-girls and servants grabbed them, and a disgraceful scuffle began. This was what Yasuhiro wanted. Highly disgusted at their greedy behavior, he returned to his quarters and poured out a tirade of abuse about the manners of the people, which his Corean interpreter duly re- tailed to his superiors. Yasuhiro made up his mind that the country was in no way prepared for invasion ; the martial spirit of the people was very low, and the habits of dissipation and pro- fligacy among them had sapped the vigor of the men. To the offensive conduct of the envoy was added the irritation produced by the language of Hideyoshi's summons ; for in his let- ter he had used the imperial form of address, " we," the plural of majesty. Yasuhiro asked for a reply to these letters, that he might return speedily to Japan. There was none given him, and the Co- reans, pleading the flimsy excuse of the difficulty of the voyage, refused to send an embassy to Japan. Hideyoshi was very angry at the utter failure of Yasuhiro's mission. He argued that for an envoy to be content with such an answer was sure proof that he favored the Coreans. Some of Yasuhiro's ancestors, being daimios of Tsushima, had served as envoys to Cho-sen, and had enjoyed a monopoly of the lucrative commerce, and even held office under the Corean government. Reflecting on these things, Hideyoshi commanded Yasuhiro and all his family to be put to death. He then despatched a second envoy, named Yoshitoshi, himself the daimio of Tsu Island, who took with him a favorite retainer. EVENTS LEADING TO THE JAPANESE INVASION. 91 and a priest, named Gensho, as his secretary. They reached Seoul in safety, and; after the formal banquet, demanded the despatch of an envoy to Japan. The Corean dignitaries did not reply at once, but unofficially sent word, through the landlord of the hotel, that they would be glad to agree to the demand if the Japanese would send back the renegades who piloted the Japanese pirates in their raids upon the Corean coasts. Thereupon, Yoshitoshi despatched one of his suite to Japan. With amazing promptness he collected the outlaws, fourteen in number, and produced them in Seoul. These traitors, after confessing their crime, were led out by the executioners and their heads knocked off. Meanwhile, having tranquillized "all under Heaven" (Japan), even to Yezo and the Ainos, and finding nothing " within the four seas " worth cap- turing, Hideyoshi cast his eyes southward to the Uttle kingdom well named Kiu Kiu, or the Sleepy Dragon without horns. The people of these islands, called Loo Choo, on old maps, are true. Japanese in origin, language, and dynasty. They speak a dialect kindred to that of Satsuma, and their first historical ruler was. Sunten, a descendant of Tametomo, who fled from Japan in the twelfth century. Of the population of 120,000 people, one-tenth were of the official class, who lived from the public granaries. Saving all expense in war equipment, and warding off danger from the two great powers between which they lay, they had kept the good wiU of either by making their country act the part of the ass which crouches down between two burdens. They made presents to both, acknowledging Japan as their father, and China as their mother. From early times they had sent tribute-laden junks to Ning-po, and had introduced the Chinese classics, and social and political customs. "When the Ming dynasty came into power, the Chinese monarch bestowed on the Prince of Riu Kiu a silver seal, and a name for his country, which meant " hanging balls," a refer- ence to the fact that their island chain hung like a string of tas- sels on the skirt of China. Another of their ancient native names was Okinawa, or '' long rope," which stretches as a cable between Japan and Formosa. Sugar and rice are the chief pro- ducts. Hideyoshi, wishing to possess this group of isles as an ally against China, and acting on the principle of baiting with a sprat in order to catch a mackerel, sent word to Riu Kiu to pay tribute hereafter only to him. The young king, fearing the wrath of the mighty lord of Nip- pon, sent a priest as his envoy, and a vessel laden with tribute 92 CORBA. offerings. Arriving in the presence of the august parvenu, the priest found himself most graciously received. Hideyoshi entered into a personal conversation with the bonze, and set forth the benefits of Riu Kiu's adherence to Japan alone, and her ceasing to send tribute to China. At the same time he gave the priest clearly to understand that, willing or unwilling, the little kingdom was to be annexed to the mikado's empire. When the priest re- turned to Eiu Kiu and gave the information to the king, the latter immediately despatched a vessel to China to inform the govern- ment of the designs of Japan. Meanwhile, the court at Seoul, highly gratified with the action of the Japanese government in the matter of the renegade pilots, gave a banquet to the embassy. Yoshitoshi had audience of the king, who presented him with a horse from his own stables. An embassy was chosen which left Seoul, in company with Yoshitoshi and his party, and their musicians and servants, in April, 1590, and, after a journey and voyage of three months, arrived at Kioto during the summer of 1590. At this time Hideyoshi was absent in Eastern Japan, not iar from the modern city of Tokio, besieging Odawara Castle and reducing " the second Hojo " family to sub- mission. Arriving at Kioto in the a^utumn, he postponed audience with the Coreans in order to gain time for war preparations, for his heart was set on conquests beyond sea. Finally, after five months had passed, they were accorded an interview. They were allowed to ride in palanquins under the gateway of the palace without dismounting — a mark of deference to their high rank — all except nobles of highest grade being com- pelled to get out and walk. As usual, their band of musicians ac- companied them. They report Hideyoshi as a man of low appearance, but with eyes that shot fire through their souls. All bowed before him, . but his conduct in general was of a very undignified character. This did not raise him in the estimation of his guests, who had already discovered his true position, which was that of a subject of the mikado, whose use of the imperial " lue " in his letters was, in their eyes, a preposterous assumption of authority. They de- livered the king's letter, which was addressed to Hideyoshi on terms of an equal as a Koku O (king of a nation, in distinction from the title of Whang Ti, by which title the Heavenly Ruler, or Emperor — the Mikado of Japan, or the Emperor of China — is addressed). The letter contained the usual commonplaces of EVENTS LEADING TO THE JAPANESE INVASION. 93 friendly greeting, the names of the envoys, and a reference to the list of accompanying presents. The presents — spoken of in the usual terms of Oriental mock modesty — consisted of two ponies and fifteen falcons, with harness for bird and beast, rolls of silk, precious drugs, ink, paper, pens, and twenty magnificent tiger-skins. The interview over, Hideyoshi wished the envoys to go home at once. This they declined to do, but, leaving Kioto, waited at the port of Sakai. A letter to the king finally reached them, but couched in so insolent a tone that the ambassadors sent it back several times to be purged. Even in its improved form it was the blustering threat of a Japanese bully. All this consumed time, which was just what Hideyoshi wished. Some years before this, some Portuguese trading ships had landed at the island of Tane, off the south of Japan. The Japan- ese, for the first time, saw Europeans and heard their unintelli- gible language. At first all attempts to understand them were in vain. A Chinese ship happened to arrive about the same time, on which were some sailors who knew a little Portuguese, and thus communications were held. The foreigners, being handsomely, treated, gave their hosts some firearms, probably pistols, taught their use, and how to make powder. These " queer things, able to vomit thunder and lightning, and emitting an awful smell," were presented to Shimadzii, the daimio of Satsuma, who gave them to Hideyoshi. Among the presents, made in return to Cho- sen, were several of these new weapons made by Japanese. They were most probably sent as a hint, like that of the Pequot's offer- ing of the arrows wrapped in snake-skin. With them were phea- sants, stands of swords and spears, books, rolls of paper, and four hundred gold koban (a coin worth about $5.00). With the returning embassy, Hideyoshi sent the priest and a former coUeague of Yoshitoshi to Seoul. They were instructed to ask the king to assist Hideyoshi to renew peaceful relations be- tween Japan and China. These, owing to the long continued piratical invasions from Japan, during the anarchy of the Ashi- kaga, had been suspended for some j^ears past. The peaceful influences of Christianity's teachings now came between these two pagan nations, in the mind and person of Yoshi- toshi, who had professed the faith of Jesus as taught by the Koman Catholic missionaries from Portugal, then in Japan. Be this as it may, Yoshitoshi, who had been in Seoul, and lived in Tsushima, being well acquainted with the military resources of the three 94 COREA. countries, knew that war would result in ruin to Clio-sen, while, in measuring their swords with China, the Japanese were at fear- ful odds. Animated by a desire to prevent bloodshed, he resolved to mediate with the olive branch. He started on an independent mission, at his own cost, to persuade the Coreans to use their good offices at mediation between Japan and China, and thus prevent war. Arriving at Fusan, in 1591, he forwarded his petition to Seoul, and waited in port ten days in hopes of the answer he de- sired. But all was in vain. He received only a letter containing a defiant reply to his master's bullying letter. In sadness he re- turned to Kioto, and reported his ill-success. Surprised and en- raged at the indifference of the Coreans, Hideyoshi pushed on his war preparations with new vigor. He resolved to test to its utmost the military strength of Japan, in order to humble China as well as her vassal. Accustomed to victory under the gourd- banner in almost every battle during the long series of intestine wars now ended, an army of seasoned veterans heard joyfully the order to prepare for a campaign beyond sea. Hideyoshi, during this year, nominally resigned the office of Kuambaku, in favor of his son, and, according to usage, took the title of Taiko, by which name (Taiko Sama) he is popularly known, and by which we shall refer to him. Among the Coreans, even of to-day, he is remembered by the title which still inspires their admiration and terror — Kuambaku. Chinese writers give a gro- tesque account of Hideyoshi, one of whose many names they read as Ping-syew-kye. They call him " the man under a tree," in re- ference to his early nickname of Kinomoto. He is also dubbed "King of Taiko." The Jesuit missionaries speak of him in their letters as Quabacundono (His Lordship the Kuambaku), or by one of his personal names, Faxiba (Hashiba). The Coreans were now in a strait. Though under the protec- torate of China, they had been negotiating with a foreign power. How would China like this ? Should they keep the entire matter secret, or should they inform their suzerain of the intended inva- sion of China ? They finally resolved upon the latter course, and despatched a courier to Peking. About the same time the m.es- senger from Riu Kiu had landed, and was On his way with the same tidings. The Riukiuan reached Peking first, and the Corean arrived only to confirm the news. Yet, in spite of such overwhelm- ing evidence of the designs of Japan, the colossal " tortoise " could, at first, scarce believe " the bee " would attempt to sting. CHAPTER XIII. THE INVASION— ON TO SEOUL. For the pictures of camps, fleets, the details of armory and commissariat, and aU the pomp and circumstance that make up the bright side of Japanese war preparations in 1591 and 1592, we are indebted, not only to the Japanese writers, but to those eye witnesses and excellent " war correspondents," the Portuguese missionaries then in Kiushiu, and especially to Friar Louis Frois. He teUs us of the amplitude, vigor, and brilliancy of Taiko's meas- ures for invasion, and adds that the expenses therefor greatly burdened the " ethniques " or daimios who had to pay the cost. Those feudatories, whose domain bordered the sea, had to furnish a mighty fleet of junks, while to man them, the quota of every hundred houses of the fishing population was ten sailors. The land and naval forces assembled at Nagoya, in Hizen, now called Karatsu, and famous for being the chief place for the manu- facture of Hizen porcelain. Here a superb castle was built, while huge inns or resting-places Avere erected all along the road from Kioto. The armies gathered here during the war numbered 500,- 000 men ; of whom 150,000 formed the army of invasion, 60,000 the first reserve, while 100,000 were set apart as Taiko's body- guard ; the remainder were sailors, servants, camp followers, etc. Beside the old veterans were new levies of young soldiers, and a corps of matchlock men, who afterward did good execution among the Coreans. The possession of this new and terrible weapon gave the invaders a mighty advantage over their enemies. Though firearms had been known and manufactured in Japan for a half century, this was the first time they were used against for- eign enemies, or on a large scale. Taiko also endeavored to hire or buy from the Portuguese two ships of war, so as to use their artillery ; but in this he failed, and the troops were despatched in native-built vessels. These made a gallant display as they crowded together by hundreds. At the signal, given by the firing of can- 96 COREA. non, the immense fleet hoisted sail and, under a fresh breeze, bore away to the west. Their swelling sails, made of long sections of canvass laced together, vertically, at their edges, from stem to boom (thus dif- fering from the Chinese, which are laced horizontally), were in- scribed with immense crests and the heraldic devices of feudal- ism, many feet in diameter. Near the top were cross-wise bands or stripes of black. The junks of Satsuma could be distinguished by the white cross in a circle ; those of Higo by the broad-banded ring. On one were two crossed arrow-feathers, on others the chess-board, the *' cash " coin and palm-leaves, the butterfly, the cloisonne symbol, the sun, the fan, etc. Innumerable banners,' gay with armorial designs or inscribed with Buddhist texts, hung on their staves or fluttered gaily as flags and streamers from the mastheads. Stuck into the back of many of the distinguished veterans, or officers, were the sashi-mono, or bannerets. Kato Kiyomasa, being a strict Buddhist, had for the distinctive blazon of his back-pennant, and on the banners of his division, the prayer and legend of his sect, the Nichirenites, " Namu miyo ho renge kio" (Glory to the Holy Lotus, or Glory to the salvation-bringing book of the Holy Law of Buddha). On the forward deck were ranged heavy shields of timber for the protection of the archers. These, at close quarters, were to be let down and used as boarding- planks, whsn the sword, pike, and grappling-hook came into play. Huge tassels, dangling from the prows like the manes of horses, tossed up and down as the ships rode over the waves. Each junk had a huge eye painted at the prow, to look out and find the path in the sea. With the squadron followed hundreds of junks, laden with salt meat, rice-wine, dried fish, and rice and beans, which formed the staple of the invaders commissariat for man and horse. Trans- port junks, with cargoes of flints, arrows, ball, powder, wax can- dles, ship and camp stores, "not forgetting a single thing," sailed soon after, as well as the craft containing horses for the cavalry. Taiko did not go to Corea himself, being dissuaded by his aged mother. The court also wished no weaker hand than his to hold the reins of government while the army was on foreign shores. The men to whom he entrusted the leadership of the ex- pedition, were Konishi Yukinaga and Kato Kiyomasa. To the former, he presented a fine war horse, telling him to " gallop over the bearded savages " with it, while to the latter he gave a battle- flag. Konishi was an impetuous young man, only twenty-three years THE INVASION— ON TO SEOUL. 97 of age. He was a favorite of Taiko, and sprung like the latter from the common people, being the son of a medicine dealer. His crest or banner was a huge, stuffed, white paper bag, such as drug- gists in Japan use as a shop sign. In this he followed the example of his august chief, who, despising the brocade banners of the im- perial generals, stuck a gourd on a pole for his colors. For every victory he added another gourd, until his immense cluster con- tained as many proofs of victory as there are bamboo sticks in an umbrella. The " gourd-banner " became the emblem of infallible victory. Konishi also imitated his master in his tactics — impetu- ous attack and close following up of victory. Konishi was a Christian, an ardent convert to the faith of the Jesuit fathers, by whom he had been baptized in 1584. In their writings, they call him " Don Austin " — a contraction of Augustine. Other Christian lords or daimios, who personally led their troops in the field with Konishi, were Arima, Omura, Amakusa, Bungo, and Tsushima. The personal name of the latter, a former envoy to Corea, of whom we have read before, was Yoshitoshi. He was the son-in-law of Konishi. Kuroda, as Mr. Ernest Satow has shown, is the " Kondera " of the Jesuit writers. Kato Kiyomasa was a noble, whose castle seat was at Kumamoto in Higo. From his youth he had been trained to war, and had a reputation for fierce bravery. It is said that Kato suggested to Taiko the plan of invading Corea. His crest was a broad-banded circle, and his favorite weapon was a long lance with but one cross-blade instead of two. Kato is the " Toronosqui " of the Jesuit fathers, who never weary of loading his memory with obloquy. This " vir ter execrandus " was a fierce Buddhist and a bitter foe to Christianity. A large number of fresh autographic writings had been made by the bonzes in the monasteries ex- pressly for Kato's division. The silk pennon, said to have been inscribed by Nichiren himself and worn by Kato during the in- vasion, is now in Tokio, owned by Katsu Awa, and is six centuries old. With such elements at work between the two commanders, bitterness of religious rivalry, personal emulation, the desire to earn glory each for himself alone, the contempt of an old veteran for a young aspirant, harmony and unity of plan were not to be looked for. Nevertheless, the personal qualities of each general were such as to inspire his own troops with the highest enthu- siasm, and the army sailed away fuUy confident of victory. 7 98 COREA. What were the objects of Taiko in making this war? Evi- dently his original thought was to invade and humble China. Then followed the determination to conquer Cho-sen. Ambition may have led him to rival Ojin Tenno, who, in his mother's womb, made the conquest of Shinra, and, as the deified Hachiman, became the Japanese god of war. Lastly, the Jesuit fathers saw in this expedition a plot to kill off the Christian leaders in a foreign land, and thus extirpate Christianity in Japan. To ship the Christians off to a foreign soil to die of wounds or disease, was easier than to massacre them. They make Taiko a David, and his best generals Uriahs — though Coligny, slain twenty years before, might have served for a more modern illustration. Certain it is that it was during the absence of the Christian leaders that the severest persecutions at home took place. It is probable, also, that his jealousy of the success and consequent popularity of the Christian generals created irresolution in Taiko's mind, leading him to neglect the proper support of the expedition and thus to bring about a gigantic failure. Finally, we must mention the theory of a Japanese friend, Mr. Egi Takato, who held that Taiko, having whole armies of unem- ployed warriors, all jealous of each other, was compelled, in order to ensure peace in Japan, to find employment for their swords. His idea was to send them on this distant " frontier service," and give them such a taste of home-sickness that peaceful life in Japan. Avould be a desideratum ever afterward. The Coreans, by their own acknowledgment^ were poorly pre- pared for a war with the finest soldiers in Asia, as the Japanese of the sixteenth century certainly were. Nor had they any leader of ability to direct their efforts. Their king, Sien-jo, the fifteenth of the house of Ni, who had already reigned twenty-six years, was a man of no personal importance, addicted entirely to his own pleasures, a drunkard, and a debauchee. Though the royal pro- clamation was speedily issued, calling on the people to fortify their cities, to rebuild the dilapidated castles, and to dig out the moats, long since choked by mud and vegetation, the people re- sponded so slowly, that few of the fortresses were found in order when their enemies laid siege to them. Weapons were plentiful, but there were no firearms, save those presented as curiosities by the Taiko to the king. There was little or no military organiza- tion, except on paper, while the naval defences were in a sad plight. However, they began to enroll and drill, to lay up stores THE INVASION— ON TO SEOUL. 99 Map of the Japanese Military Operations of 1592. 100 COREA. of fish and grain for the army, to build ships, to repair their walls, and even to manufacture rude firearms. Yet even the most despondent of the Coreans never dreamed that the Japanese, on their first arrival, would sweep everything before them like a whirlwind, and enter the capital within eighteen days after their landing at Fusan. One of the first castles garri- soned and provisioned was that of Tong-nai, near Fusan. On the morning of May 25, 1592, the sentinels on the coast descried the Japanese fleet of eight hundred ships, containing the division of Konishi. Before night the invaders had disembarked, captured Fusan, and laid siege to Tong-nai Castle, which at once surren- dered. So sudden was the attack that the governor of the district, then in the city, was unable to escape. Konishi, writing a letter to the king, gave it into the hands of the governor, and made him swear to deliver it safely, promising him unconditional liberty if he did so. The governor agreed, and at once set out for Seoul ; but on reaching it he simply said he had escaped, and made no mention of the letter. His perjury was not to remain undetected, as later events proved. Without an hour's delay Konishi's di- vision, leaving Tong-nai, marched up the Nak-tong valley to Sh^-ng-chiu. Kato's division, delayed by a storm, arrived next day. Land- ing immediately, he saw with chagrin the pennons of his rival fly- ing from the ramparts of Tong-nai. Angry at being left behind by " the boy," he took the more northerly of the two routes to the capital. The two rival armies were now straining every nerve on a race to Seoul, each eager to destroy all enemies on the march, and reach the royal palace first. Kuroda and other generals led expeditions into the southern provinces of ChuUa and Chung- chong. These provinces being subdued, and the castles garri- soned, they were to make their way to the capital. The Coreans proved themselves especially good bowmen, but inexpert at other weapons, their swords being of iron only, short, clumsy, and easily bent. Their spears, or rather pikes, were shorter than the Japanese, with heavy blades, from the base of which hung tassels. The iron heads were hollow at the base, forming a socket, in which the staff fitted. The Japanese spear- heads, on the contrary, were riveted down and into the wood, which was iron-banded for further security, making a weapon less likely to get out of order, while the blades were steel-edged. The Corean cavahy had heavy, three-pronged spears, which were ex- THE INVASION— ON TO SEOUL. 101 tremely formidable to look at, but being so heavy as to be un- wieldly at close quarters, they did little execution. Many of their suits of armor were handsomely inlaid, made of iron and leather. Corean Knight of the Sixteenth Century. but less flexible and more vulnerable than those of the Japanese, which were of interlaced silk and steel on a background of tough buckskin, with sleeves of chain mail. The foot soldiers on either side were incased in a combination of iron chain and plate armor, 102 COREA. but the Coreans had no glaves, or cross-blades on their pikes, and thus were nearly helpless against their enemy's cavalry. The Japanese were smooth-shaven, and wore stout helmets, with ear- guards and visors, but the Coreans, with open helmets, without visors, and whiskered faces, were dubbed "hairy barbarians." They were beginning to learn the use of powder, which, however, was so badly mixed as to be exasperatingly slow in burning. Their very few firearms were of the rudest and most cumbrous sort. They used on their ramparts a kind of wooden cannon, made of bamboo-hooped timber, from which they shot heavy wooden darts, three feet long, pointed with sharp-bladed, Y-shaped iron heads. The range of these clumsy missiles was very short. The Japanese, on the contrary, had at several sieges pieces of light brass ordnance, with which they quickly cleared the walls of the castles, and then scaled them with long and light ladders, made of bamboo, and easily borne by men on a run. The Japanese were not only better equipped, but their tactics were superior. Their firearms frightened the Corean horses, and the long spears and halberds of their cavalry were used with fearful effect while pursuing the fugitives, who were pierced or pulled off their steeds, or sabred in droves. Few bodies of native troops faced the inva- ders in the field, while fire-arrows, gunpowder, and ladders quickly reduced the castles. Not a few of the Corean officers were killed inside their fortresses by the long range fire of the sharp-shooters in the matchlock corps. The greater share of glory fell to Konishi, the younger man. Taking the southern route, he reached the castle of Shang-chiu, in the northwestern part of Kiung-sang, and captured it. Leaving a garrison, he pushed on to Chiun-chiu. This fortress of Chiun- chiu is situated in the northeastern part of Chung-chong province, and on the most northerly of the two roads, over which Kato was then marching. It was at that time considered to be the strongest castle in the peninsula. On it rested the fate of the capital. It lay near one of the branches of the Han Eiver, which flows past Seoul. At this point the two high roads to the capital, on which the two rivals were moving, converged so as to nearly touch. Chiun- chiu castle lay properly on Kato's route, but Konishi, being in the advance, invested it with his forces and, after a few days' siege, captured the great stronghold. The loss of the Coreans thus far in the three fortresses seized by Konishi, as reported by Friar Frois, was 5,000 men, 3,000 of whom fell at Chiun-chiu; while the THE INVASION— ON TO SEOUL. 103 Japanese had lost but 100 killed and 400 wounded. After such a victory, " Konishi determined to conquer all Corea by himself." Kato and his army, arriving a few days after the victory, again saw themselves outstripped. Konishi's pennons floated from ever}^ tower, and the booty was already disposed of. The goal of both armies was now "the Miaco of the kingly city of Coray." Straining every nerve, Kato pressed forward so rapidly that the two divisions of the Japanese army entered Seoul by different gates on the same day. No resistance was offered, as the king, court, and army had evacuated the city three days before. The brilliant pageant of the Japanese army, in magnificent array of gay silk and glittering armor, was lost on the empty streets of deserted Seoul. When Taiko heard of the success of his lieutenants in Corea, especially of Konishi's exploits, he was filled with joy, and cried out, " Now my own son seems risen from the dead." CHAPTEE XIY. THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NOETH. The court at Seoul had been too much paralyzed by the sudden invasion to think of or carry out any effective means of resistance. Konishi had sent letters from Fusan and Shang-chiu, but these, through official faithlessness and the accidents of war, had failed in their purpose. Konishi was too fast for them. When the news reached Seoul, of the fall of Chiun-chiu castle, the whole populace, from palace to hut, was seized with a panic which, in a few hours, emptied the city. The soldiers deserted their post, and the cour- tiers their king, while the people fled to the mountains. His Ma- jesty resolved to go with his court into Liao Tung, but to send the royal princes into the northern provinces, that the people might realize the true state of affairs. So hurried were the prep- arations for flight, which began June 9th, that no food was pro- vided for the journey. The only horses to be obtained were farm and pack animals, as the royal stables had been emptied by the runaway soldiers. The rain fell heavily, in perpendicular streams, soon turning the roads to mire, and drenching the women and children. The Corean dress, in wet weather, is cold and uncom- fortable, and when soaked through, becomes extremely heavy, making a foot journey a severe tax on the strength. To add to the distress of the king, as the cortege passed, the people along the road clamored, with bitter tears, that they were being aban- doned to the enemy. Tortured with hunger and fatigue, the wretched party floundered on. Their first day's journey was to Sunto, or Kai Seng, thirty miles distant. Darkness fell upon them long before they reached the Rin-yin River, a tributary of the Han, which joins it a few miles above Kang-wa Island. The city lay beyond it, and the crossing of the stream was done in the light of the conflagration kindled behind them. The king had ordered the torch to be applied to the barracks and fortifications which guarded the southern bank THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH. 105 of the river. Another motive for this incendiary act was to de- prive their pursuers of ready materials to ferry themselves across the river. It was not until near midnight that the miserable fugi- tives, tortured with hunger and almost dead with fatigue, entered the city. Though feeling safe for the moment, since the Japanese pursuers could not cross the river without boats or rafts, most of the king's household were doomed still to suffer the pangs of hun- ger. The soldiers had stolen the food provided for the party, and the king had a scant supper, while his household remained hungry until the next day, when some of the military gave them a little rice. The march was resumed on the following morning and kept up until Ping-an was reached. Here they halted to await the progress of events. The king ordered his scattered forces to rally at the Rin-yin River, and, on its northern bank, to make a determined stand. Kato and Konishi, remaining but a short time in the capital, united their divisions and pressed forward to the north. Reach- ing the Rin-yin River, they found the Corean junks drawn up on the opposite side in battle array. The Japanese, being without boats, could not cross, and waited vainly during several days for something to turn up. Finally they began a feigned retreat. This induced a portion of the Corean army to cross the river, when the Japanese turned upon them and cut them down with terrible slaughter. With the few rafts and boats used by the enemy, the Japanese matchlock men rapidly crossed the stream, shot down the sailors and the remaining soldiers in the junks, and thus secured the fleet by which the whole army crossed and began the march on Ping-an. The rival Japanese commanders, Kato and Konishi, who had hitherto refrained from open quarrel, now found it impossible to remain longer together, and drew lots to decide their future fields of action in the two northern provinces. Ham-kiung fell to Kato, who immediately marched eastward with his division, taking the high road leading to Gensan. Konishi, to whom the province of Ping-an fell, pushed on to Ping-an City, arriving on the south bank of the river toward the end of July, or about three weeks after leaving Seoul. Here he went into camp, to await the reinforcements under Kuroda and Yoshitoshi. These soon afterward arrived, having traversed the four provinces bordering on the Yellow Sea. The great need of the Japanese w^as floating material ; next to this, their object was to discover the fords of the river. On 106 CORBA. July 20th they made a demonstration against the fleet of junks along the front of the city, by sending out a few detachments of matchlock men on rafts. Though unsuccessful, the Corean king was so frightened that he fled with his suite to Ai-chiu. The garrison still remained alert and defiant. Delay made the Japanese less vigilant. The Corean command- ers, noticing this, planned to surprise their enemy by a night attack. Owing to bad management and delay, the various detach- ments did not assemble on the opposite side of the river until near daylight. Then forming, they charged furiously upon Ko- nishi's camp, and, taking his men by surprise, carried off hundreds of prisoners and horses, the cavalry suffering worse than the infan- try. Kuroda's division came gallantly to their support, and drove the Coreans back to the river. By this time it was broad day- Hght, and the cowardly boat-keepers, frightened at the rout of their countrymen, had pushed off into mid-stream. Hundreds of the Coreans were drowned, and the main body, left in the lurch, were obliged to cross by the fords. This move gave the Japanese the possession of the coveted secret. Flushed with victory, the entire army crossed over later on the same day and entered the city. Dispirited by their defeat, the garrison fled, after flinging their weapons into the castle moats and ditches of the city ; but all the magazines of grain, dried fish, etc., were now in the hands of the invaders. Frois reports, from hearsay, that 80,000 Coreans made the attack on Konishi's camp, 8,000 of whom were slain. The news of the fall of Ping-an City utterly demoralized the Coreans, so that, horses being still numerous, the courtiers de- serted the king, and the villagers everywhere looted the stores of food provided for the army. Many of the fugitives did not cease their flight until they had crossed the Yalu River, and found them- selves on Chinese territory. These bore to the Governor of Liao Tung province, who had been an anxious observer of events, the news of the fall of Ping-an, and the irresistible character of the invasion. The main body of the Corean army went into camp at Sun-an, between An-ton and Sun-chon. In Japan, there was great rejoicing at the news received from the frontier, because, as Frois wrote, Konishi, " in twenty days, hath subdued so mighty a kingdom to the crown of Japan." Taiko sent the brilliant young commander a two-edged sword and a horse — " pledges of the most peerless honor that can possibly be done to a man." The Japanese soldiers felt so elated over their victory that they THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH. 107 expected immediate orders to march into China. With this pur- pose in view, Konishi sent word to the fleet at Fusan to sail round the western coast, into Ta-tong Kiver, in order to co-operate with the victorious forces at Ping-an. Had this junction taken place, it is probable China would have been invaded by Japanese ar- mies, and a general war between these rival nations might have Map illustrating the Campaign in the North, 1592-93. tui-ned the current of Asiatic history. This, however, was not to be. Corean valor, with the aid of gunpowder and improved naval construction, prevented this, and kept three hundred miles of dis- tance, in a mountainous country, between the Japanese and their base of suppHes. Oriental rhetoric might describe the situation in this wise : the eastern dragon of invasion flew across the sea in vdnged ships, and 108 COREA. speedily won the crystal of victory. But on land the dragon must go upon its belly. The Corean navy snatched the jewel from the very claws of the dragon, and left it writhing and hungry. In cool western phrase, sinister, but significant, Konishi was soon afterward obliged to " make a change of base." The bril- Hant success of the army seems to have impressed the Japanese naval men with the idea that there was nothing for them to do. On the contrary, the Cho-sen people set to work to improve the archi- tecture of their vessels by having them double-decked. They also provided for the safety of their fighting men, by making heavy bulwarks, and rearing, along the upper deck, a line of strong planks, set edgewise, and bolted together. Behind these, archers discharged their missiles without danger, while from port-holes below they fired their rude, but effective, cannon. Appearing ofi the inlet, in which the Japanese fleet lay at anchor, they at first feigned retreat, and thus enticed their enemies into pursuit. When well out on the open sea, they turned upon their pursuers, and then their superior preparation and equipment were evident at once. Lively fighting began, but this time the Coreans seemed invul- nerable. They not only gained the advantage by the greater length of their lances and grappling-hooks, with which, using them like long forks, they pulled their enemies into the sea, but they sunk a number of the Japanese junks, either by their artil- lery or by ramming them with their prows. The remnant of the beaten fleet crept back to Fusan, and all hope of helping the army was given up. The moral effect of the victory upon the Corean people was to inspire them to sacrifice and resistance, and in many skirmishes they gained the advantage. They now awaited hopefully the approach of Chinese reinforcements. To the Chinese it seemed incredible that the capture of the strongest castles, the capital, and the chief northern city, could be accomplished without the treasonable connivance of the Coreans. In order to satisfy his own mind, the Chinese mandarin sent a spe- cial agent into Corea to examine and report. The government at Peking were even more suspicious, but after some hesitation, they despatched, not without misgiving, a small body of Chinese sol- diers to act as a body-guard to the Corean king. These braves crossed the frontier ; but while on their way to Ping-an, heard of the fall of the city, and, facing about, marched back into Liao Tung. The king and the fragments of his court now sent courier THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH. 109 after courier with piteous appeals to Peking for aid, even offering to become the subjects of China in return for succor rendered. A force of 5,000 men was hastily recruited in Liao Tung, who marched rapidly into Corea. Early in August the Japanese pick- ets first descried the yellow silk banners of the Chinese host. These were inscribed with the two characters Tai-Ming (Great Brightness), the distinctive blazon of the Ming dynasty. For the first time, in eight centuries, the armies of the rival nations were to meet in pitched battle. The Chinese seemed confident of success, and moved to the attack on Ping-an with neither wariness nor fear. Having in- vested the city, they began the assault on August 27th. The Japanese allowed them to enter the city and become entan- gled in its narrow lanes. They then attacked them from ad- vantageous positions, which they had occupied previously, assail- ing them with showers of arrows, and charging them with their long lances. One body of the Ming soldiers attempted to scale the wall of a part of the fortifications, which seemed to have been neglected by the Japanese, when near the top, the whole face of the castle being covered with climbing men, the garrison, rushing from their hiding-places, tumbled over or speared their enemies, who fell down and into the mass of their comrades below. Those not killed by thrusts or the fall, were shot by the gunners on the ramparts, and the Chinese now received into their bosoms a shower of lead, against which their armor of hide and iron was of slight avail. In tliis fight the Ming commander was slain. The rout of the Chinese army was so complete, that the fugitives never ceased their retreat until safely over the border, and into China. The government at Peking now began to understand the power of the enemy with whom they had to deal. An army of 40,000 men was raised to meet the invaders, and, in order to gain time, a man, named Chin Ikei, was sent, independently of the Coreans, to treat with Konishi and propose peace. Some years before the Japanese pirates had carried off a Chinaman to Japan, where he was kept captive for many years. Eeturning to China, he made the acquaintance of Chin Ikei, and gave him much information concerning the country and people of his captivity. Chin Ikei was evidently a mercenary adventurer, who could talk Japanese, and hoped for honors and promotion by acting as a go-between. He had no commission or any real authority. The Chinese seem to have used him only as a cat's-paw. 110 COREA. Arriving at the Corean camp, at Sun-an, eariy in October, and fully trusting the honor of the Japanese commander, Chin Ikei ventured, in spite of the warnings of the frightened Coreans, and to their intense admiration, within the Japanese lines, and had a conference with Konishi, Yoshitoshi, and Gensho. The Chinese agent agreed to proceed to Peking, and, returning to Ping-an aiter fifty days, to report the approval or disapproval of his government. To this Konishi agreed, and there was a truce. The conditions of peace, insisted on by Konishi, were that the Japanese ancient ter- ritory in the peninsula, namely, those portions covered by the old states of Shinra and Hiaksai, should be delivered over to Japan, to be held as vassal provinces. This demand virtually claimed all Corea south of the Ta-tong River, in right of ancient possession and recent conquest and occupation. Arriving in Peking, Chin Ikei found the Chinese army nearly ready to march, and, as their government disowned his right to treat with the Japanese, nothing, except the time gained for the Chinese, resulted from the negotiations. Meanwhile Kato Kiyo- masa, with his troops, had overran the Avhole extent of Ham- kiung, the longest and largest province of Corea, occupying also parts of Kang-wen. No great pitched battle in force was fought, but much hard fighting took place, and many castles were taken after bloody sieges. In one of these, the two royal princes, sent north by their father on his flight from Seoul, and many men of rank were captured. Among his prisoners, was " a young girl re- puted to be the most beautiful in the whole kingdom." In the pursuit of the fugitives the Japanese were often led into wild and lonely regions and into the depths of trackless mountains and for- ests, in which they met, not only human foes, but faced the tiger disturbed from his lair. They were often obhged to camp in places where these courageous beasts attacked the sentries or the sleeping soldiers. Kato himself slew a tiger with his lance, after a desperate struggle. After a hard campaign, the main body of the troops fixed their camp at Am-pen, near Gensan, but closer to the southern border of the province. Nabeshima's camp was in Kang-wen, three days' journey distant. From a point on the sea- coast near by, in fair weather, the island cone of Dagelet is visible. To the question of Kato, some Corean prisoners falsely answered that this was Fujiyama — the worshipped mountain of the home-land, and " the thing of beauty and a joy forever " to the Japanese peo- ple. Immediately the Japanese reverently uncovered their heads THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH. Ill and, kneeling on the strand, gazed long and lovingly with home- sick hearts — a scene often portrayed in Japanese decorative art. Thus the year 1592 drew near its close ; the Japanese, neces- sarily inactive, and the spirit of patriotism among the Coreans rising. Collecting local volimteer troops and forming guerilla bands, they kept the Japanese camps, along the road from Fusan to Ping-an, constantly vigilant. They ferreted out the spies who had kept the Japanese informed of what was going on, and promptly cut off their heads. Isolated from all communication, Konishi remained in ignorance of the immense Chinese army that was marching against him. The discovery, by the Japanese, of the existence of the regular Chinese troops in Corea, was wholly a matter of accident. According to Chinese report, the commander of the Ming army, Li-yu-son (Japanese, Ri Jo Sho), was a valiant hero fresh from mighty victories over the rising Manchiu tribes in the north. The march of his host of 60,000 men through Liao Tung in winter, especially over the mountain passes, was a severe one, and the horses are said to have sweated blood. Evi- dently the expectation of the leader was to drive out the inva- ders and annex the country to China. "When the Corean moun- tains appeared, as they reached the Yalu Eiver, the leader cried out, " There is the place which it depends on our valor to recover as our hereditary possessions." On the sixth day, after crossing the frontier, he arrived at Sun-an. It was then near the last of Janu- ary, 1592, and the New Year was close at hand. Word was sent to Konishi that Chin Ikei had arrived and was ready to reopen negotiations, with a favorable reply. Konishi promptly despatched a captain, with a guard of twenty men, to meet Chin Ikei and escort him within the lines. It being New Year's Day, February 2, 1593, the guard sallied out amid the rejoicings of their comrades who, tired of desolate Cho-sen, longed for peace and home. The treach- erous Chinamen received the Japanese with apparent cordiality, and feasted them until they were well drunk. Then the unsuspi- cious Japanese were set upon while their swords were undrawn in their scabbards. All were killed except two or three. Accord- ing to another account, they fell into an ambuscade, and fought so bravely that only three were taken alive. From the survivors Konishi first learned of the presence of the Ming army. The pre- text, afterward given by the lying Chinaman, was that the inter- preters misunderstood each other, and began a quarrel. The gravity of the situation was now apparent. A Chinese army, of 113 COREA. , whose numbers the Japanese were ignorant, menaced them in front, while all around them the natives were gathering in num- bers and in courage to renew the struggle for their homes and country. The new army from China was evidently well equipped, disciplined, and supplied, while the Japanese forces were far in an enemy's country, distant from their base of supplies, and with a desolate territory in the rear. Under this gloomy aspect of affairs, the faces of the soldiers wore a dispirited air. Konishi's alternative lay between the risk of a battle and re- treat to Kai-seng. He was not long in resolving on the former course, for, in six days afterward, the Ming host, gay with gleam- ing arms, bright trappings, and dragon-bordered silk banners, appeared within sight of the city's towers. Konishi anxiously watched their approach, having posted his little force to the best advantage. The city was defended on the west by a steep moun- tainous ridge, on the north by a hill, and on the south by a river. The Japanese occupying the rising ground to the north, which they had fortified by earthworks and palisades. At break of day, on February 10th, the allies began a furious assault along the whole line. The Japanese at first drove back their besiegers vdth their musketry fire, but the Chinese, with their scaling ladders, reached the inside of the works, where their num- bers told. When night fell on the second day of the siege, all the outworks were in their possession, and nearly two thousand of the Japanese lay dead. The citadel seemed now an easy prize to the Corean generals ; but the Chinese commander, seeing that the Japanese were preparing to defend it to the last, and that his own men were exhausted, gave the order to return to - camp, expecting to renew the attack next morning. Konishi had despatched a courier to Otomo, the Japanese offi- cer in command at Hozan, a small fortress in Whang-hai, to come to his aid. So far from obeying, the latter, frightened at the exaggerated reports of the numbers of the Chinese, evacuated his post and marched back to Seoul. Unable to obtain succor from the other garrisons, and having lost many men by battle and dis- ease, while many more were disabled by wounds and sickness, Konishi gave orders to retreat. One of his bravest captains was put in command of the rear-guard, and the castle was silently de- serted at midnight. In this masterly retreat, little was left behind but corpses. Crossing, upon the ice, the river, which was then frozen many feet in thickness, their foes were soon left behind. THE CAMPAIGN IN THE NORTH. 113 Next day the allied army, surprised at seeing no enemy to meet them, entered the castle, finding neither man nor spoil of any kind. The Coreans wished to pursue their enemy, but the Chinese com- mander, not only forbade it, but glad of a pretext by which he could shift the blame on some other person, cashiered the Corean general for allowing the Japanese to escape so easily. Konishi, without stopping at Kai-seng, was thus enabled to reach Seoul, now the headquarters of all the invading forces. Fully expecting the early advance of the Chinese, the men were now set to work in fortifying the city. In the flush of success, Li-yu-sung, the Ming commander, sent an envoy with a haughty summons of surrender to Kato and Na- beshima. To this Kato answered in a tone of defiance, guarded -his noble prisoners more vigilantly, and with his own hand, in sight of the envoy, put the beautiful Corean girl to death, by transfixing her, with a spear, from waist to shoulder, while bound to a tree. He immediately sent reinforcements to the castle of Kie-chiu, then threatened by the enemy. The Corean patriots, who organized small detachments of troops, began to attack or repel the invaders in several places, and even to lay siege to castles occupied by Japanese wherever they suspected the garrison was weak. The possession of a few firearms and even rude artillery made them very daring. They compelled the evacuation of one fortress held by Kato's men by the following means. A Corean, named Eichosun, says a Japanese author, in- vented bombs, or shin-ten-rai (literally, heaven-shaking thunder), containing poison. Going secretly to the foot of the castle, he dis- charged the bombs out of a cannon into the castle. As soon as they fell or touched anything they burst and emitted poisonous gas, and every one within reach fell dead. The first of these balls fell into the garden of the castle, and the Japanese soldiers did not know what it was. They gathered around to examine it, and while doing so, the powder in the ball exploded. The report shook heaven and earth. The ball was rent into a thousand pieces, which scattered like stars. Every man that was hit instantly fell, and thus more than thirty men were killed. Even those who were not struck fell down stunned, and the soldiers lost their courage. Many balls were after- ward thrown in, which finally compelled the evacuation of the castle. From the above account it seems that the Coreans actually in- vented bombs similar to the modern iron shells. They may have been fired from a heavy wooden cannon, a sort of howitzer, made 8 114 COREA. by boring out a section of tree trunk and hooping it along its whole length with stout bamboo. Such cannon are often used in Japan. They will shoot a ten or twenty pound rocket or case of fireworks many hundred feet in the air. The Corean most proba- bly selected a spot so distant from the castle that a sortie for its capture could not be successfully made. Corean gunpowder is proverbially slow in burning, which accounts for the fact that the Japanese had time to gather round it. The bomb was most proba- bly a thin shell of iron, loaded only with gunpowder, which, like the Chinese mixture, contains an excess of sulphur. The military cus- toms of the Japanese required every man disabled by a wound to commit hara-kiri, so that the number of actual deaths must have been swelled by the suicides that followed wounds inflicted by the iron fragments. The Japanese were so completely demoralized that they evacuated the castle. Two other castles at Kinzan and Kishiu, being beleagured by the patriots, Kato started to succor the slender garrisons. The Coreans, hearing this, redoubled their efforts to capture them before Kato should arrive. They had so far succeeded that the Japanese officer in the citadel, having lost nearly all his men, went into the keep, or fireproof storehouse, in the centre of the castle, and opened his. bowels, preferring to die by his own hands rather than allow a Corean the satisfaction of killing him. Just at that moment the black rings of Kato's banners appeared in sight. The Coreans, setting the castle on fire, and giving loud yells of defiance and victory, disappeared. Kato and Nabeshimahad received an urgent message from Seoul to come with their troops, and thus unite all the Japanese forces in a stand against the Chinese. Kato disliked exceedingly to obey this order because he knew it came from Konishi, but he finally set out to march across the country. Thorough discipline was maintained on the march, and the rivers were safely crossed. Cutting down trees, the soldiers, in companies of five or ten, hold- ing on abreast of logs, forded or floated over the most impetuous torrents, while the cavalry kept the Coreans at bay. Though an- noyed by attacks of guerilla parties on their flanks, the Japanese succeeded in reaching Seoul without serious loss. By the retreat of the Japanese armies, and their concentration in Seoul, the four northern provinces, comprising half the king- dom, were virtually lost to them. At the fall of Ping-an the war found its pivot, for the Japanese never again retrieved their for- tunes in Cho-sen. CHAPTER XV. THE RETREAT FROM SEOUL. The allies, after looking well to their commissariat, began their march on Seoul, about the middle of February, with forces which the Japanese believed to number two hundred thousand men. The light cavalry formed the advance guard. The main body, after floundering through the muddy roads, arrived, on February 26th, about forty miles northwest of Seoul. In the first skirmish, which took place near the town shortly afterward, the allies drove back the Japanese advance detachment with heavy loss. Li-yo-sun, the commander-in-chief, now ordered the army to move against the capital. In the council of war, held by the Japanese generals, Ishida, who, like Konishi, was a Christian in faith, advised the evacuation of Seoul. This, of course, provoked Kato, who rose and angrily said : "It is a shame for us to give up the capital, before we have seen even a single banner of the Ming army. The Coreans and our people at home will call us cowards, and say we were afraid of the Chinamen." Hot words then passed between the rival generals, but Otani and others made peace between them. All concluded that, in order to guard against treason, the Coreans in the capital must be removed. Thereupon, large portions of the city were set on fire, and houses, gates, bridges, public and private buildings, were soon a level waste of ashes. The people, old and young, of both sexes, sick and well, were driven out at the point of the lance. To the stern necessities of war were added the needless carnage of massacre, and hundreds of harmless natives were cruelly mui'- dered. Only a few lusty men, to be used as laborers and burden- bearers, were spared. Years after, the memory of this frightful and inhuman slaugh- ter, burdening the conscience of many a Japanese soldier, drove him a penitent suppliant into the monasteries. There, exiled from the world, with shaven head and priestly robe, he spent his days 116 COREA. in fasting, vigils, and j)rayers for pardon, seeking to obtain Nii*- vana witli the Eternal Buddlia. Meanwliile the work of fortification went on. The advance guard of the Chinese host were now within a few miles of the city, and daily skii'mishes took place. The younger Japanese officers clamored to lead the van against the Chinese, but Kobayekawa, an elderly general, was allowed to arrange the order of battle, and the Japanese anny marched out fi'om the capital to the attack in thi'ee divisions, Kobayekawa leading the thii'd, or main body of ten thousand men, the others having only three thousand each. In the battle that ensued the Japanese were at first unable to hold then- ground against the ovei-whelming forces of theii' enemies. The Chi- nese and Coreans di'ove back theii' fii'st and second divisions with heavy loss. Then, thinking victory cei-tain, they began a pm^suit with both foot soldiers and cavahy, which led them into disorder and exhausted theii' strength. "SMien well wearied, Kobayekawa, having waited till they were too far distant from theii* camp to receive reinforcements, led his division in a charge against the allies. The battle then became a hand-to-hand fight on a gigantic scale. The Chinese were armed mainly v>ith swords, which were short, hea^w, and double-edged. The aUies had a lai'ge number of cavahw en- gaged, but the gTound being miiy from the heavy rains, they were unable to form or to chai'ge with effect. Theii- advantage in other respects was more than counterbalanced by the length of the Japan- ese swords, the strength of theii' ai'mor, and their veteran valor and coolness. Even the foot soldiers wielded swords having blades usually two, but sometimes three and four, feet long. The Japanese have ever prided themselves upon the leng-th, slenderness, temper, and keen edge of theii' blades, and look with unmeasured contempt upon the shoi-t and clumsy weapons of the continental Asiatics. They proudly call their native land " The countiy ruled by a slender sword." Maiwellous in wonder and voluminousness are their legends, literature, and exact history concerning ken (two-edged, shoii falchion), and katana (two-handed and single-edged sabre). In this battle it was the sword alone that -decided the issue, though firearms lent their deadly aid. The long, cross-bladed spears of their foot soldiers were also highly effective, first, in warding off the sabre strokes of the Chinese cav^ ahy, and then unhorsing them, either by thi'ust or gTapple. One general of high rank was pulled off his steed and killed. The Japanese leaders were in their best spirits, as well as in THE RETREAT FROM SEOUL. 117 their finest equipments. One was especially noticeable by his gilded helmet that flashed and towered conspicuously. It was probably that of Kato, whose head-gear was usually of incredible height and dazzling splendor. After a long struggle and frightful slaughter, the aUies were beaten back in confusion. Ten thousand Chinese and Coreans, according to Japanese accounts, were slaughtered on this bloodiest day and severest pitched battle of the first invasion. The Chinese suffered heavily in ofiicers, and their first taste of war in the field with such veterans as the soldiers of Taiko was discouraging in the extreme. Li-yo-sun drew off his forces and soon after retired to Sunto. Not knowing that Kato had got into Seoul, and fearing an attack from the rear, on Ping-an, he drew off his main body to that city, leaving a garrison at Sunto. Tired, disgusted, and scared, the redoubtable Chinaman, hke " the beaten soldier that fears the top of the tall grass," sent a lying report to Peking, exaggerating the numbers of the Japanese, and asking for release from command, on the usual Oriental plea of poor health. As for the Japanese, they had lost so heavily in killed, that they were unable to follow up the victory, if victory it may be called. A small force, however, pressed forward and occupied Kai-jo, while the main body prepared to pass a miserable winter in the desolate capital. The Corean stronghold of An-am was also assaulted. This cas- tle was built on a precipitous steep, having but one gate and flank capable of access, and that being a narrow, almost perpendicular, cutting through the rocks. The attacking force entered the gloomy valley shut in from Hght by the luxuriant forest, which darkened the path even in the daytime. At the tops, and on the ledges of the rocks beetling over the entrance-way, the Corean archers took up advantageous positions, while others of the garri- son, with huge masses of rock and timber piled near the ledge, stood ready to hurl these upon the invaders. Awaiting in silence the approach of their enemies, they soon saw the Japanese fan-standards and paper-strip banners approach, when these were directly beneath them, every bow twanged, and a shower of arrows rained upon the invaders, while volleys of stones fell into their ranks, crushing heads and helmets together. The besiegers were compelled to draw off and arrange a new attack ; but in the night the garrison withdrew. Next day the Japanese en- tered, garrisoned the castle, and decorated it with their streamers. 118 COREA. The long-continued abandonment of the soil, owing to the war and the presence of three large armies, bore their natural fruits, and turned fertile Corea into a land of starvation. Famine began its ravages of death on friend and foe alike. The peasants peti- tioned their government for food, but none was to be had. Thou- sands of the poor people died of starvation. The fathers suffered in camp, while the dead mothers lay unburied in the houses, and the children, tortured with hunger, cried for food. One day a captain in the Chinese army found, by the roadside, an emaciated infant vainly seeking for nourishment from the cold and rigid breast of its dead mother. Touched with compassion, the warrior took the child and reared him to manhood under his own care. Some rice was distributed to the wretched people from the government store-houses in certain places, but still the groans and cries of the starving filled the air. Pestilence entered the JajDan- ese camp, and thousands of the home-sick soldiers died inglori- ously. The long winter rains made the living despondent and gloomy enough to commit hara-kiri, while the state of the roads and the dashing courage of the guerillas, w^ho pushed their raids to the very gates of the camps, made foraging an unpopular duty among the men. In such discomfort, winter wore away, and tardy spring approached. In this state of affairs the Japanese were willing to listen, and the allies ready to offer, terms of peace. A Corean soldier, named Rijunchin, by permission of his superior officer, had penetrated into Seoul to visit the two captive princes. On his return to the camp, he stated that the Japanese generals were very homesick and heartily tired of the war. At the same time, a letter was received from Konishi, stating his readiness to receive terms of peace. Chin Ikei was again chosen to negotiate. Reaching the Japanese lines at Kai-jo, he held an interview with Konishi, and the following points of agreement were made : 1. Peace between the three countries. 2. Japan to remain in possession of the three southern prov- inces of Cho-sen. 3. Corea to send tribute to Japan as heretofore. 4. Hideyoshi to be recognized as King of Corea. The three other articles drawn up were not made public, but the acknowl- edgment of Taiko as the equal of the Emperor of China was evi- dently one of them. The Japanese, on their part, were to return the two captive princes, withdraw all their armies to Fusan, and evacuate the country when the stipulations were carried out. THE RETREAT FROM SEOUL. 119 Both parties were weary of the war. The Ming commander had requested to be relieved of his command and to return to China, while the three old gentlemen, who were military advisers in the Japanese camp, yearning for the pleasures of Kioto, wrote to Taiko, asking leave to come home, telling him the object of his ambition was on the eve of attainment, and that he was to receive investiture from the Chinese emperor, aiid recognition as an equal. Scholarship and literature were not at a very high premium at that time among the Japanese military men. The martial virtues and accomplishments occupied the time and thoughts of the war- riors to the exclusion of book learning and skill at words. The sword for the soldier, and the pen for the priest, was the rule. The bluff warrior in armor looked with contempt, not unmingied with awe, upon the shaven-pated man of ink and brush. One of the bonzes from the monastery was usually of necessity attached to the service of each commander. It was by reason of the ignorance, as well as the vanity, of the illiterate Japanese generals that such a mistake, in supposing that Taikd was to be recognized as equal to the Emperor of China, was rendered possible. The wily Chin Ikei, who drove a lucrative trade as negotiator, hoodwinked Konishi, who would not have been thus outwitted if he had had a bonze present to inspect the writing. Being a Christian, however, he was on bad terms with the bonzes. In both camps there were those who bitterly opposed any peace short of that which the sword decided. The Corean gen- erals chafed at the time wasted in parley, and wished to march on the Japanese at once, whose ranks they knew were decimated with sickness, and their spirit and discipline relaxed under the idea of speedy return home. An epidemic had also broken out among their horses, probably owing to scant provender. Thus crippled and demoralized, victory would certainly follow a well- planned attack in force. Within the camp of the invaders Achil- les and Agamemnon were as far as ever from harmony. Kato sullenly refused to entertain the idea of peace, partly because Konishi proposed it, but mainly because, if the two princes were given up, his achievements would be brought to naught, and all the glory of the war would redound to his rival. Only af- ter the earnest representation by his friends of the empty gran- aries, and the danger of impending starvation, the great sickness among the troops, and the fearful loss of horses, was he in- 120 CORBA. duced to agree with the other commanders that Seoul should be evacuated. Meanwhile, the alUes were advancing toward the capital. On May 22, 1593, the Japanese, with due precautions, evacua- ted the city, and the vanguard of the Chinese army entered on the same day. The retreat of the Japanese was effected in good order, and, to guard against treachery, they bivouacked in the open air, avoiding sleeping in the houses or villages, and rigidly kept up the vigilance of their sentinels and the discipline of the divisions. In this way the various detachments of the army safely reached Fusan, Tong-nai, Kinka, and other places near the coast. Here, after fortifying their camps, they rested for a space from the alarms of war, almost within sight of their native land. The allies later on marched southward and went into camp a few leagues to the northward. Since crossing the Yalu River, the Chinese had lost by the sword and disease twenty thousand men. CHAPTEK XYI. CESPEDES, THE CHRISTIAN CHAPLAIN. The aspect of affairs had now changed from that of a trium- phal march through Corea into China and to Peking, to long and tedious camp life, with uncertain fortunes in the field, which prom- ised a long stay in the peninsula. Konishi had now breathing time and space for reflection. Being an ardent Christian — after the faith and practice of the Portuguese Jesuits — he wished for him- self and his fellow-believers the presence and ministrations of one of the European friars to act as chaplain. He therefore sent, prob- ably when at or near Fusan, a message to the superior of the Mission in Japan, asking for a priest. Toward the end of 1593, the Vice-Provengal of the Company of the Jesuits despatched Father Gregorio de Cespedes and a Japan- ese convert named "Foucan Eion " to the army in Cho-sen. They left Japan and spent the winter in Tsushima, the domain of Yoshi- toshi, one of the Christian lords then in the field. Early in the spring of 1594 they reached Corea, arriving at Camp Comangai (most probably a name given by the Japanese after the famous hero Ku- magaye), at which Konishi made his headquarters. The two holy men immediately began their labors among the Japanese armies. They went from castle to castle, and from camp to camp, preach- ing to the pagan soldiers, and administering the rite of baptism to all who professed the faith, or signed themselves with the cross. They administered the sacraments to the Christian Japanese, com- forted and prayed with the sick, reformed abuses, assisted the wounded, and shrived the dying. New converts were made and old ones strengthened. Dying in a foreign land, of fever or of wounds, the soul of the Japanese man-at-arms was comforted with words of hope from the lips of the foreign priest. Held before his glazing eyes gleamed the crucifix, on which appeared the image of the world's Redeemer. The home-sick warrior, pining for wife and babe, was told of the " House not made with hands." 122 COREA. The two brethren seem to have been very popular among the Japanese soldiers. Perhaps they already dreamed of planting the faith in Corea, when, suddenly, their work was arrested at its height by Kato, whose jealousy of Konishi was only equalled by his fanati- cal zeal for the Buddhist faith. Being in Japan he denounced the foreign priest to Taiko, declaring that these zealous endeavors to propagate the Christian faith only concealed a vast conspiracy against himself and the power of the mikado. At this time Taiko was dealing with the Jesuits in Japan, and endeavoring to rid the country of their presence by shipping them off to China. He fully believed that they were political as well as religious emissa- ries, and that their aim was at temporal power. These suspicions, as every student of Japan knows, were more than well founded. Besides accusing Cespedes, Kato insinuated that Konishi him- self was leading the conspiracy. The cry of cho-teki (rebel, or enemy of the mikado) in Japan is enough to blacken the character of the bravest man and greatest favorite. Treason against the mi- kado being the supreme crime, Konishi found it necessary to return to Kioto, present himself before Taiko, and cleanse his repu- tation even from suspicion. This the lull in the active operations, occasioned by the negotiations of Chin Ikei, enabled him to do. Immediately sending back the priest, he shortly afterward crossed the straits, and, meeting Taiko, succeeded in fully ingrati- ating himself and allaying all suspicion. The wife of Konishi had also embraced the Christian faith, her baptized name being Marie. To her, while in camp, he had sent two Corean lads, both of whom were of rank and gentle blood, the elder being called in the letters of the Jesuits " secretary to the Corean king." He was the son of a brave captain in the army, and was thirteen years old. The lady, Marie, touched by their misfortune, kept the younger to be educated in the faith under her own direction, and sent the elder to the Jesuit seminary in Kioto. Of this young man's career we catch some glimpses from the letters of the missionaries. At the college he was a favorite, by reason of his good character, gentle manners, and fine mind. Professing the faith, he was baptized in 1603, taking the name of Vincent. He began his religious work by instructing and cate- chising Japanese and his numerous fellow Coreans at Nagasaki. When about thirty-three years old, the Jesuits, vdshing to estab- lish a mission in Corea, proposed to send him to his native land as missionary ; but not being able, on account of the persecution CESPEDES, THE CHRISTIAN CHAPLAIN. 123 then raging in Japan, lie was chosen by the Father ProvenQal to go to Peking, communicate with the Jesuits there, and enter Corea from China. At Peking he remained four years, being unable to enter his own country by reason of the Manchius, who then held control of the northern provinces of Manchuria and were advancing on Peking, to set on the throne that family which is still the ruling dynasty of the Middle Kingdom.* Vincent was recalled to Japan in 1620, where, in the persecutions under lyemitsu, the third To- kugawa sho-gun, he fell a victim to his fidelity, and was martyr- ized in 1625, at the age of about forty-four. Warned of the dangers of patronizing the now proscribed rehg- ion, there was no farther return of zeal on Konishi's part, or that of the other Christian princes, and no farther opportunity was given to plant the seeds of the faith in the desolated land. Of the large numbers of Corean prisoners sent over to Japan, from time to time, many of those living in the places occupied by the missionaries became Christians. Many more were sold as slaves to the Portuguese. In Nagasaki, of the three hundred or more living there, most of them were converted and baptized. They easily learned the Japanese language so as to need no inter- preter at the confessional — a fact which goes to prove the close affinity of the two languages. Others, of gentle blood and scholarly attainments, rose to posi- tions of honor and eminence under the government, or in the households of the daimios. Many Corean lads were adopted by the returned soldiers or kept as servants. Wlien the bloody per- secutions broke out, by which many thousand Japanese found death in the hundred forms of torture which hate and malice in- vented, the Corean converts remained steadfast to their new-found faith, and suffered martyrdom with fortitude equal to that of theu' Japanese brethren. But, by the army in Corea, or by Cespedes, no seed of Christianity was planted or trace of it left, and its in- troduction was postponed by Providence until two centuries later. CHAPTEE XYII. DIPLOMACY AT KIOTO AND PEiaNa The Chinese ambassadors, with whom was Chin Ikei, set sail from Fusan, and reached Nagoya, in Hizen, on June 2 2d. Taikd received them in person, and entertained them in magnificent style. His lords imitated the august example set them, and both presents and attentions were showered upon the guests. Among other entertainments in their honor was a naval review, in which hundreds of ships, decorated with the heraldry of feudalism, were ranged in line. The boats moved in procession ; the men, standing up as they worked the sculls, sang in measured chorus. The sheaves of glittering weapons, spears, and halberds arranged at their bows, were inlaid with gold and pearl. The cabins were arranged with looped brocades and striped canvas, with huge crests and imperial chrysanthemums of colossal size. The am- bassadors were delighted, both with the lovely scenery and the attentions paid them, and so remained until August. Little, however, came of this mission. Taiko sent orders to Kato to release the Corean princes and nobles ; and Chin Ikei, who usually went off like a clumsy blunderbuss, at half-cock, hied back to Cho-sen to tell the news and get the credit of having se- cured this concession. The Coreans were made to bear the blame of the war, and the envoys of China, in good humor, returned to Peking in company with a Japanese ambassador. Yet Taiko, though willing to be at peace with China, did not intend to spare unhappy Cho-sen. To soothe the spirit of Kato, the order was given to capture the castle of Chin-chiu, forty miles west of Fusan, which had not yet been taken by the Japanese, though once before invested. Alarmed at the movements of the invaders, the Coreans tried to revictual and garrison the devoted fortress, and even to attack the enemy on the way. Unable, however, to make a stand against fceir foes, they were routed with frightful carnage. Kato led DIPLOMACY AT KIOTO AND PEKING. 125 the besieging force, eager to make speedy capture so as to irritate the Coreans and prevent the peace he feared. He invested the castle which the Coreans had not been able to reinforce, but the vigorous resistance of the garrison, who threw stones and timber upon the heads of his assaulting parties, drove him to the invention of Kame-no-kosha, or tortoise-shell wagons, which imitated the defensive armor of that animal. Collecting- together several hundred green hides, and dry-hardening them in the fire, he covered four heavily built and slant-roofed wagons with them. These vehicles, proof against fire, missiles, or a crush- ing weight, and filled with soldiers, were pushed forward to the foot of the walls. While the matchlock men in the lines engaged those fighting on the ramparts, the soldiers, under the projecting sheds of the tortoise wagons, that jutted against the walls, began to dig under the foundations. These being undermined, the stones were pried out, and soon fell in sufficient number to cause a breach. Into this fresh soldiers rushed and quickly stormed the castle. The slaughter inside was fearful. The news of the fall of this most important fortress fell like a clap of thunder in Peking, and upon the Corean king, who was pre- paring to go back to Seoul. The Chinese government appointed fresh commissioners of war, and ordered the formation of a new and larger army. The immediate advance of the invaders on the capital was ex- pected, but Kato, having obeyed Taiko's orders, left a garrison in the castle and fell back on Fusan. The Chinese general, upbraiding Chin Ikei for his insincerity, sent him to Konishi again. Their interview was taken up mainly with mutual charges of bad faith. Chin Ikei, returning, tried to persuade the Chinese commander to evacuate Corea, or, at least, retire to the frontier. Though he refused, being still under orders to fight, the Chinese army moved back from Seoul toward Man- churia, while Konishi, on his own responsibility, despatched a letter to the Chinese emperor. Large detachments of the Japanese army actually embarked at Fusan, and returned to Japan. In the lull of hostilities, negotiations were carried on at Peking and Kioto, as well as between the hostile camps. The pen took the place of the matchlock, and the ink-stone furnished the ammuni- tion. A son was born to Taiko, and named Hideyori. A great pag- eant, in honor of the infant, was given at the newly built and 126 COREA. splendid castle of Fushimi, near Kioto, which was graced by a large number of the commanders and veterans of Corea, who had returned home on furlough, while negotiations were pending. The result of the Japanese mission to Peking was the despatch of an ambassador extraordinary, named Eishosei, with one of lesser rank, to Japan, by way of Fusan. On his arrival, he requested to see Konishi, who, however, evaded him, excusing himself on the plea of expecting to hear from Taiko, after which he promised to hold an interview. Ko- nishi then departed for Japan, taking Chin Ikei with him. On his return he still avoided the Chinese envoy, for he had no defin- ite orders, and the other generals refused to act without direct word from their master in Kioto. Meanwhile Chin Ikei, consumed with jealousy, and angry at the Peking mandarins for ignoring him and withholding official recognition and honors, planned re- venge against Eishosei ; for Chin Ikei believed himself to have done great things for Cho-sen and China, and yet he had received neither thanks, pay, nor promotion for his toils, while Eishosei, though a young man, with no experience, was honored with high office solely on account of being of rank and in official favor at Peking. Evidently with the intent of injuring Eishosei, Chin Ikei gave out that Taiko did not wish to be made King of Cho-sen, but had sent an envoy to China merely to have a high ambassador of China come to Japan, that he might insult or rather return the insult of the sovereign of China, in the person of his envoy, by making him a prisoner or putting him to death. Konishi and Chin Ikei again crossed ^to Japan to arrange for the reception of the Chinese envoys. The reports started by Chin Ikei, coming to the ears of Eisho- sei, so frightened him that he fled in disguise from Fusan, and absconded to China. His colleague denounced him as a coward, and declaring that the Chinese government desired only " peace with honor," sailed with his retinue and two Corean officers to Japan. "And Satan [Chin Ikei], came also among them." All landed safely at Sakai, near Ozaka, October 8, 1596. Audience was duly given with pomp and grandeur in the gor- geous castle at Fushimi, on October 24th. The ambassador brought the imperial letter, the patent of rank, a golden seal, a crown, and silk-embroidered robes of state. At a banquet, given next day, these robes were worn by Taiko and his officers. Formalities over, the Ming emperor's letter was dehvered to DIPLOMACY AT KIOTO AND PEKING. 127 Taiko, who at once placed it in the hands of three of the most learned priests, experts in the Chinese language, and ordered them to translate its contents literally. To Konishi, then at Kioto, came misgivings of his abilities as a diplomatist. Visiting the bonzes, he earnestly begged them to soften into polite phrase anything in the letter that might irritate Taiko. But the priests were inflexibly honest, and rendered the text of the letter into the exact Japanese equivalent. In it the patent of nobility first granted to the Ashikaga sho-gun (1403- 1425) was referred to; and the gist of this last imperial letter was : " We, the Emperor of China, appoint you, Taiko, to be the King of Japan" (Nippon O). In other words, the mighty Kuam- baku of Japan was insulted by being treated no better than one of the Ashikaga generals ! This was the mouse that was born from so great a mountain of diplomacy. The rage of Taiko was so gxeat that, with his own hands, he would have slain Konishi, had not the bonzes plead for his Ufe, claiming that the responsibility of the negotiations rested upon three other prominent persons. As usual, the "false-hearted Coreans " were made to bear the odium of the misunderstanding. The Chinese embassy, dismissed in disgrace, returned in Janu- ary, 1596, and made known their humiliation at Peking ; while the King of Corea, who had been living in Seoul during the ne- gotiations, appealed at once for speedy aid against the impending invasion. Hideyoshi again applied himself with renewed vigor to raising and drilling a new army, and obtaining ships and sup- plies. A grand review of the forces of invasion, consisting of one hundred and sixty-three thousand horse and foot soldiers, was held under his inspection. Kuroda, Nagamasa, and other generals, with their divisions, sailed away for Fusan, January 7, 1597, and joined the army under Konishi and Kato. The new levies from China, which had been waiting under arms, crossed the Yalu and entered from the west at about the same time. Marching down through Ping-an and Seoul, a divi- sion of ten thousand garrisoned the castle of Nan-on, in Chulla. The Coreans, meanwhile, fitted out a fleet, under the command of Genkai, expecting a second victory on the water. An extinguisher was put on Chin Ikei, who was suspected of being in the pay of Konishi. Genkai, a Chinese captain, had long believed him to be a dangerous busybody, without any real powers from the Peking government, but only used by them as a decoy 128 CORE A. duck, while, in reality, he was in the pay of the Japanese, and the chief hinderance to the success of the allied arms. On the other hand, this volunteer politician, weary and disappointed at not re- ceiving from China the high post and honors which his ambition coveted, was in a strait. Taiko urged him to secure from China the claim of Japan to the southern half of Corea. China, on the contrary, ordered him to induce the Japanese generals to leave the country. Thus situated. Chin Ikei knew not what to do. He sent a message, through a priest, to Kato, urging him to make peace or else meet an army of one hundred thousand Chinamen. The laconic reply of the Japanese was : " I am ready to fight. Let them come." Bluffed in his last move, and aware of the plots of Genkai, his enemy. Chin Ikei, at his wits' end, resolved to escape to Konishi's camp. The spies of Genkai immediately reported the fact to their master, who lay in wait for him. Suddenly confronting his vic- tim, they demanded his errand. " I am going to treat with Kato, the Japanese general ; I shall be back in one month," answered Chin Ikei. He was seized and, on being led back, was thrown into prison. A searching party was then despatched at once to his house. There they found gold, treasure, and jewels " moun- tain high," and his wife living in luxury. Believing all these to have been purchased by Japanese gold, and the fruits of bribery, the Chinese confiscated the spoil and imprisoned the traitor's family. This ended all further negotiations until the end of the war. Henceforth, on land and water, by the veterans of both armies, with fresh levies, both of allies and invaders, the issue was tried by sword and siege. CHAPTEK XYIII. THE SECOND INVASION. The plan of the second invasion was to land all tlie Japanese forces at Fusan, and tlien to divide them into three columns, which were to advance by the south to Nan-on castle in ChuUa, and by two roads, northward and westward, to the capital. As before, Konishi and Kato Kiyomasa were the two field command- ers, while Hideaki, a noble lad, sixteen years old, was the nomi- nal commander-in-chief. The Coreans had made preparations to fight the Japanese at sea as well as on land. Their fleet consisted of about two hundred vessels of heavy build, for butting and ramming, as well as for ac- commodating a maximum of fighting men. They were two hun- dred and fifty or three hundred feet in length, with huge sterns, hav- ing enormous rudders, the tillers of which were worked by eight men. Their high, flat prows were hideously carved and painted to represent the face and open jaws of a dragon, or demon, ready to devour. Stout spars or knotted logs, set upright along the gunwale, protected the men who worked the catapults, and heavily built roofed cabins sheltered the soldiers and gave the archers a vantage ground. The rowers sat amidships, between the cabins and the gunwales, or rather over on these latter, in casements made of stout timber. The catapults were on deck, between the bows. They were twenty-four feet long, made of tree-trunks a yard in circumference. Immense bows, dravm to their notches by wind- lasses, shot iron-headed darts and bolts six feet long and four in- ches thick. On some of the ships towers were erected, in which cannon, missile-engines, and musketeers were stationed, to shoot out fire-arrows, stones, and balls. At close quarters the space at the bows — about one-third of the deck — was free for the move- ments of the men wielding spear and sword, and for those who plied the grappling hooks or boarding planks. The decks crowded with men in armor, the glitter of steel and flash of oars, the blare 9 130 CORE A. of the long Corean trumpets, and the gay fluttering of thousands of silken flags and streamers made brilliant defiance. The Japanese accepted the challenge, and, sailing out, closed with the enemy. Wherever they could, they ran alongside and gave battle at the bows. Though their ships were smaller, they were more manageable. In some cases, they ran under the high sterns and climbed on board the enemy's ships. Once at hand to hand fight, their superior swordsmanship quickly decided the day. Their most formidable means of offence which, next to their can- non, won them the victory, were their rockets and fire-arrows, which they were able to shoot into the sterns, where the dry wood soon caught fire, driving the crews into the sea, where they drowned. Two hours fighting sufficed, by which time one hun- dred and seventy-four Corean ships had been burned or taken. News of this brilliant victory was at once sent by a swift vessel to Japan. Endeavors were made to strengthen the garrison at Nan-on, but the Japanese general, Kato Yoshiakira, meeting the reinforce- ments on their way, prevented their design. Kato Kiyomasa, changing his plans, also marched to Nan-on, resolving to again, if possible, snatch an honor from his rival. As usual, the younger man was too swift for him. Konishi now moved his entire com- mand in the fleet up the Sem Eiver, in Chulla province, and land- ing, camped at a place called Uren, eighteen ri from Nan-on castle. He rested here five days in the open meadow land to allow the horses to relax their limbs after the long and close confinement in the ships. From a priest, whom they found at this place, they learned that the garrison of Nan-on numbered over 20,000 Chi- nese and Coreans, the reinforcements in the province, and on their way, numbered 20,000 more, while in the north was another Chi- nese corps of 20,000, At the council of war held, it was resolved to advance at once to take the castle before succor came. In spite of many lame horses, and the imperfect state of the commissariat, the order to march was given. Men and beasts were in high spirits, but many of the horses were ridden to death, or rendered useless by the forced march of the cavalry. Early on the morning of September 21st, the advance guard camped in the morning fog at a distance of a mile from the citadel. The main body, coming up, surrounded it on all sides, pitched their camp, threw out their pickets, set up their standards, and proceeded promptly to fortify their lines. THE SECOND INVASION. 131 Nan-on castle was of rectangular form, enclosing a space nearly two miles square, as each side was nine thousand feet long. Its Map of the Operations of the Second Invasior walls, which were twelve feet high, were built of great stones, laid together without cement. Though no mortar had been used on wall or tower, shell-lime had been laid over the outside, in which 132 CORE A. glistened innumerable fragments of nacre and the enamel of shells, giving the structure the appearance of glittering porcelain. At the angles, and at intervals along the flanks, were towers, two or three stories high. The four ponderous gates were of stone, fourteen feet high. The preparations for defence were all that Chinese science could suggest. In the dry ditch, three hundred feet wide, was an abatis of tree-trunks, with their branches outward, behind which were iron-plated wagons, to be filled with archers and spearmen. From the towers, fire-missiles and shot from firearms were in readiness. The weak points, at which no enemy was expected, and for which preparations for defence were few, were on the east and west. No effect being produced during the first two days, either by bullets or fire-arrows, Konishi, on the third, sent large detach- ments of men into the rice-fields, then covered with a promising harvest of growing rice, which the farmers, in the hope of peace, had sown. Eeaping the green, jtiicy stalks, the hundreds of sol- diers gathered an enormous quantity of sheaves and waited, with these and their stacks of bamboo poles and ladders, until night. In the thick darkness, and in perfect silence, they moved to a part of the wall which, being over twenty feet high, was but slightly guarded, and began to build a platform of the sheaves. Four Ja- panese, reaching the top by chmbing, raised the war-cry, and one of the towers being set on fire by their arrows, the work was dis- covered. Yet the matchlock men kept the waUs swept by their bullets, while the work of piling fresh sheaves and bundles of bamboo went on. The greenness of the rice-stalks made the mass both firm and fire-proof. At last the mound was so high that it overtopped the wall. The men now climbed over the ramparts by the hundreds, and the swordsmen, leaping into the castle, began the fight at hand to hand. Most of the Chinese fought with the courage of despair, while others, in their panic, opened the gates to escape, by which more of the besiegers entered. The garrison, smitten in front and rear, were driven to the final wall by Konishi' s troops. On the other side a body of picked men, from Kato's army, joined in the slaughter. They had entered the castle at the rear, by scaling a rugged mountain path known only to the Corean prisoners, whose treachery they had purchased by the promise of their lives. Between the two attacking forces the THE SECOND INVASION. 133 Coreans and Chinese, who could not escape, were slain by thou- sands. Among many curious incidents narrated by Ogawuchi, who teUs the story of this siege and attack, was this. As he entered the castle, amid the smoke and confusion, in which he saw some of the panic-stricken garrison destroying themselves, he cut off the heads of two enemies, and then, suddenly recollecting that this fifteenth day of the eighth month was the day sacred to Hachi- man, the god of war and Buddha of the Eight Banners, he flung down his bloody sword, put his red palms together, and bowing his head, prayed devoutly toward his adored Japan. His devo- tions ended, he sliced off the noses from the heads of the two enemies he had slain, wrapped them in paper, twisted the pack- age to his girdle, and sprang forward to meet, with but three men, the charge of fifty horsemen. The first sweep of the Japanese sabre severed the leg of the nearest rider, who fell to the earth on the other side of his horse, and Ogawuchi' s companions killing each his man, the enemy fled. The fires of the burning towers now lighted up the whole area of the castle, while the autumn moon rose red and clear. Ogawuchi slew, with his own hand, Keku- shiu, one of the Chinese commanders. His body, in rich armor, lined with gold brocade, was stripped, and the trappings secured as trophies to be sent home, while his head was presented for Konishi's inspection next morning. . According to the barbarous custom of the victors, they severed the heads of the bodies not already decapitated in fight, until the castle space resembled a great slaughter-yard. Collecting them into a great heap, they began the official count. The number of these ghastly trophies, or '' glory-signs," was three thousand seven hundred and twenty-six. The ears and noses of the slain were then sheared off, and with the commander's head, were packed with salt and quick lime in casks, and sent to Japan to form the great ear-tomb now in Kioto, the horrible monument of a most unrighteous war. A map of the castle and town, with the list of the most meri- torious among the victors, was duly sent back to Taiko. Then the walls and towers, gi-anaries, and barracks were destroyed. This work occupied two days. Promptly on September 30th the army moved on to Teni-shiu, the cavalry riding day and night, and reaching the castle only to find it deserted, the garrison having fled toward Seoul. The Jap- 134 CORE A. anese remained here ten days, levelling the fortress with fire and hammer. As the cold weather was approaching, the Japanese command- ers, after council, resolved at once to march to the capital. Kat- suyoshi and Kiy omasa had joined them, and the advance north- ward was at once began. By October 19th they were within seventeen miles of Seoul. ^ The successes on land, brilliant though they were, were bal- anced by the defeat of the Japanese navy off the southern coast. The Chinese admiral Kishinshin, in conjunction with the Coreans, won an important victory over Kuroda's naval forces a few days after the fall of Nan-on. In this instance, the Chinese ships were not only heavy enough to be formidable as rams, but were made more manageable by numerous rowers sitting in well-defended timber casements, apparently covered with metal. The warriors, too, seem to have been armed with larger lances. The Chinese commanders, having improved their tactics, so managed their ves- sels that the Japanese fleet was destroyed or driven away. This event may be said to have decided the fate of the cam- paign. Bereft of their fleet, which would, by going round the west coast, have afforded them a base of supplies, they were now obliged to advance into a country nearly empty of forage, and with no store of provisions. As in the opening of the war, so again, the loss of the fleet at a critical period made retreat neces- sary even at the moment of victory. Meanwhile, the Chinese general Keikai, thoroughly disliking the rigors of a camp in a Corean winter, and feeling deeply for his soldiers suffering from exposure in a desolate land, determined on closing the war as soon as possible. Erecting an altar, in presence of the army, he offered sacrifices to propitiate the spirits of Heaven and Earth, and prayed for victory against the invaders. Then, after seeing well to commissariat and equipment, he gave orders for a general movement of aU. the allied forces, with the design of end- ing the war by a brief and decisive campaign. The Japanese gen- erals at Koran, by means of their spies and advance parties, kept themselves well informed of the movements of the enemy. At a ^ Their line of march, as shown in the Japanese histories, was to Sen-ken, October 11th ; to Kumu-san, where they experienced the first frost ; to Kumui, October 12th ; to Chin-zon ; to Funki ; to Shaku-shiu ; to Koran ; to Chin-zen. These are names of places in Chulla and Chung-chong, expressed in the Ja panese and old Corean pronunciation. THE SECOND INVASION. 135 skirmish at Chin-zen the Chinese advance guard was defeated with heavy loss, but the Japanese at once began their retreat. Shishida and Ota, who were further east, learning of the over- whelming odds against them, fell back into Uru-san, which was akeady manned by a detachment of Kato's corps. While Kato and Katsuyoshi were at Chin-zen, a grand tiger hunt was proposed and carried out, in which a soldier was bitten in two places and died. The army agreed that tiger-hunting re- quired much nerve and valor. Besides the tiger steaks, which they ate, much fresh meat was furnished by the numerous crane, pheas- ants, and " the ten thousand things different from those in Japan," which they made use of to eke out their scanty rations. To remain in camp until the Han River was frozen over, and could be crossed easily, or to press on at once, was the question now considered by the Japanese. While thus debating, word came that the Chinese armies had made junction at Seoul, and numbered one hundred thousand men. The Japanese " felt cold in their breasts " when they heard this. Far from their base of supplies, their fleet destroyed, and they at the threshold of winter in a famine-stricken land, they were forced, reluctantly, again to retreat into Kiung-sang. This turning their backs on Seoul was, in reality, the begin- ning of their march homeward. The invaders, therefore, enriched themselves with the spoil of houses and temples as they moved toward the coast — gold and silver brocades, rolls of silk, paint- ings, works of art, precious manuscripts, books written with gold letters on azui'e paper, inlaid weapons and armor, rich mantles, and whatever, in this long-settled and wealthy province, pleased their fancy. On the boundaries of roads and provinces they no- ticed large dressed stone columns of an octagonal form, with in- scriptions upon them. Their route lay from Chin-zen, which they left in ashes, on October 25th, to Chin-nan ; to Ho-won ; to Ho- kin ; to Karon ; reaching Kion-chiu, the old capital of Shinra, after some fighting along the way. The Japanese were impressed with the size and grandeur of the buildings . in this old seat of the civilization and learning of Shinra and Korai. Here, in ancient days, was the focus of the arts, letters, religion, and science which, from the west, the far of! mysterious land of India, and the nearer, yet august, empire of China, had been brought to Corea. Here, too, their own ancient mikados had sent embassies, and fi'om this historic city had radia- 136 COREA. ted the influences of civilization into Japan. As Buddhism had been the dominant faith of Shinra and Korai, this was the old sacred city of the peninsula, and among the historic edifices still standing and most admired were the halls and pagodas of the Eternal Buddha. Kion-chiu was to the Japanese very much what London is to an American, Geneva to a Protestant, or Dordrecht to a Hollander. Yet, in spite of all classic associations, the city was wantonly destroyed. On the morning of November 2d, be- ginning at the magnificent temples, the whole city was given to the torch. Three hundred thousand dwellings were burned, and the flames lighted up the long night with the glare of day. The next morning, turning their backs on the gray waste of ashes, they resumed their march. Kokio, Kunoi, Sin-ne were passed through. Skirmishing and the destruction of castles, and the burning of granaries, were the pastimes enjoyed between camps. On November 18th the army reached a river, where the Coreans made an unsuccessful night attack, repeating the same in the morning, while the Japanese were crossing the stream, with the same negative results. Thence through Yei-tan, they came to Keku-shiu, another famous old seat of Shinra' s ancient grandeur. The beautiful situa- tion and rich appearance of the city charmed the invaders, who lingered long in the deserted streets before applying the torch. The " three hundred thousand houses of the people " were clus- tered around the great Buddhist temple in the centre. The clock- tower, eighteen stories high, was especially admired. The massive swinging beam by which the tongueless bells, or gongs, of the Far East are made to boom out the hours, struck against a huge bronze lotus eight or nine feet in diameter. This sacred flower of the Buddhist emblem of peace and calm in Nirvana had in Corean art taken the place of the suspended bell, being most probably a cup-shaped mass of metal set with mouth upright, or like a bell turned upside down — such being the form often seen in the temples of Chinese Asia. Again did antiquity, religion, or the promptings of mercy fail to restrain the invaders. Securing what spoils they cared for, everything else was burned up. After camping at Kiran, they reached the sea-coast, at Uru-san, November 18th. CHAPTER XIX. THE SIEGE OF URU-SAN CASTLE. The Japanese now took up the spade as their immediate wea- pon of defence against the infuriated Coreans and the avenging Chinese. A force of twenty-three thousand men was at once set to work, " without regard to wind or rain," along the lines marked out by the Japanese engineers. To furnish the wood for towers, gates, huts, and engines, a party of two thousand axemen and la- borers, guarded by twenty-eight mounted pickets and three hun- dred matchlock men, with seven flags, went daily into the forest. The winter huts were hastily erected, walls thrown up, ditches - dug, towers built, and sentinels and watch stations set. The work went on from earliest daybreak till latest twilight, the carpenters so suffering from the cold that "their finger nails dropped off." By the first part of January the castle was almost completed. From the eleventh day the garrison took rest. The fortress was three-sided, the south face lying on the sea. The total line of works was about three and a half miles, pierced by three gates. The inner defences were in three parts, or maru. The third maru, or enclosure, had stone walls, one tower and one gate ; the second had two towers, two gates ; and the first or chief citadel had stone walls, forty-eight feet high, with two towers and two gates. The war operations, which had hitherto covered large spaces of the country, now found the pivot at this place situated in Kiung- sang, on the sea-coast, thirty-five miles north of Fusan. Another commander, Asano, marched to assist the garrison and entered the castle before the Ming army arrived. His advance guard, while reconnoitring, was defeated by the Coreans, yet he succeeded, by an impetuous charge, in entering the castle. The Chinese, smarting under their losses at Chin-sen, and stimg by the gibes of the Coreans, now hastened to Uru-san, to swallow up the Japanese. The Corean army, which had been collecting. 138 COREA. around the Japanese camps, were soon joined by the advance guard of the Ming army. The arrival of the Chinese forces was made known in the following manner. A Japanese captain commanded one of the advance pickets, w Ni r-G- XSJEl JJ]^ Plan of Uru-san Castle. — txplanation : Hon, First Enclosure; Ni, Second; San, Third; G, Gates; unm Bodies of Troops. which had their quarters in the cloisters of Ankokuji (Temple of the Peaceful Country). One night a board, inscribed with Chi- nese characters, was set up before the gate of the camp. The sol- diers, seeing it in the morning, but unable to read Chinese, car- THE SIEGE OF URU-SAN CASTLE. 139 ried it to their captain, wlao handed it to his priest-secretary. The board contained a warning that the Chinese were near and would soon attack Uru-san. Betraying no emotion and saying nothing, the captain soon after declared himself on the sick-list, and se- cretly absconded to Fusan. The truth was, that an overwhelm- ing Ming army was now in front of them and their purpose to in- vest the castle was thus published. The entire Japanese forces were now gathered close under the walls, or inside the castle, and the sentinels were doubled. On the morning of January 30th the Ming army suddenly as- saulted the castle. A small detachment, evidently a decoy and forlorn hope, attempting to scale the walls, was driven back by the matchlock men and began to retreat. Seeing this, the Japanese recklessly opened the barbican gate and began pursuit of their enemies, thinking they were only Coreans. Lured on to a dis- tance, they suddenly found themselves encircled by a mighty host By their black and yellow standards, and their excellent tactics, the Japanese officers saw that they were Ming soldiers. The dust raised by the horses of the oncoming enemy seemed to the garri- son as high as Atago Mountain in Japan. They now knew that- eighty thousand Chinese were before their gates. Only after hard fighting, was the remnant of the Japanese sortie enabled to get back within the castle, while the allies, surrounding the walls, fought as fiercely as if they intended to take it by immediate as- sault. Some of the bravest leaders of the garrison fell outside, but no sooner were the gates locked than Katsuyoshi, without ex- tracting the two arrows from his wounds, or stanching the blood, posted the defenders on the walls in position. Ogawuchi had per- formed the hazardous feat of sallying out and firing most of the outside camps. He re-entered the castle with arrows in his clothes, but received no wounds. The battle raged until night, when the Chinese drew off. The Japanese had suffered fearfully by the first combat beyond and on the walls. " There was none but had been shot at by five or ten or fifteen arrows." One of their captains reckoned their loss at eighteen thousand three hundred and sixty men, which left them but a garrison of five thousand fighting men. A large number of non-combatants, including many of the friendly people of the neighborhood, had crowded into the fortifications, and had to be fed. Food growing scarcer, and danger increasing, Asano sent word 140 COREA. to Kato for help. On a fleet horse the messenger arrived, after a ride of two days. Kato had, in Japan, taken oath to Asano's father to help him in every strait. Immediately, with seventy picked companions, he put out to sea in seven boats, and, after hard rowing, succeeded in entering the castle. On January 31, 1598, the war-conch sounded in the Ming camp, as the signal of attack, and the ears of the besieged were soon deafened by the yells of the " eighty thousand " besiegers. The Japanese were at first terrified at the clouds of dust, through which the awful sight of ranks of men, twenty deep, were on all sides visible. The enemy, armed with shields shaped like a fowl's wings, upon which they received the missiles of the garrison, charged on the outer works, but when into and on the slope of the ditch, flung their shields away, and plied axe, knife, sword, and lance. Though seven attacks were repulsed, the wall was breached, the outer works were gained by overwhelming numbers, and the garrison was driven into the inner enclosure. Night fell upon the work of blood, but at early morn, the enemy waked the garrison with showers of arrows, and with lad- ders and hurdles of bamboo, tried to scale the walls. In four hours, seven attacks in force had been repulsed, yet the fighting went on. In spite of the intense cold, the soldiers perspired so that the sweat froze on their armor. Over their own heaps of corpses the Chinese attempted to force one of the gates, while, from the walls of the inner citadel, and from the higher gate above them, the Japanese smote them. The next day the carnage ceased from the third to the ninth hour. On February 3d, the Chinese, with their ladders, were again repulsed. At night their sentinels " gathered hoar-frost on their helmets," while guarding the night long against the sortie, which they feared. Another attack from the clouds of enemies kept up the work of kiUing. Some of the Japanese warriors now noticed that their stockings and greave- bands kept slipping down, though adjusted repeatedly. The fact was their flesh had shrunk until their bones were nearly visible, and *Hheir legs were as lean as bamboo sticks." Another warrior, taking off his helmet and vizor, was seen to have a face so thin and wizen that he reminded his comrades of one of those hungry demons of the nether world, which they had seen so often depicted in temple pictures at home. On February 5th, the Ming generals, who had looked upon the reduction of Uru-san as a small affair to be settled by the way, and THE SIEGE OF URU-SAN CASTLE. 141 vexed at not haTing been able to take it by one assault, tried ne- gotiation. In fact, they were suffering from lack of provisions. The Japanese sent back a defiant answer, and some of them prof- ited by the lull in the fighting to make fires of broken arrows and lances, to strip the armor from the dead and frozen carcasses of their steeds, and enjoy a dinner of hot horse-meat. The vast num- ber of shafts that had fallen within the walls, were gathered into stacks, and those damaged were reserved for fuel. Outside the citadel, they lay under the wall in heaps many feet high. The next day, February 6th, was one of quiet, but it was in- tensely cold, and many of the worn out soldiers of the garrison died. Sitting under the sunny side of the towers for warmth, they were found in this position frozen to death. Yet amid all the suf- fering, the Japanese jested with each other, poured out mutual compliments, and kept light hearts and defiant spirits. A council of war had been held February 2d, at Fusan, and a messenger sent to encourage the garrison. By some means he was able to communicate with his beleaguered brethren. With helmets off, th^ leaders listened to the words of cheer and praise, and promised to hold out yet longer. While the lull or truce was in force, the Chinese were, accord- ing to Ogawuchi, plotting to entrap the Japanese leaders. This they learned from one Okomoto, a native of Japan, who had lived long in China, and was a division commander of eight thousand men in the Chinese army. He it was who first brought the offers of accommodation from the Ming side. The Chinese proposed to get the Japanese leaders to come out of their citadel, leave their horses and weapons at a certain place, and go to the altar to swear before Heaven to keep the peace. Then the Chinese were to surround and make prisoners of the Japanese. Okomoto' s soul recoiled at the perfidy. Going by night to the side of the castle near the hills, he was admitted in the citadel, and exposing the plot, gave warning of the danger. A profound impression was produced on the grateful leaders, who immediately made a plan to show their gratitude to Okomoto. They swore by aU the gods to reward also his sons and daughters who were still living in Japan. When this fact was made known to him, he burst into tears and said he had never forgotten his wife or children ; though he saw them often in his dreams, yet "the winds brought him no news." On the following morning a Chinese officer, coming to the foot of the wall, made signs with his standard, and offered the same 142 COREA. terms in detail whicli Okomoto had exposed. The Japanese lead* ers excused themselves on the plea of sickness, and the parley came to nothing. Yet the sufferings of the Japanese were growing hourly se- verer. To half rations and hunger had succeeded famine, and with famine came actual death from starvation. Unfortunately there was no well in the castle, so the Japanese had at first sallied out, under cover of the night, and carried water from the mountain brooks. The Chinese, discovering this, posted archers in front of every accessible stream, and thus cut off all approach by night or day. To hunger was added the torture of thirst. The soldiers who fought by day stole out at night and licked the wounds of their slain enemies and even secretly chewed the raw flesh sHced from the corpses of the Chinese. Within the castle, ingenuity was taxed to the utmost to provide sustenance from the most unprom- ising substances. The famished soldiers chewed paper, trapped mice and ate them, killed horses and devoured every part of them. Braving the arrows of the Chinese pickets, they wandered at night wherever their dead enemies lay, and searched their clothes for stray grains of parched rice. On one occasion the Chinese, lying in wait, succeeded in capturing one hundred of the garrison, that were prowling like ghouls around the corpses of the slain. After this the commanders forbade any soldier, on pain of death, to leave the castle. Yet famine held revel within, and scores of starved and frozen multiplied into hundreds, until room for the corpses was needed. Tidings of the straits of the dwindling garrison at Uru-san hav- ing reached the other Japanese commanders, Nabeshima and Ku- roda, they marched to the relief of their compatriots. One of the Chinese generals, Hijobai, leaving camp, set out to attack them. The foiled Chinese commander-in-chief, angry at the refusal of the Japanese to come to his camp, ordered a fresh attack on the cas- tle. This time fresh detachments took the places of others when wearied. The day seemed shut out by the dust of horses, the smoke of guns, the clouds of arrows, and the masses of flags. Again the scaling ladders were brought, but made useless by the vigilant de- fenders in armor iced with frozen sweat, and chafing to the bone. Their constant labor made " three hours seem like three years." The attack was kept up unceasingly until February 12th, when the exhausted garrison noticed the Chinese retreating. The van of the reinforcements from Fusan had attacked the allies in the THE SIEGE OF URU-SAN CASTLE. 143 rear, and a bloody combat was raging. At about the same time the fleet, laden with provisions, was on its way and near the starv- ing garrison. Next morning the keen eyes of their commander noticed flocks of wild birds descending on the Chinese camp. The careful scru- tiny of the actions of wild fowl formed a part of the military edu- cation of all Japanese, and they inferred at once that the camp was empty and the birds, attracted by the refuse food, were feeding without fear. Orders were immediately given to a detachment to leave the castle and march in pursuit. Passing through the de- serted Ming camp, they came up with the forces of Kuroda and Nabeshima, who had gained a great victory over the allies. In this battle of the river plain of Gisen, February 9, 1598, the Jap- anese had eighteen thousand men engaged. Their victory was complete, thirteen thousand two hundred and thirty-eight heads of Coreans and Chinese being collected after the retreat of the allies. The noses and ears were, as usual, cut off and packed for shipment to Kioto. The sufferings of the valiant defenders were now over. Help had come at the eleventh hour. For fourteen days they had tasted neither rice nor water, except that melted from snow or ice. The abundant food from the relief ships was cautiously dealt out to the famished, lest sudden plenty should cause sudden death. The fleet men not only congratulated the garrison on their brave defence, but decorated the battered walls with innumerable flags and streamers, while they revictualed the magazines. On the ninth, the garrison went on the ships to go to Sezukai, another part of the coast, to recruit their shattered energies. With a feeling as if raised from the dead, the warriors took off their armor. The re- action of the fearful strain coming at once upon them, they found themselves lame and unable to stand or sit. Even in their dreams, they grappled with the Ming, and, laying their hand on their sword, fought again their battles in the land of dreams. For three years afterward they did not cease these night visions of war. According to orders given, the number of the dead lying on the frozen ground, within two or three furlongs of the castle, was counted, and found to be fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-four. Of the Japanese, who had starved or frozen to death, eight hundred and ninety-seven were reported. In the camp of the allies, crimination and recrimination were going on, the Coreans angry at being foiled before Uru-san, and the 144 COREA. Chinese mortified that one fortress, with its garrison, could not have been taken. They made their plans to go back and try the siege anew, when the explosion of their powder magazine, which killed many of their men, changed their plans. For his failure the Chi- nese commander-in-chief was cashiered in disgrace. On May 10th the soldiers of the garrison, now relieved, left for ■ their homes in Japan. Thus ended the siege of Uru-san, after lasting an entire year. After this nothing of much importance happened during the war. The invaders had suffered severely from the cold and the climate, and from hunger in the desolated land. Numerous skir- mishes were fought, and a continual guerilla war kept up, but, with the exception of another naval battle between the Japanese and Chinese, in which artillery was freely used, there was nothing to influence the fortunes of either side. In this state of inaction, Hideyoshi fell sick and died, September 9, 1598, at the age of sixty-three. Almost his last words were^ " Eecall all my troops fromCho-sen." The governors appointed by him to carry out his policy at once issued orders for the return of the army. The orders to embark for home were everywhere gladly heard in the Japanese camps by the soldiers whose sufferings were now to end. Before leaving, however, many of the Japanese improved every opportunity to have a farewell brush with their enemies. It is said, by a trustworthy writer, that 214,752 human bodies were decapitated to furnish the ghastly material for the " ear- tomb " mound in Kioto. Ogavnichi reckons the number of Co- rean heads gathered for mutilation at 185,738, and of Chinese at 29,014 ; all of which were despoiled of ears or noses. It is probable that 50,000 Japanese, victims of wounds or disease, left their bones in Corea. Thus ended one of the most needless, unprovoked, cruel, and desolating wars that ever cursed Corea, and from which it has taken her over two centuries to recover. CHAPTER XX. CHANGES AFTER THE INVASION. The war over, and peace again in the land, the fugitives re- turned to their homes and the farmers to their fields. The whole country was desolate, the scars of war were everywhere visible, and the curse of poverty was universal. From the king and court, in the royal city, of which fire had left little but ashes, and of which war and famine had spared few inhabitants, to the peasant, who lived on berries and roots until his scanty seed rose above the ground and slowly ripened, all now suffered the woful want which the war had bred. Kind nature, however, ceased not her bountiful stores, and from the ever-ready and ever-full treasuries of the ocean, fed the stricken land. The war was a fruitful cause of national changes in Corean cus- toms and institutions. The first was the more thorough organiza- tion of the military, the rebuilding and strengthening of old cas- iles, and the erection of new ones ; though, like most measures of the government, the proposed reforms were never properly carried out. The coasts were guarded with fresh vigilance. Upon one of the Corean commanders, who had been many times successful against the Japanese, a new title and office was created, and the coast defence of the three southern provinces was committed to him. This title was subsequently conferred upon three officials whose headquarters were at points in Kiung-sang. Among the literary fi*uits of the leisure now afforded was the narrative, in Chinese, of the events leading to the war with the Japanese, written by a high dignitary of the court, and covering the period from about 1586 to 1598. This is, perhaps, the only book reprinted in Japan, which gives the Corean side of the war. In his preface the excessively modest author states that he writes the book "because men ought to look at the present in the mirror of the past." The Chinese style of this writer is difficult for an ordinary Japanese to read. The book (Chohitsuroku) contains a curious map of the eight provinces. 10 146 COREA. In Japan the energies of the returned warriors were fully em- ployed at home after their withdrawal from Corea. The adher- ents of Taiko and those of lyeyasu, the rising man, came to blows, and at the great battle of Sekigahara, in October, 1600, lyeyasii crushed his foes. Many of the heroes of the peninsular campaign fell on the field ; or, as beaten men, disembowelled themselres, according to the Japanese code of honor. Konishi, being a Christian, and unable, from conscientious scruples, to commit suicide by hara kiri, was decapitated. The hiimbled spirit and turbulent wrath of Satsuma were appeased, and given a valve of escape in the permission accorded them to make definite conquest of Eiu Kiu. This was done by a well- planned and vigorously executed expedition in 1609, by which the little archipelago was made an integral part of the Japanese em- pire. When retiring from Cho-sen, in 1597, the daimio and gen- eral Nabeshima requited himself for the possible loss of further military glory, by bringing over and settling in Satsuma a colony of Corean potters. He builded better than he knew, for in found- ing these industries in his own domain, he became the prime author of that delight of the sesthetic world, "old Satsuma faience." Other daimios, in whose domains were potteries, likewise trans- ported skilled workers in clay, who afterward brought fame and money to their masters. On the other hand, lyeyasu sent back the Corean prisoners in Japan to their own homes. The spoil brought back from the peninsular campaign — wea- pons, flags, brocades, porcelains, carvings, pictures, and manu- scripts was duly deposited, with certifying documents, in temples and storehouses, or garnished the home of the veterans for the benefit of posterity. Some, with a literary turn, employed their leisure in writing out their notes and journals, several of which have survived the wreck of time. Some, under an artistic impulse, had made valuable sketches of cities, scenery, battle-fields, and castles, which they now finished. A few of the victors shore off their queues and hair, and became monks. Others, with perhaps equal piety, hung up the arrow-pierced helmet, or corslet slashed by Chinese sabre, as ex-voto at the local shrines. The writer can bear personal witness to the interest which many of these authen- tic relics inspired in him while engaged in their study. In 1878^ a large collection of various relics of the Corean war of 1592- 1597 came into the possession of the mikado's government in Tokio, from the heirs or descendants of the veterans of Taiko. In CHANGES AFTER THE INVASIOK 147 Kioto, besides the Ear-monument, the Hall of the Founder, in one of the great Buddhist temples, rebuilt by the widow of Taiko, was ceiled with the choice wood of the war junk built for the hero. Though the peninsula was not open to trade or Christianity, it was not for lack of thought or attention on the part of merchant or missionary. In England, a project was formed to estabhsh a trading-sta- tion in Japan, and, if there was a possibility, in Corea also, or,^ at least, to see what could be done in "the island" — as Corea then, and for a long time afterward, was believed to be. Through the Dutch, the Jesuits, and their countryman. Will Adams, in Japan, they had heard of the Japanese war, and of Corea. Captain Saris arrived off Hirado Island about the middle of June, 1613, with a cargo of pepper, broadcloth, gunpowder, and English goods. In a galley, carrying twenty-five oars and manned by sixty men fur- nished by the daimio, Saris and his company of seventeen Eng- lishmen set out to visit the lyeyasu at Yedo, by way of Suruga' (now Shidzuoka). After two days' rowing along the coast, they stopped for dinner in the large and handsome city of Hakata (or Fukuoka), the city being, in reality, double. As the Englishmen walked about to see the sights, the boys, children, and worse sort of idle people would gather about them, crying out, " Core, Core, Cocore Ware " (Oh you Coreans, Coreans, you Kokorai men), taunt- ing them by these words as Coreans with false hearts, whooping, holloaing, and making such a noise that the English could hardly hear each other speak. In some places, the people threw stones at these "Corean " Englishmen. Hakata was one of the towns at which the embassy from Seoul stopped while on its way to Yedo, and the incident shows clearly that the Japanese urchins and common people had not forgotten the reputed perfidy of the Co- reans, while they also supposed that any foreigner, not a Portu- guese, with whom they were familiar, must be a Corean. In the same manner, at Nankin, for a long while all foreigners, even Americans, were called "Japanese." Nothing was done by Saris, so far as is known, to explore or open Corea to Western commerce, although the last one of the eight clauses of the articles of license to trade, given him by lyeyasu, was, "And that further, without passport, they may and shaU set out upon the discovery of Yeadzo (Yezo), or any other part in and about our empire." By the last clause any Japanese would un- 148 COREA. derstand Corea and Kiu Kiu as being land belonging to, but out- side of " civilized " Nippon. After leaving Nagasaki, and calling at Bantam, Saris took in a load of pepper, and sailed for England, reaching Plymouth Sep- tember 27, 1614. An attempt was also made by the Dominican order of friars to establish a mission in Corea. Vincent (Caun), the ward of Ko- nishi, who had been educated and sent over by the Jesuits to plant Christianity among his countrymen, reached Peking and there waited four years to accomplish his purposes, but could not, owing to the presence of the hostile Manchius in Liao Tung. But just as he was returning to Japan, in 1618, another attempt was made by the Dominican friars to penetrate the sealed land. Juan de Saint Dominique, a Castilian Spaniard, who had labored as a missionary in the Philippine Islands since 1601, was the chosen man. Having secured rapid mastery of the languages of the Malay archipelago, he was selected as one well fitted to acquire Corean. With two others of the same fraternity he embarked for the shores of Morning Calm. For some reason, not known, they could not land in Corea, and so passed over to Japan, where the next year, March 19th, having met persecution, Dominique died in prison. The ashes of his body, taken from the cremation fur- nace, were cast in the sea ; but his followers, having been able to save from the fire a hand and a foot, kept the ghastly remnants as holy relics. The exact relations of "the conquering and the vassal state," as the Japanese would say, that is, of Nihon and Cho-sen, were not definitely fixed, nor the menace of war withdrawn, until the last of the line of Taiko died, and the family became extinct by the death of Hideyori, the son of Taiko, in 1612. There is not a particle of evidence that the conquerors ever ex- acted an annual tribute of "thirty human hides," as stated by a recent French writer. While lyeyasii had his hands full in Japan, he paid little attention to the country which Taiko had used as a cockpit for the Christians. lyeyasu. dealt with the Jesuit, the Christian, and the foreigner, in a manner difi'erent from, and for obvious reasons with success greater than, that of Taiko. He imi- fied Japan, re-estabUshed the dual system of mikado and sho-gun, with two capitals and two centres of authority, Kioto and Yedo. He cleared the ground for his grandson ly emits u, who at once summoned the Coreans to renew tributary relations and pay horn- CHANGES AFTER THE INVASION. 149 age to him at Yedo. Magnifying his authority, he sent, in 1623, a letter to the King of Corea, in which he styles himself Tai-kun ("Tycoon"), or Great Prince. This is the equivalent in Chinese pronunciation of the pure Japanese 0-gimi, an ancient title applied only to the mikado. No assumption or presumption of pomp and power was, however, scrupled at by the successors of lyeyasu. The title "Tycoon," too, v/as intended to overawe the Coreans, as being even higher than the title Koku (king of a [tributary] country), which their sovereign and the Ashikaga line of rulers held by patents from the Emperor of China, and which Taiko had scornfully refused. The court at Seoul responded to the call, and, in 1624, sent an embassy with congratulations and costly presents. The envoys landed in Hizen, and made their journey overland, taking the same route so often traversed by the Hollanders at Deshima, and described by Kaempf er, Thunberg, and others. A sketch by a Yedo artist has depicted the gorgeous scene in the castle of the " Ty- coon." Seated on silken cushions, on a raised dais, behind the bamboo curtains, with sword-bearer in his rear, in presence of his lords, all in imitation of the imperial throne room in Kioto, the haughty ruler received from the Corean envoy the symbol of vas- salage — a gohei or wand on which strips of white paper are hung. Then followed the official banquet. Since the invasion, Fusan, as before, had been held and garri- soned by the retainers of the daimio of. Tsushima. At this port all the commerce between the two nations took place. The inter- change of commodities was established on an amicable basis. Jap- anese swords, military equipments, works of art, and raw prod- ucts were exchanged for Corean merchandise. Having felt the power of the eastern sword-blades, and unable to perfect their own clumsy iron hangers, either in temper, edge, or material, they gladly bought of the Japanese, keeping their sword-makers busy. Kaempfer, who was at Nagasaki from September 24, 1690, to No- vember, 1692, tells us that the Japanese imported from Fusan scarce medicinal plants, especially ginseng, walnuts, and fruits ; the best pickled fish, and some few manufactures ; among which was "a certain sort of earthen pots made in Japij and Ninke, two Tartaiian provinces." These ceramic oddities were "much esteemed by the Japanese, and bought very dear." From an American or British point of view, there was little trade done between the two countries, but on the strength of even 150 COREA. this small amount, Earl Kussell, in 1862, tried to get Great Britain included as a co-trader between Japan and Corea. He was not suc- cessful. Provision was also made for those who might be cast, by the perils of the sea, upon the shore of either country. At the ex- pense of the Yedo government a Chosen YashiJci (Corean House), was built at Nagasaki. From whatever part of the Japanese shores the waifs were picked up, they were sent to Nagasaki, fed and sheltered tmtil a junk could be despatched to Fusan. These un- fortunates were mostly fishermen, who, in some cases, had their wives and children with them. It was from such that Siebold ob- tained the materials for his notes, vocabulary, and sketches in the Corean department of his great Archiv. The possession of Fusan by the Japanese was, until 1876, a perpetual witness of the humiliating defeat of the Coreans in the war of 1592-1597, and a constant irritation to their national pride. Their popular historians, passing over the facts of the case, substi- tute pleasing fiction to gratify the popular taste. The subjoined note of explanation, given by Dallet, attached to a map of Corea of home manufacture, thus accounts for the presence of the foreigners. The substance of the note is as follows : During the sixteenth century many of the barbarous inhabitants of Tsushima left that island, and, coming over to Corea, established themselves on the coast of Corea, in three little ports, called Fusan, Yum, and Chisi, and rapidly increased in numbers. About five years after Chung-chong ascended the throne, the barbarians of Fusan and Yum made trouble. They destroyed the walls of the city of Fusan, and killed also the city governor, named Ni Utsa. Being subdued by the royal troops, they could no longer live in these ports, but were driven into the interior. A short time afterward, having asked pardon for their crimes, they obtained it and came and es- tablished themselves again at the ports. This was only for a short time, for a few years afterward, a little before the year 1592, they aU returned to their country, Tsushima. In the year 1599 the king, Syen-cho, held communication with the Tsushima barbarians. It happened that he invited them to the places which they had quitted on the coast of Corea, built houses for them, treated them with great kindness, established for their benefit a market during five days in each month, beginning on the third day of the month, and when they had a great quantity of merchandise on hand to dispose of he even permitted them to hold it still oftener. This is a good specimen of Corean varnish-work carried into CHANGES AFTER THE INVASION. 151 history. The rough facts are smoothed over by that well-applied native lacquer, which is said to resemble gold to the eye. The official gloss has been smeared over more modern events with equal success, and even defeat is turned into golden victory. Yet, with all the miseries inflicted upon 'her, the humble nation learned rich lessons and gained many an advantage even from her enemy. The embassies, which were yearly despatched to yield homage to their late invaders, were at the expense of the latter. The Japanese pride purchased, at a dear rate, the empty bubble of homage, by paying all the bills. We may even suspect that a grim joke was practised upon the victors by the vanquished. Year by year they swelled the pomp and numbers of their train until, finally, it reached the absurd number of four hundred per- sons. With imperturbable effrontery they devastated the treasury of their "Tycoon." To receive an appointment on the embassy to Yedo was reckoned a rich sinecure. It enabled the possessor to enjoy an expensive picnic of three months, two of which were at the cost of the entertainers. Landing in Chikuzen, or Hizen, they slowly journeyed overland to Yedo, and, after their merry- making in the capital, leisurely made their jaunt back again. For nearly a century the Yedo government appeared to relish the sen- sation of having a crowd of people from across the sea come to pay homage and bear witness to the greatness of the Tokugawa family. In 1710 a special gateway was erected in the castle at Yedo to impress the embassy from Seoul, who were to arrive next year, with the serene glory of the sho-gun lyenobu. From a pa- vihon near by the embassy's quarters, the Tycoon himself was a spectator of the feats of archery, on horseback, in which the Co- reans excelled. The intolerable expense at last compelled the Yedo rulers to dispense with such costly vassalage, and to spoil what was, to their guests, a pleasant game. Ordering them to come only as far as Tsushima, they were entertained by the So family of daimios, who were allowed by the " Tycoon " a stipend in gold kobans for this purpose. A great social custom, that has become a national habit, was introduced by the Japanese when they brought over the tobacco plant and taught its properties, culture, and use. The copious testimony of all visitors, and the rich vocabulary of terms relating to the culture, curing, and preparation of tobacco show that the crop that is yearly raised from the soil merely for purposes of waste in smoke is very large. In the personal equipment of every 152 COREA. male Corean, and often in that of women and children, a tobacco pouch and materials for firing forms an indispensable part. The smoker does not feel " dressed " without his well-filled bag. Into the forms of hospitality, the requisites of threshold gossip and social enjoyment, and for all other purposes, real or imaginary, which nicotine can aid or abet, tobacco has entered not merely as a lux- ury or ornament, but as a necessity. Another great change for the better, in the improvement of the national garb, dates from the sixteenth century, and very probably from the Japanese invasion. This was the introduction of the cot- ton plant. Hitherto, silk for the very rich, and hemp and sea grass for the middle and poorer classes, had been the rule. In the north, furs were worn to a large extent, while plaited straw for various parts of the Hmbs served for clothing, as well as pro- tection against storm and rain. The vegetable fibres were bleached to give whiteness. Cotton now began to be generally cultivated and woven. It is true that authorities do not agree as to the date of the first use of this plant. Dallet reports that cotton was formerly unknown in Corea, but was grown in China, and that the Chinese, in order to preserve a market for their textile fabrics within the peninsula, rigorously guarded, with all possible precautions, against the exportation of a single one of the precious seeds. One of the members of the annual embassy to Peking, with great tact, succeeded in procuring a few grains of cotton seed, which he concealed in the quill of his hat feather. Thus, in a manner similar to the traditional account of the bringing of silk- worms' eggs inside a staff to Constantinople from China, the pre- cious shrub reached Corea about five hundred years ago. It is now cultivated successfully in the peninsula in latitude far above that of the cotton belt in America, and even in Manchuria, the most northern limit of its growth. It is evident that a country which contains cotton, crocodiles, and tigers, cannot have a very bleak climate. It seems more probable that though the first seeds may have been brought from China, the cultivation of this vegetable wool was not pursued upon a large scale until after the Japanese invasion. Our reasons for ques- tioning the accuracy of the date given in the common tradition is, that it is certain that cotton was not known in Northern China five hundred years ago. It was introduced into Central China from Turkestan in the fourteenth century, though known in the extreme CHANGES AFTER THE INVASION. 153 soutli before tliat time. Tlie CMnese pay divine honors to one Hwang Tao Po, the reputed instructress in the art of spinning and weaving the ".tree-wool." She is said to have come from Hainan Island. Though cotton was first brought to Japan by a Hindoo, in the year 799, yet the art of its culture seems to have been lost during the long civil wars of the middle ages. The fact that it had become extinct is shown in a verse of poetry composed by a court noble in 1248. " The cotton-seed, that was planted by the foreigner and not by the natives, has died away." In another Japanese book^ written about 1570, it is stated that cotton had again been intro- duced and planted in the southern provinces. The Portuguese, trading at Nagasaki, made cotton wool a fa- miliar object to the Japanese soldiers. While the army was in Corea a European ship, driven far out of her course and much damaged by the storm, anchored off Yokohama. Being kindly treated while refitting, the captain, among other gifts to the daimio of the pro^sdnce, gave him a bag of cotton seeds, which were distributed. The yarn selling at a high price, the culture of the shrub spread rapidly through the provinces of Eastern and Northern Japan, being already common in the south provinces. Even if the culture of cotton was not introduced into Corea by the Japanese army, it is certain that it has been largely exported from Japan during the last two centuries. The increase of gen- eral comfort by this one article of wear and use can hardly be es- timated. Not only as wool and fibre, but in the oil from its seeds, the nation added largely to the sum of its blessings. Paper, from silk and hemp, rice stalk fibres, mulberry bark, and other such raw material, had long been made by the Chinese, but it is probable that the Coreans, first of the nations of Chinese Asia, made paper from cotton wool. For this manufacture they to-day are famed. Their paper is highly prized in Peking and Japan for its extreme thickness and toughness. It forms part of the annual tribute which the embassies carry to Peking. It is often thick enough to be split into several layers, and is much used by the tailors of the Chinese metropoHs as a lining for the coats of mandarins and gentlemen. It also serves for the covering of window-frames, and a sewed wad of from ten to fifteen thick- nesses of it make a kind of armor which the troops wear. It wiU resist a musket-baU, but not a rifle-bullet. CHAPTEK XXL THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. The Shan-yan Alin, or E^^er- White Mountains, stand like a wall along the northern boundary of the Corean peninsula. Irregular mountain masses and outjutting ranges of hills form its buttresses, while, at intervals, lofty peaks rise as towers. These are all over- topped by the central spire Paik-tu, or Whitehead, which may be over ten thousand feet high. From its bases flow out the Yalu, Tumen, and Hurka Rivers. From primeval times the dwellers at the foot of this mountain, who saw its ever hoary head lost in the clouds, or glistening with fresh-fallen snow, conceived of a spirit dwelling on its heights in the form of a virgin in white. Her servants were animals in white fur and birds in white plumage. When Buddhism entered the peninsula, as in China and Japan, so, in Corea, it absorbed the local deities, and hailed them under new names, as previous incarnations of Buddha before his avatar in India, or the true advent of the precious faith through his mis- sionaries. They were thenceforth adopted into the Buddhist pan- theon, and numbered among the worshipped Buddhas. The spirit of the Ever- White Mountains, the virgin in ever-white robes, named Manchusri, whose home lay among the unmelting snows, was one of these. Perhaps it was from this deity that the Man- chius, the ancestors of the ruling dynasty of China, the wearers of the world-famous hair tails, took their name. According to Manchiu legend, as given by Professor Douglas, it is said that "in remote ages, three heaven-born virgins dwelt beneath the shadow of the Great White Mountains, and that, while they were bathing in a lake which reflected in its bosom the snowy clad peaks which towered above it, a magpie dropped a blood red fruit on the clothes of the youngest. This the maiden instinctively devoured, and forthwith conceived and bore a son, whose name they called Ai-sin Ghioro, which being interpreted is ■THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. 155 Home of the Manchius, and Their Migrations. 156 COREA. the ' Golden Family Stem,' and which is the family name of the em- perors of China. When his mother had entered the icy cave of the dead, her son embarked on a little boat, and floated down the river Hurka, imtil he reached a district occupied by three families who were at war with each other. The personal appearance of the supernatural youth so impressed these warlike chiefs that they forgot their enmities, and hailed him as their ruler. The town of 0-to-le [Odoli] was chosen as his capital, and from that day his people waxed fat and kicked against their oppressors, the Chinese." The home of the Manchius was, as this legend shows, on the north side of the Ever-White Mountains, in the valley of the Hurka. From beyond these mountains was to roll upon China and Corea another avalanche of invasion. Beginning to be restless in the fourteenth century, they had, in the sixteenth, consolidated so many tribes, and were so strong in men and horses, that they openly de- fied the Chinese. The formidable expeditions of Li-yu-sun, previous to the Japanese invasion of Corea, kept them at bay for a time, but the immense expenditure of life and treasure required to fight the Japanese, drained the resources of the Ming emperors, while their attention being drawn away from the north, the Manchiu hordes massed their forces and grew daily in wealth, numbers, discipline, and courage. The invasion of Cho-sen by the Japanese veterans was one of the causes of the weakness and fall of the Ming dynasty. To repress the rising power in the north, and to smother the life of the young nation, the Peking government resorted to bar- barous cruelties and stern coercion, in which bloodshed was con- tinual. Unable to protect the eastern border of Liao Tung, the entire population of three hundred thousand souls, dwelling in four cities and many villages, were removed westward and resettled on new lands. Fortresses were planned, but not finished, in the de- serted land, to keep back the restless cavalry raiders from the north. Thus the foundation of the neutral strip of fifty miles was uncon- sciously laid, and ten thousand square miles of fair and fertile land, west of the Yalu, was abandoned to the wolf and tiger. What it soon became, it has remained until yesterday — a howling wilderness. (See map on page 155.) Unable to meet these cotton-armored raiders in the field, the Ming emperor ordered, and in 1615 consummated, the assassina- tion of their king. This exasperated all the Manchiu tribes to vengeance, and hostilities on a large scale at once began by a southwest movement into Liao Tung. THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. 157 China had now again to face an invasion greater than the Jap- anese, for this time a whole nation was behind it. Calling on her vassal, the Eastern Kingdom, to send an army of twenty thou- sand men, she ordered them to join the imperial army at Hing- king. This city, now called Yen-den, lies about seventy miles west of the Yalu Kiver, near the 42 d parallel, just beyond what was " the neutral strip," and inside the palisades erected later. In the battle, which ensued, the Coreans first faced the Manchius. The imperial legions were beaten, and the Coreans, seeing which way the victory would finally turn, deserted from the Chinese side to that of their enemy. This was in 1619. The Manchiu general sent back some of the runaway Coreans to their king, intimating that, though the Coreans were acting gratefully in assisting the Chinese, who had formerly helped the Coreans against the Japanese, yet it might hereafter be better to remain neutral. So far from taking any notice of this letter, the government at Seoul allowed the king's subjects to cross the Yalu and assist the people of Liao Tung against the Manchius, who were making Hing-king their capital. At the same time the Chi- nese commander was permitted to enter Corea, and thence to make expeditions against the Manchius, by which they inflicted great damage upon the enemy. This continued until the winter of 1827, when the Manchius, having lost all patience with Corea, prepared to invade the peninsula. Compelling two refugees to act as their guides, they crossed the frozen Yalu in four divisions, in February, and at once attacked the Chinese army, which was defeated, and retreated into Liao Tung. They then began the march to Seoul. Ai-chiu was the first town taken, and then, after crossing the Ching-chong River, followed in succession the cities lining the high road to Ping-an. Thence, over the Tatong River, they pressed on to Seoul, the Coreans everywhere flying before them. Thousands of dwellings and magazines of provisions were given to the flames, and their trail was one of blood and ashes. Among the slain were two Hollanders, who were captives in the country. Heretofore a Hne of strong palisades had separated Corea from Manchuria, on the north, but large portions of it were destroyed at this time in the constant forays along the border. Those parts which stood yet intact were often seen by travellers along the Manchurian side as late as toward the end of the last century. Since then this wooden wall, a pigmy imitation of China's colossal embargo in masonry, has gradually fallen into decay. 158 COREA. The Manchius invested Seoul and began its siege in earnest. !riie queen and ladies of the court had already been sent to Kang-wa Island. The king, to avoid further shedding of blood, sent tribute offerings to the invaders, and concluded a treaty of peace by which Cho-sen again exchanged masters, the king not only acknowledging from the Manchiu sovereign the right of in- vestiture, but also direct authority over his person, that is, the relation of master and subject. The Coreans now waited to see whether events were likely to modify their new relations, so reluctantly entered into, for the Chi- nese were far from beaten as yet. When free from the presence of the invading army the coui-age of the ministers rose, and by their advice the king, by gradual encroachments and neglect, an- nulled the treaty. No sooner were the Manchius able to spare their forces for the purpose, than, turning from China, they marched into Corea, one hundred thousand strong, well supplied with provisions and bag- gage-wagons. Entering the peninsula, both at Ai-chiu and by the northern pass, they reached Seoul, and, after severe fighting, en- tered it. Being now provided with cannon and boats, they took Kang-wa, into which all the royal, and many of the noble, ladies had fled for safety. The king now came to terms, and made a treaty in February, 1637, in which he utterly renounced his allegiance to the Ming emperor, agreed to give his two sons as hostages, promised to send an annual embassy, with tribute, to the Manchiu court, and to establish a market at the Border Gate, in Liao Tung. These covenants were ratified by the solemn ceremonial of the king, his sons and his ministers confessing their crimes and making "kow- tow " (bowing nine times to the earth). Tartar and Corean wor- shipped together before Heaven, and the altar erected to Heaven's honor. A memorial stone, erected near this sacred place, com- memorates the clemency of the Manchiu conqueror. In obedience to the orders of their new masters, the Coreans despatched ships, loaded with grain, to feed the armies operating against Peking, and sent a small force beyond the Tumen to chas- tise a tribe that had rebelled against their conquerors. A picked body of their matchlock men was also admitted into the Manchiu service. After the evacuation of Corea, the victors marched into China, where bloody, civil war was already raging. The imperial army THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. 159 was badly beaten by the rebels headed by the usurper Li-tse- ching. The Manchius joined their forces with the Imperialists, and defeated the rebels, and then demanded the price of their victory. Entering Peking, they proclaimed the downfall of the house of Ming. The Tatar (vassal) was now a "Tartar." The son of their late king was set upon the dragon-throne and pro- claimed the Whang Ti, the Son of Heaven, and the Lord of the Middle Kingdom and all her vassals. The following tribute was fixed for Cho-sen to pay annually : 100 ounces of gold, 1,000 ounces of silver, 10,000 bags of rice, 2,000 pieces of silk, 300 pieces of linen, 10,000 pieces of cotton cloth, 400 pieces of hemp cloth, 100 pieces of fine hemp cloth, 10,000 rolls (fifty sheets each) of large paper, 1,000 rolls small sized paper, 2,000 knives (good quality), 1,000 ox-horns, 40 de- corated mats, 200 pounds of dye-wood, 10 boxes of pepper, 100 tiger skins, 100 deer skins, 400 beaver skins, 200 skins of blue (musk ?) rats. "When, as it happened the very next year, the sho-gun of Japan demanded an increase of tribute to be paid in Yedo, the court of Seoul plead in excuse their wasted resources consequent upon the war with the Manchius, and their heavy burdens newly laid upon them. Their excuse was accepted. Twice, within a single generation, had the little peninsula been devastated by two mighty invasions that ate up the land. Between the mountaineers of the north, and "the brigands" from over the sea, Corea was left the Issachar among nations. The once strong ass couched down between two burdens. "And he saw that the rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute." The Manchius, being of different stock and blood from the Chinese, yet imposed their dress and method of wearing the hair upon the millions of Chinese people, but here their tyranny seemed to stop. Hitherto, the Chinese and Corean method of rolHng the hair in a knot or ball, on the top of the head, had been the fashion for ages. As a sign of loyalty to the new rulers, all people in the Middle Kingdom were compelled to shave the fore- front of the head and allow their hair to grow in a queue, or pig- tail, behind on their back. At first they resisted, and much blood was shed before all submitted ; but, at length, the once odious mark of savagery and foreign conquest became the national fash- ion, and the Chinaman's pride at home and abroad. Even in 160 CORE A. foreign lands, they cling to this mark of their loyalty as to life and country. The object of the recent queue-cutting plots, fo- mented by the political, secret societies of China, is to insult the imperial family at Peking by robbing the Chinese of their loyal appendage, and the special sign of the Tartar dominion. As a special favor to the Coreans who first submitted to the new masters of Kathay, they were spared the infliction of the queue, and allowed to dress their hair in the ancient style. The Corean king hastened to send congratulations to the em- peror, Shun Chi, which ingratiated him still more in favor at Peking. In 1650 a captive Corean maid, taken prisoner in their first invasion, became sixth lady in rank in the imperial house- hold. Through her influence her father, the ambassador, obtained a considerable diminution of the annual tribute, fixed upon in the terms of capitulation in 1637. In 1643, one-third of this tribute had been remitted, so that, by this last reduction, in 1650, the tax upon Corean loyalty was indeed very slight. Indeed it has long been considered by the Peking government that the Coreans get about as much as they give, and the embassy is one of ceremony rather than of tribute-bringing. Their offering is rather a per- centage paid for license to trade, than a symbol of vassalage. Nevertheless, the Coreans of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies found out, to their cost, that any lack of due deference was an expensive item of freedom. Every jot and tittle, or tithe of the mint or anise of etiquette, was exacted by the proud Man- chius. In 1695, the king of Cho-sen was fined ten thousand ounces of silver for the omission of some punctilio of vassalage. At the investiture of each sovereign in Seoul, two grandees were sent from Peking to confer the patent of royalty. The little bill for this costly favor was about ten thousand taels, or dollars, in silver. The Coreans also erected, near one of the gates of Seoul, a temple, which still stands, in honor of the Manchius general commanding the invasion, and to whom, to this day, they pay semi-divine hon- ors. Yet to encourage patriotism it was permitted, by royal de- cree, to the descendants of the minister who refused, at the Yalu Eiver, to allow the Manchius to cross, and who thereby lost hit life, to erect to his memory a monumental gate, a mark of high honor only rarely granted. The Jesuits at Peking succeeded in ingratiating themselves with the conquerors, and Shun-chi, the emperor, was a pupil of Adam Schall, a German Jesuit, who became President of the Board THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. 161 11 162 CORE A. of Mathematicians. Nevertheless, in the troubles preceding the peace, many upright men lost their lives, and hundreds of schol- ars who hated the Tatar conquerors of their beloved China — as the Christians of Constantinople hated the Turks — fled to Corea and Japan, conferring great literary influence and benefit. In both countries their presence greatly stimulated the critical study of Chinese Uterature. With the Mito and Yedo scholars in Japan, they assisted to promote the revival of learning, so long neglected during the civil wars. At Nagasaki, a Chinese colony of merchants, and trade between the two countries, were established, after the last hope of restoring the Mings had been extinguished in Koku- senya (Coxinga), who also drove the Dutch from Formosa. This exodus of scholars was somewhat like the dispersion of the Greek scholars through Europe after the fall of the Byzantine empire. To the Jesuits in Peking, who were mostly Frenchmen, belongs the credit of beginning that whole system of modern culture, by which modern science and Christianity are yet to transform the Chinese mind, and recast the ideas of this mighty people con- cerning nature and Deity. They now began to make known in Europe much valuable information about China and her outlying tributary states. They sent home a map of Corea — the first seen in Europe. Imperfect, though it was, it made the hermit land more than a mere name. In " China Illustrata," written by the Jesuit Martini, and published in 1649, in Amsterdam — the city of printing presses and the Leipsic of that day — there is a map of Corea. The same industrious scholar wrote, in Latin, a book, en- titled " De Bello inter Tartaros et Seniensis " (On the War between the Manchius and the Chinese), which was issued at Antwerp in 1654, and in Amsterdam in 1661. It was also translated into English, French, and Spanish, the editions being issued at Lon- don, Donay, and Madrid. The English title is " Bellum Tartari- cum ; or, the Conquest of the Great and Most Eenowned Empire of China by the Invasion of the [Manchiu] Tartars," London, 1654, octavo. The Dutch had long tried to get a hand in the trade of China, and, in 1604, 1622, and 1653, had sent fleets of trading vessels to Chinese ports, but were in every instance refused. The Russians, however, were first allowed to trade on the northern frontier of China before the same privileges were granted to other Europeans. The Cossacks, when they first crossed the Ural Mountains, in 1579, with their faces set toward the Pacific, never ceased their advance THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. ' 163 till they had added to the Czar's domain a portion of the earth's surface as large as the United States, and half of Europe. Once on the steppes, there began that long duel between Cossack and Tar- tar, which never ended until the boundaries of Kussia touched those of Corea, Japan, and British America. Cossacks discovered, explored, conquered, and settled this triple-zoned region of frozen moss, forest land and fertile soil, bringing over six million square miles of territory under the wings of the double-headed eagle. They brought reports of Corea to Eussia, and it was from Kussian sources that Sir John Campbell obtained the substance of his "Commercial History of Chorea and Japan" in his voyages and travels, printed in London, 1771. In 1645, a party of Japanese traversed Cho-sen from Ai-chiu to Fusan, the Dan and Beersheba of the peninsula. Eeturning from their travels, one of them wrote a book called the "Romance of Corea" (Cho-sen Monogatari). Takeuchi Tosaemon and his son, Tozo, and shipmaster Kunida Hisosaemon, on April 26, 1645, left the port of Mikuni in the province of Echizen — the same place to which the first native of Corea is said to have reached Japan in the legendary period. With three large junks, whose crews num- bered fifty-eight men, they set sail for the north on a trading voy- age. Off the island of Sado a fearful storm broke upon them, which, after fifteen days, drove them on the mountain coast of Tartary, where they landed, May 12th, to refit and get fresh water. At first the people treated them peacefully, trading off their gin- seng for the sake, or rice-beer, of the Japanese. Later on, the Japanese were attacked by the natives, and twenty-five of their number slain. The remainder were taken to Peking, where they remained until the winter of 1646. Honorably acquitted of all blame, they were sent homeward, into the Eastern Kingdom, under safe conduct of the Chinese emperor Shun-chi. They began the journey December 18th, and, crossing the snow-covered mountains and frozen rivers of Liao Tung, reached Seoul, after twenty-eight days travel, February 3, 1647. The Japanese were entertained in magnificent style in one of the royal houses with banquets, numerous servants, presents, and the at- tendance of an officer, named Kan-shun, who took them around the city and showed them the sights. The paintings on the palace walls, the tiger-skin rugs, the libraries of handsomely bound books, the festivities of New Year's day, the evergreen trees and fine scenery, were all novel and pleasing to the Japanese, but still they longed 164 CORE A. to reacli home. Leaving Seoul, February 12tli, they passed through a large city, where, at sunset and sunrise, they heard the trum- peters call the laborers to begin and cease work. They noticed that the official class inscribed on their walls the names and dates of reign and death of the royal line from the founder of the dynasty to the father of the ruling sovereign. This served as an ob- ject lesson in history for the young. The merchants kept in their houses a picture of the famous Tao-jo-kung, who, by skill in trade, accumulated fortunes only to spend them among his friends. On February 21st, they passed through Shang-shen (or Shang-chiu ?), where the Japanese gained a great victory. In passing along the Nak-tong River, they witnessed the an- nual trial of archery for the military examinations. The targets were straw mannikins, set up on boats, in the middle of the river. On March 6th they reached Fusan. The Japanese settlement, called Nippon-machi, or Japan Street, was outside the gates of the town, a guard-house being kept up to keep the Japanese away. Only twice a year, on August 15th and 16th, were they allowed to leave their quarters to visit a temple in the town. The Coreans, however, were free to enter the Japanese concession to visit or trade. The waifs were taken into the house of the daimio of Tsushima, and glad, indeed, were they to talk with a fellow countryman. Sailing to Tsushima, they were able there to get Japanese clothes, and, on July 19th, they reached Ozaka, and finally their homes in Echizen. One of their number wrote out an account of his adventures. Among other interesting facts, he states that he saw, hanging in the palace at Peking, a portrait of Yoshitsune, the Japanese hero, who, as some of his countrymen believe, fled the country and, landing in Manchuria, became the mighty warrior Genghis Khan. "Whether mistaken or not, the note of the Japanese is in« teresting. Mr. Leon Pages, in his " Histoire de la Religion Chretienne au Japon," says that these men referred to above found estab- lished in the capital a Japanese commercial factory, but with the very severe restrictions similar to those imposed upon the Hollan- ders at Deshima. This is evidently a mistake. There was no trad- ing mart in the capital, but there was, and had been, one at Fusan, which still exists in most flourishing condition. The Manchius, from the first, showed themselves " the most improvable race in Asia." In 1707, under the patronage of the THE ISSACHAR OF EASTERN ASIA. 165 renowned emperor Kang Hi, tlie Jesuits in Peking began their great geographical enterprise — the survey of the Chinese Empire, including the outlying vassal kingdoms. From the king's palace, at Seoul, Kang Hi's envoy obtained a map of Corea, which was re- duced, drawn, and sent to Europe to be engraved and printed. From this original, most of the maps and supposed Corean names in books, published since that time, have been copied. Having no Corean interpreter at hand, the Jesuit cartographers gave the Chinese sounds of the characters which represent the local names. Hence the discrepancies between this map and the reports of the Dutch, Japanese, French, and American travellers, who give the V/ -> - J ^ ^_Jc n-son ^ / V n/Hun-chTia ^ hN '^' Kion wen \ Xion-f irn^ /n)" } ^ K ^^ 'x •) ° yj^ JoMaTcodaU y--^" 300 M. ^ S J \_ PuJRion 1 ( Map illustrating the Jesuit Survey of 1709. vernacular pronunciation. To French genius and labor, from first to last, we owe most of what is known in Europe concerning the secluded nation. The Jesuits' map is accurate as regards the lati- tude and longitude of many places, but lacking in true coast lines. While making their surveys, the party of missionaries, whose assignment of the work was to Eastern Manchuria, caught some- thing like a Pisgah glimpse of the country which, before a centmy elapsed, was to become a land of promise to French Christianity. In 1709, as they looked across the Tumen Kiver, they wrote : " It was a new sight to us after we had crossed so many forests, and coasted so many frightful mountains to find ourselves on the banks of the 166 COREA. river Tumen-ula, with notHng but woods and wild beasts on one side, while the other presented to our view all that art and labor could produce in the best cultivated kingdoms. We there saw walled cities, and placing our instruments on the neighboring- heights, geometrically determined the location of four of them, which bounded Korea on the north." The four towns seen by the Jesuit surveyors were Kion-wen, On-son, and possibly Kion- fun and Chon-shon. The Coreans could not understand the Tartar or Chinese com- panions of the Frenchmen, but, at Hun-chun, they found interpre- ters, who told them the names of the Corean towns. The French priests were exceedingly eager and anxious to cross the river, and enter the land that seemed like the enchanted castle of Thornrose, but, being forbidden by the emperor's orders, they reluctantly turned their backs upon the smiHng cities. This was the picture of the northern border in 1707, before it was desolated, as it afterward was, so that the Eussians might not be tempted to cross over. At Hun-chun, on the Manchiu, and Kion-wen, on the Corean side of the river, once a year, alternately, that is, once in two years, at each place, a fair was held up to 1860, where the Coreans and Chinese merchants exchanged goods. The lively traffic lasted only half a day, when the nationals of either country were ordered over the border, and laggards were hastened at the spear's point. Any foreigner, Manchiu, Chinese, or even Corean suspected of being an alien, was, if found on the south side of the Tumen, at once put to death without shrift or pity. Thus the only gate of parley with the outside world on Co- rea's northern frontier resembled an embrasure or a muzzle. When at last the Cossack lance flashed, and the Kussian school- house rose, and the church spire glittered with steady radiance beyond the Tumen, this gateway became the terminus of that "underground railroad," through which the Corean slave reached his Canada beyond, or the Corean Christian sought freedom from torture and dungeons and death. CHAPTER XXII. THE DUTCHMEN IN EXILE. The old saw which tells us that "truth is stranger than fic- tion " receives many a new and unexpected confirmation when- ever a traveller into strange countries comes back to tell his tale. Marco Polo was denominated "Signor Milliano" (Lord Millions) by his incredulous hearers, because, in speaking of China, he very properly used this lofty numeral so frequently in his narratives. Mendez Pinto, though speaking truthfully of Japan's wonders, was dubbed by a pun on his Christian name, the "Mendacious," because he told what were thought to be very unchristian stories. In our own day, when Paul Du Chaillu came back from the African wilds and told of the gorilla which walked upright like a man, and could dent a gun-barrel with his teeth, most people be- heved, as a college professor of belles lettres, dropping elegant words for the nonce, once stated, that "he lied like the mischief." When lo ! the once mythic gorillas have come as live guests at Berlin and Philadelphia, while their skeletons are commonplaces in our museums. Even Stanley's African discoveries were, at first, discredited. The first European travellers in Corea, who hved to tell their tale at home, met the same fate as Polo, Pinto, Du Chaillu, and Stanley. The narratives were long doubted, and by some set down as pure fiction. Like the Indian braves that listen to Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, who, in the lodges of the plains, recount the wonders of Washington and civiHzation, the hearers are sure that they have taken "bad medicine." Later reports or personal ex- perience, however, corroborate the first accounts, and by the very commonplaceness of simple truth the first reports are robbed aHke of novelty and suspicion. The first known entrance of any number of Europeans into Corea was that of Hollanders, belonging to the crew of the Dutch ship HoUandra, which was driven ashore in 1627. In those days 168 COREA. the Dutch were pushing their adventurous progress in the east- ern seas as well as on the American waters. They had forts, trading .settlements, or prosperous cities in Java, Sumatra, the Spice Islands, Formosa, and the ports of Southern Japan. The shores of these archipelagoes and continents being then little known, and slightly surveyed, shipwrecks were very frequent. The profits of a prosperous voyage usually repaid all losses of ships, though it is estimated that three out of five were lost. The passage between China and Japan and up the seas south of Corea, has, from ancient times, been difficult, even to a Chinese proverb. A big, blue-eyed, red-bearded, robust Dutchman, named John "Wetterree, whose native town was Eip, in North Holland, volun- teered on board the Dutch ship HoUandra in 1626, in order to get to Japan. In that wonderful country, during the previous seventeen years, his fellow-countrymen had been trading and making rich fortunes, occasionally fighting on the seas with the Portuguese and other buccaneers of the period. The good ship, after a long voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, and through the Indian and Chinese Seas, was almost in sight of Japan. Coasting along the Corean shores, Mr. John Wetterree and some companions went ashore to get water, and there were captured by the natives. The Coreans were evidently quite mlling to have such a man at hand, for use rather than orna- ment. After the Japanese invasions a spasm of enterprise in the way of fortification, architecture, and development of their mili- tary resources possessed them, and to have a big-nosed and red- bearded foreigner, a genuine "Nam-ban," or barbarian of the south, was a prize. To both Coreans and Japanese, the Europeans, as coming in ships from the southward, were called " Southern- ers," or "Southern savages." Later on, after learning new les- sons in geography, they called them "Westerners," or "Bar- barians from the West." Like the black potentates of Africa, who like to possess a white man, believing him to be a "spirit," or a New Zealand chief, who values the presence of a "paheka Maori" (Englishman), the Co- reans of that day considered their western " devil " a piece of prop- erty worth many tiger skins. It may be remembered — and the Coreans may have borrowed the idea thence — that the Japanese, then beginning their hermit policy, had also a white foreigner in durance for their benefit. This was the Englishman WiU Adams, who had been a pilot on a Dutch ship that sailed from the same THE DUTCHMEN IN EXILE. 169 Texel Kiver. Perhaps the boy Wetterree had seen and talked with the doughty Briton on the wharves of the Dutch port. Adams served the Japanese as interpreter, state adviser, ship ar- chitect, mathematician, and in various useful ways, but was never allowed to leave Japan. It is highly probable that the ambassadors from Seoul, while in Yedo, saw Will Adams, since he spent much of his time in public among the officials and people, living there until May, 1620. The magnates of Seoul probably desired to have a like facto- tum, and this explains why Wetterree was treated with kindness and comparative honor, though kept as a prisoner. When the Manchius invaded Corea, in 1635, his two companions were killed in the wars, and Wetterree was left alone. Having no one with whom he could converse, he had almost forgotten his native speech, when after twenty-seven years of exile, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, he met some of his fellow-Hollanders and acted as interpreter to the Coreans, under the following circumstances : In January, 1653, the Dutch ship Sparwehr (Sparrowhawk) left Texel Island, bound for Nagasaki. Among the crew was Hendrik Hamel, the supercargo, who afterward became the his- torian of their adventures. After nearly five months' voyage, they reached Batavia, June 1st, and Formosa July 16th. From this island they steered for Japan, fortunately meeting no "wild Chi- nese " or pirates on their course. Off Quelpart Island, a dreadful storm arose, and, being close on a lee shore with death staring all in the face, the captain ordered them " to cut down the mast and go to their prayers." The ship went to pieces, but thirty-six out of the sixty-four men composing the crew reached the shore alive. The local magistrate, an elder of some seventy years of age, who knew a little Dutch, met them with his retainers, and learned their plight, who they were, and whence they came. The Hollanders were first refreshed with rice-water. The Coreans then collected the pieces of the broken ship, and aU they could get from the hulk, and burned them for the sake of the metal. One of the iron articles happened to be a loaded cannon, which went off during the firing. The liquor casks were speedily emptied into the gnillets of the wreckers, and the result was a very noisy set of heathen. The old leader, however, evidently determined to draw the line between virtue and vice somewhere. He had several of the thieves seized and spanked on the spot, while others were bambooed on the soles of their feet, one so severely that his toes dropped off. 170 CORBA. On October 29th the survivors were brought by the officials to be examined by the interpreter Wetterree. The huge noses, the red beards and white faces were at once recognized by the lone exile as belonging to his own countrymen. Wetterree was very "rusty" in his native language, after twenty-seven years' nearly complete disuse, but in company with the new arrivals he xegained it all in a month. Of course, the first and last idea of the captives was how to escajpe. The native fishing-smacks were frequently driven off to Japan, which they knew must be almost in sight. One night they made an attempt to reach the sea-shore. They at first thought they were secure, when the dogs betrayed them by barking and alarming the guards. It is evident that the European body has an odor entirely dis- tinct from a Mongolian. The Abbe Hue states that even when travelling through Thibet and China, in disguise, the dogs con- tinually barked at him and almost betrayed him, even at night. In travelling, and especially when living in the Japanese city of Fu- kui, the writer had the same experience. In walking through the city streets at night, even when many hundred yards off, the Jap- anese dogs would start up barking and run toward him. This occurred repeatedly, when scores of native pedestrians were not noticed by the beasts. The French missionaries in Corea, even in disguise, report the same facts. The bafiled Hollanders were caught and officially punished after the fashion of the nursery, but so severely that some had to keep their beds for a month, in order to heal their battered flanks. Finally they were ordered to proceed to the capital, which the Dutchmen call Sior (Seoul). Hamel gives a few names of the places through which he passed. These are in the pronunciation of the local dialect, and written down in Dutch spelling. Most of them are recognizable on the map, though the real sound is nearly lost in a quagmire of Dutch letters, in which Hamel has attempted to note the quavers and semi-demi-quavers of Corean enunciation. He writes Goeree for Corea, and Tyocen-koeck for Cho-sen koku, and is probably the first European to mention Quelpart Island, on which the ship was wrecked. The first city on the mainland to which they came was Heynam (Hai-nam), in the extreme southwest of ChuUa. This was about the last of May. Thence they marched to Jeham, spending the night THE DUTCHMEN IN EXILE. 171 at Na-diou (Nai-cliiu). The giiiiner of the ship died at Je-ham, or Je-ban. They passed through San-siang (Chan-shon), and came to Tong-ap (Chon-wup ?), after crossing a high mountain, on the top of which was the spacious fortress of Il-pam San-siang. The term "San-siang," used twice here, means a fortified stronghold in the mountains, to which, in time of war, the neighboring villa- gers may fly for refuge. Teyn (Tai-in), was the next place arrived at, after which, "having baited at the Httle toT\Ti of Kuniga" (Kumku), they reached Khin-tyo (Chon-chiu), where the governor of Chillado (Chulla do) resided. This city, though a hundred miles from the sea, was very famous, and was a seat of great traffic. After this, they came to the last town of the province, Jesan, and, passing through Gunun and Jensan, reached Konsio (Kong-chiu), the capital of Chung-chong province. They reached the border of Kiung-kei by a rapid march, and, after crossing a wide river (the Han), they traversed a league, and entered Sior (Seoul). They computed the length of the joui'ney at seventy-five leagues. This, by a rough reckoning, is about the distance from Hainam to Seoul, as may be seen from the map. In the capital, as they had been along the road, the Dutchmen were like wild beasts on show. Crowds flocked to see the white- faced and red-bearded foreigners. They must have appeared to the natives as Punch looks to English children. The women were even more anxious than the men to get a good look. Every one was especially curious to see the Dutchmen drink, for it was gen- erally believed that they tucked their noses up over their ears when they drank. The size and prominence of the nasal organ of a Caucasian first strikes a Turanian with awe and fear. Thou- sands of people no doubt learned, for the first time, that the west- ern "devils" were men after all, and ate decent food and not earthworms and toads. Some of the women, so Hamel flattered himself, even went so far as to admire the fair complexions and ruddy cheeks of the Dutchmen. At the palace, the king (Yo- chong, who reigned from 1648 to 1658) improved the opportunity for a little fun. It was too good a show not to see how the ani- mals could perform. The Dutchmen laughed, sang, danced, leaped, and went through miscellaneous performances for His Majesty's benefit. For this they were rewarded with choice drink and refreshments. They were then assigned to the body-guard of the king as petty officers, and an allowance of rice was set apart for their maintenance. Chinese and Dutchmen drilled and com- 172 COREA. manded tlie palace troops, who were evidently the flower of the army. During their residence at the capital the Hollanders learned many things about the country and people, and began to be able to talk in the "Coresian" language. The ignorance and narrowness of the Coreans were almost in- credible. They could not believe what the captives told them of the size of the earth. "How could it be possible," said they, in sneering incredulity, "that the sun can shine on all the many countries you tell us of at once?" Thinking the foreigners told exaggerated lies, they fancied that the " countries " were only counties and the " cities " villages. To them Corea was very near the centre of the earth, which was China. The cold was very severe. In November the river was frozen over, and three hundred loaded horses passed over it on the ice. After they had been in Seoul three years, the "Tartar" (Man- chiu) ambassador visited Seoul, but before his arrival the captives were sent away to a fort, distant six or seven leagues, to be kept until the ambassador left, which he did in March. This fort stood on a mountain, called Numma, which required three hours to ascend. In time of war the king sought shelter within it, and it was kept provisioned for three years. Hamel does not state why he and his companions were sent away, but it was probably to con- ceal the fact that foreigners were drilling the royal troops. The suspicions of the new rulers at Peking were easily roused. When the Manchiu envoy was about to leave Seoul, some of the prisoners determined to put in execution a plan of escape. They put on Dutch clothes, under their Corean dress, and awaited their opportunity. As the envoy was on the road about to depart, some of them seized the bridle of his horse, and displaying their Dutch clothing, begged him to take them to Peking. The plan ended in failure. The Dutchmen were seized and thrown into prison. Nothing more was ever heard of them, and it was believed by their companions that they had been put to death. This was in March. In June there was another shipwreck off Quelpart Island, and Wetterree being now too old to make the journey, three of the Hollanders were sent to act as interpreters. Hamel does not give us the result of their mission. The Manchiu ambassador came again to Seoul in August. The nobles urged the king to put the Hollanders to death, and have no more trouble with them. His Majesty refused, but sent THE DUTCHMBi^ IN EXILE. 173 them back into ChuUa, allowing them each fifty pounds of rice a month for their support. They set out from Seoul in March, 1657, on horseback, passing through the same towns as on their former journey. Reaching the castle-city of " Diu-siong," they were joined by their three comrades sent to investigate the wreck at Quelpart, which made their number thirty-three. Their chief occupation was that of keeping the castle and official residence in order — an easy and congenial duty for the neat and order-loving Dutchmen. Hamel learned many of the ideas of the natives. They repre- sented their country as in the form of a long square, " in shape like a playing-card " — perhaps the Dutchmen had a pack with them to beguile the tedium of their exile. Certain it is that they still kept the arms and flag of Orange, to be used again. The exiles were not treated harshly, though in one case, after a change of masters, the new magistrate " afflicted them with fresh crosses," This "rotation in office " was evidently on account of the change on the throne. Yo-chong ceased to reign in 1658, and " a new king arose who knew not Joseph." Yen-chong suc- ceeded his father, reigning from 1658 to 1676. Two large comets appearing in the sky with their tails toward each other, frightened the Coreans, and created intense alarm. The army was ordered out, the guards were doubled, and no fires were allowed to be kindled along the coast, lest they might attract or guide invaders or a hostile force. In the last few decades, comets had appeared, said the Coreans, and in each case they had presaged war. In the first, the Japanese invasions from the east, and, in the second, the Manchius from the west. They anxiously asked the Dutchmen how comets were regarded in Holland, and probably received some new ideas in astronomy. No war, how- ever, followed, and the innocent comets gradually shrivelled up out of sight, without shaking out of their fiery hair either pesti- lence or war. The Dutchmen saw many whales blowing off the coast, and in December shoals of herring rushed by, keeping up an increasing stream of life until January, when it slackened, and in March ceased. The whales made sad havoc in these shoals, gorging themselves on the small fry. These are the herring which arrive off the coast of Whang-hai, and feed on the banks and shoals dur^ ing the season. The catching of them affords lucrative employ- ment to hundreds of junks from North China. 174 COREA. From their observations, the Dutchmen argued — one hundred and twenty years before La Perouse demonstrated the fact — that there must be a strait north of Corea, connecting with the Arctic Ocean, like that of Waigats (now called the Strait of Kara), be- tween Nova Zemla and the island lying off the northwestern end of Eussia. They thus conjectured the existence of the Straits of Tartary, west of Saghalin, before they appeared on any European map. "Waigats was discovered by the Englishman, Stephen Bur- roughs, who had been sent out by the Muscovy company to find a northwest passage to China. Their mention of it shows that they were familiar with the progress of polar research, since it was dis- covered in 1556, only seven years before they left Holland. It had even at that time, however, become a famous hunting-place for whalers and herring fishers. These marine studies of the captives, coupled with the fact that they had before attempted to escape, may have aroused the suspi- cions of the government. In February, 1663, by orders from Seoul, they were separated and put in three different towns. Twelve went to " Saysiano," five to Siun-schien, and five to Namman, their numbers being now reduced to twenty-two. Two of these places are easily found on the Japanese map. During all the years of their captivity, they seem not to have known anything of the Jap- anese at Fusan, nor the latter of them. Though thus scattered, the men were occasionally alloAved to visit each other, which they did, enjoying each other's society, sweetened with pipes and tobacco, and Hamel devoutly adds that " it was a great mercy of God that they enjoyed good health." A new governor having been appointed over them, evidently was pos- sessed with the idea of testing the skill of the bearded foreigners, with a view of improving the art productions of the country. He set the Dutchmen to work at moulding clay — perhaps to have some pottery and tiles after Dutch patterns, and the Delft system of illustrating the Bible at the fireplace. This was so manifestly against the national policy of making no improvements on any- thing, that the poor governor lost his place and suffered punish- ment. The spies informed on him to the king. An explosion of power took place, the ex-governor received ninety strokes on his shin-bones, and was disgraced from rank and office. The quon- dam improvers of the ceramic art of Corea were again set to work at pulling up grass and other menial duties about the official resi* dence. THE DUTCHMEN IN EXH^B. 175 As the years passed on, the poor exiles were in pitiful straits. Their clothing had been worn to tatters, and they were reduced even to beggary. They were accustomed to go off in companiea to seek alms of the people, for two or three weeks at a time. Those left at home, during these trips, worked at various odd joba to earn a pittance, especially at making arrows. The next year, 1664, was somewhat easier for them, their overseer being kind and gentle ; but, in 1665, the homesick fellows tried hard to escape. Iq 1666, they lost their benefactor, the good governor. Now came the time for flight. All possible preparations were made, in the way of hoarding provisions, getting fresh water ready, and studying well the place of exit. They waited for the sickness or absence of their overseer, to slacken the vigilance of their guards. In the latter part of August, or early in September, 1667, as the fourteenth year of their captivity was drawing to a close, the gov- ernor fell sick. The Dutchmen, taking time by the forelock, im- mediately, as soon as dark, on the night of September 4th, climbed the city wall, and reaching the seaside succeeded, after some par- leying, in getting a boat. "A Corean, blinded by the offer of double the value of it," sold them his fishing craft. They returned again to the city. At night they crept along the city wall, and this time the dogs were asleep, absent, or to windward, though the Dutchmen's hearts were in their mouths all the time. They carried pots of rice and water, and that darling of a Dutchman — the frying-pan. Noiselessly they slipped the wood and stone anchor, and glided out past the junks and boats in the harbor, none of the crews waking from their mats. They steered directly southeast, and on the 6th found them- selves in a current off the Goto Islands. They succeeded in land- ing, and cooked some food. Not long after, some armed natives (probably from the lingering influence of the comet) approached them cautiously, as the Japanese feared they were Coreans, and forerunners of an invading band. Hamel at once puUed out their flag, having the arms and colors of the Prince of Orange. Surrendering themselves, they stated their history, and condition, and their desire of getting home. The Japanese were kind, "but made no return for the gifts" of the Dutchmen. They finally got to Nagasaki in Japanese junks, and met their countrymen at Deshima. The annual ship from Batavia was then just about to return, and in the nick of time the waifs 176 COREA. got on board, reached Batavia November 20tli, sailed for Holland December 28tli, and on July 20, 1668, stepped ashore at home. Hamel, the supercargo of the ship, wrote a book on his return, recounting his adventures in a simple and straightforward style. It was wi'itten in Dutch and shortly after translated into French, German, and English. Four editions in Dutch are known. The English version may be found in full in the Astley, and in the Pinkerton, Collections of Voyages and Travels. The French translator indulges in skepticism concerning Hamel' s narrative, questioning especially his geographical state- ments. Before a map of Corea, with the native sounds even but approximated, it will be seen that Hamel' s story is a piece ol downright unembroidered truth. It is indeed to be regretted that this actual observer of Corean life, people, and customs gave us so little information concerning them. The fate of the other survivors of the Sparrowhawk crew was never known. Perhaps it never will be learned, as it is not likely that the Coreans would take any pains to mark the site of their graves. Yet as the tomb of Will Adams was found in Japan, by a reader of Hildreth's book, so perhaps some inquiring foreigner in Corea may discover the site of the graves of these exiles, and mark their resting-places. There is no improbability in supposing that other missing vessels, previous to the second half of the nineteenth century, shared the fate of the Sparrowhawk. The wrecks, burned for the sake of the iron, would leave no trace ; while perhaps many ship- wrecked men have pined in captivity, and dying lonely in a strange land have been put in unmarked graves. At this point, we bring to an end our sketch of the ancient and mediaeval history of Corea. Until the introduction of Chris- tianity into the peninsula, the hermit nation was uninfluenced by any ideas which the best modern life claims as its own. As with the whole world, so with its tiny fraction Corea, the door of ancient history shut, and the gate of modern history opened, when the religion of Jesus moved the hearts and minds of men. We now glance at the geography, politics, social life, and religion of the Coreans ; after which we shall narrate the story of their national life from the implanting of Christianity until their rivulet of his^ tory flowed into the stream of the world's history. II. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CORE A. POLITICAL Al^D SOCIAL COEEA. CHAPTER XXIII. THE EIGHT PROVINCES. PING-AN, OR THE PACIFIC. This province bears the not altogether appropriate name of Peaceful Quiet. It is the border land of the kingdom, containing what was for centuries the only acknowledged gate of entrance and outlet to the one neighbor which Corea willingly acknowl- edged as her superior. It contains, probably, the largest area of any province, unless it be Ham-kiung. Its northern, and a great part of its western, frontier is made by the Yalu Eiver, called also the Ap-nok, the former name referring to its sinuous course, mean- ing "dragon's windings," and the latter after its deep green color. The Yalu is the longest river in Corea. Its source is found near the 40th parallel. Flowing northwardly, for about eighty miles, the stream forms the boundary between Ping-an and Ham- kiung. Then, turning to the westward, it receives on the Manchu- rian side twelve tributaries, which run down the gorges of the Ever- White Mountains. Each of these streams is named, begin- ning westwardly, after the numerals of arithmetic. The waters of so many valleys on the west, as well as on the north and east, emptying into the Yalu, make it, in spring and fall, a turbulent stream, which sinuates like the writhing of a dragon ; whence its name. In the summer, its waters are beautifully clear, and blue or green — the Coreans having no word to distinguish between these two colors. It empties by three mouths into the Yellow Sea, its deltas, or islands, being completely submerged during the melting of the snows. It is easily navigable for junks to the town of Chan-son, a noted trading place, sixty miles from the sea. The 180 COREA. valley of tlie Yalu is extremely fertile, and well wooded, and the scenery is superb. Its navigation was long interdicted to the Chi- nese, but steamers and gunboats have entered it, and access to the fertile valley and the trade of the region will be gained by other nations. The Tong-kia River drains the neutral strip. The town nearest the frontier, and the gateway of the king- dom, is Ai-chiu. It is situated on a hill overlooking the river, and surrounded by a wall of light-colored stone. The annual- embassy always departed for its overland journey to China through its gates. Here also are the custom-house and vigilant guards, whose chief business it was to scrutinize all persons entering or leaving Corea by the high road, which traverses the town. A line of pa- trols and guard-houses picketed the river along a length of over a hundred miles. Nevertheless, most of the French missionaries have entered the mysterious peninsula through this loophole, disguising them- selves as wood-cutters, crossing the Yalu River on the ice, creeping through the water-drains in the granite wall, and passing through this town. Or they have been met by friends at appointed places along the border, and thence have travelled to the capital. Thi'ough this exit also, Corea sent to Peking or Mukden the waifs and sailors cast on her shores. A number of shipwrecked Americans, after kind treatment at the hands of the Coreans, have thus reached their homes by way of Mukden. This prosperous city, having a population of over two hundred thousand souls, and noted for its manufactures, especially in metal, is the capital of the Chinese province of Shing-king, formerly Liao Tong. It is surrounded by a long wall pierced with eight gates, one of which —that to the northeast — is called "the Corean Gate." Niu- chwang has also a "Corean Gate." Fifty miles beyond the Corean frontier is the "Border Gate" (Pien-mun), at which there was a fair held three or four times a year, the chief markets being at the exit and return of the Corean embassy to China. The value of the products here sold annually averaged over five hundred thousand dollars. In the central apart- ment of a building inhabited at either end by Chinese and Corean mandarins respectively, the customs-officers sat to collect taxes on the things bartered. The Corean merchants were obliged to pay " bonus " or tribute of about four hundred dollars to the manda- rin of Fung-wang Chang, the nearest Chinese town, who came in person to open the gates of the building for the spring fair. For THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 181 the privilege of the two autumn fairs, the Coreans were mulcted but half the sum, as the gates were then opened by an underling Map of Ping-an Province. Manchiu official. The winter fair was but of slight importance. For the various Chinese goods, and Eiu-opean cottons, the Coreans 182 COREA. bartered their furs, hides, gold dust, ginseng, and the mulberry paper used by Chinese tailors for linings, and for windows. Ping-an has the reputation of being very rich in mineral and metallic wealth. Gold and silver by report abound, but the na- tives are prohibited by the government from working the mines. The neutrality of the strip of territory, sixty miles wide and about three hundred miles long, and drained by the Tong-kia Eiver, between Cho-sen and Chin, was respected by the Chinese gov- ernment until 1875, when Li Hung Chung, on complaint of the king of Corea, made a descent on the Manchiu outlaws and squat- ters settled on the strip. Having despatched a force of troops, with gunboats up the Yalu, to co-operate with them, he found the region overspread with cultivators. The eyes of the viceroy being opened to the fertility of this land, and the navigability of the river, he proposed, in a memorial to Peking, that the land be incor- porated in the Chinese domain, but that a wall and ditch be built to isolate Corea, and that all Chinese trespassers on Corean ground be handed over to the mandarins to be sent prisoners to Mukden, and to be there beheaded, while Chinese resisting capture should be lawfully slain by Coreans. To this the Seoul government agreed. By this clever diplomacy the Chinese gained back a huge slice of valuable land, probably without the labor of digging ditches or building palisades. The old wall of stakes still remains, in an extremely dilapidated condition. Off the coast are a few islands, and a number of shallow banks, around which shell- and scale-fish abound. Chinese junks come in fleets every year in the fishing season, but their presence is permitted only on condition of their never setting foot on shore. In reality much contraband trade is done by the smugglers along the coast. A group of isl- ands near the mouth was long the nest of Chinese pirates, but these have been broken up by Li Hung Chang's gunboats. Next to the Yalu, the most important river of the province is the Ta- tong or Ping-an, which discharges a great volume of fresh water annually into the sea. A number of large towns and cities are situated on or near its banks, and the high road follows the course of the river. It is the Kubicon of Cho-sen history, and at various epochs in ancient times was the boundary river of China, or of the rival states within the peninsula. About fifty miles from its mouth is the city of Ping-an, the metropolis of the province, and the royal seat of authority, from before the Christian era, to the tenth century. Its situation renders it a natural stronghold. It THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 183 has been many times besieged by Chinese and Japanese armies, and near it many battles have been fought. " The General Sher- man affair," in 1866, in which the crew of the American schooner were murdered — which occasioned the sending of the United States naval expedition in 1871 — took place in front of the city of Ping-an. Commander J. C. Febiger, in the U. S. S. Shenandoah, visited the mouths of the river in 1869, and while vainly waiting for the arrest of the murderers, surveyed the inlet, to which he gave the name of " Shenandoah." By official enumeration, Ping-an contains 293,400 houses, and the muster-rolls give 174,538 as the number of men capable of mihtary duty. The governor resides at Ping-an. There is considerable diversity of character between the in- habitants of the eight provinces. Those of the two most north- ern, particularly of Ping-an, are more violent in temper than the other provincials. Very few nobles or official dignitaries live among them, hence very few of the refinements of the capital are to be found there. They are not over loyal to the reigning dy- nasty, and are believed to cherish enmity against it. The govern- ment keeps vigilant watch over them, repressing the first show of insubordination, lest an insurrection difficult to quell should once gain headway. It is from these provinces that most of the refugees into Eussian territory come. It was among these men that the " General Sherman affair " took place, and it is highly probable that even if the regent were really desirous of examining into the outrage, he was afraid to do so, when the strong public sentiment was wholly on the side of the murderers of the Sherman's crew. THE YELLOW-SEA PEOVINCE. All the eight circuits into which Cho-sen is divided are mari- time provinces, but this is the only one which takes its name from the body of water on which its borders lie, jutting out into the Whang-hai, or Yellow Sea, its extreme point lies neatest to Shan- tung promontory in China. Its coast line exceeds its land fron- tiers. In the period anterior to the Christian era, Whang-hai, was occupied by the tribes called the Mahan, and from the second to the sixth century, by the kingdom of Hiaksai. It has been the camping-ground of the armies of many nations. Here, besides the border forays which engaged the troops of the rival kingdoms, the Japanese, Chinese, Mongols, and Manchius, have contended 184 COREA. for victory again and again. The ravages of war, added to a some* what sterile soil, are the causes of Whang-hai being the least populated province of the eight in the peninsula. From very an- cient times the Corean peninsula has been renowned for its pearls. These are of superior lustre and great size. Even before the Christian era, when the people lived in caves and mud huts, and before they had horses or cattle, the barbaric inhabitants of this region wore necklaces of pearls, and sewed them on their cloth- ing, row upon row. They amazed the invading hordes of the Han dynasty, with such incongruous mixture of wealth and sav- agery ; as the Indians, careless of the yellow dust, surprised by their indifference to it the gold-greedy warriors of Balboa. Later on, the size and brilliancy of Corean pearls became famous all over China. They were largely exported. The Chinese merchant braved the perils of the sea, and of life among the rude Co- reans, to win lustrous gems of great price, which he bartered when at home for sums which made him quickly rich. In the twelfth century the fame of these "Eastern pearls," as they were then called, and which outrivalled even those from the Tonquin fisheries, became the cause of an attempted conquest of the penin- sula, the visions of wealth acting as a lure to the would-be inva- ders. It may even be that the Corean pearl fisheries were known by fame to the story-tellers of the "Arabian Nights Entertainments." Much of the mystic philosophy of China concerning pearls is held also by the Coreans. The Corean Elysium is a lake of pearls. In burying the dead, those who can afford it, fill the mouth of the corpse with three pearls, which, if large, will, it is believed, pre- serve the dead body from decay. This emblem of three flashing pearls, is much in vogue in native art. The gems are found on the banks lying off the coast of this province, as well as in the archipelago to the south, and at Quelpart. The industry is, at present, utterly neglected. The pearls are kept, but no use seems to be made of the brilliant nacre of the mussel-shells, which are exported to Japan, to be used in inlaying. More valuable to the modern people than the now almost aban- doned pearl mussel-beds, are the herring fisheries, which, during the season, attract fleets of junks and thousands of fishermen from the northern coast provinces of China. Opposite, at a distance of about eighty miles as the crow flies, measuring from land's end to land's end, is the populous province of Shantung, or " Country east of the mountains." On the edge of this promontory are the. THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 185 cities of Chifu and Teng Chow, while further to the east is Tien- tsin, the seaport of Peking. From the most ancient times, Chi- nese armadas have sailed, and invading armies have embarked for Corea from these ports. Over and over again has the river Ta- tong been crowded vdth fleets of junks, fluttering the dragon-ban- ners at their peaks. From the Shantung headlands, also, Chinese pirates have sailed over to the tempting coasts and green islands of Corea, to ravage, burn, and kill. To guard against these inva- ders, and to notify the arrival of foreigners, signal fires are lighted on the hill-tops, which form a cordon of flame and speed the alarm from coast to capital in a few hours. These pyrographs or fire Map of the Yeliow-sea Province. signals are called "Pong-wa." At Mok-mie' san, a mountain south of the capital, the fire-messages of the three southern provinces are received. By day, instead of the pillars of fire, are clouds of smoke, made by heaping wet chopped straw or rice-husks on the blaze. Instantly a dense white column rises in the air, which, to the sentinels from peak to peak, is eloquent of danger. In more peaceful times, Corean timber has been largely exported to Chifu, and tribute-bearing ships have sailed over to Tientsin. The Chi- nese fishermen usually appear off the coast of this province in the third month, or April, remaining until June, when their white sails, bent homeward, sink from the gaze of the vigilant sentinels 186 COREA. on tlie hillSj wlio watcli continually lest the Chinese set foot on shore. This they are forbidden to do on pain of death. In spite of the vigilance of the soldiers, however, a great deal of smuggling is done at night, between the Coreans and Chinese boatmen, at this time, and the French missionaries have repeatedly passed the barriers of this forbidden land by disembarking from Chifu junks off this coast. The island of Merin (Merin-to) has, on several occasions, been trodden by the feet of- priests who afterward became martyrs. At one time, in June, 1865, four Frenchmen en- tered "the lion's den " from this rendezvous. There is a great bank of sand and many islands off the coast, the most important of the latter being the Sir James Hall group, which was visited, in 1816, by Captains Maxwell and Hall, in the ships Lyra and Al- ceste. These forest-clad and well-cultivated islands were named after the president of the Edinburgh Geographical Society, the father of the gallant sailor and lively author who drove the first British keel through the unknown waters of the Yellow Sea. East- ward from this island cluster is a large bay and inlet near the head of which is the fortified city of Chan-yon. In January, 1867, Commander E. W. Shufeldt, in the U. S. S. Wachusett, visited this inlet to obtain redress for the murder of the crew of the American schooner General Sherman, and while vainly waiting, surveyed portions of it, giving the name of "Wachu- sett Bay to the place of anchorage. Judging from native maps, the scale of the chart made from this survey was on too large a scale, though the recent map-makers of Tokio have followed it. The southern coast also is dotted with groups of islands, and made dangerous by large shoals. One of the approaches to the national capital and the commercial city of Sunto, or Kai-seng, is navi- gable for junks, through a tortuous channel which threads the vast sand-banks formed by the Han River. Hai-chiu, the capital, is near the southern central coast, and Whang-chiu, an old baronial waUed city, is in the north, on the Ta-tong River, now, as of old, a famous boundary line. Though Whang-hai is not reckoned rich, being only the sixth in order of the eight circuits, yet there are several products of importance. Rock, or fossil salt, is plentiful. Flints for fire-arms and household use were obtained here chiefly, though the best gun-flints came from China. Lucifer matches and percussioi} rifles have destroyed, or will soon destroy, this ancient industry. One district produces excellent ginseng, which finds a ready sale, THE EIGHT PROVmCES. 187 and even from ancient times Whang-hai's pears have been cele- brated. Splendid yellov^ varnish, almost equal to gilding, is also made here. The native varnishers are expert and tasteful in its use, though far behind the inimitable Japanese. Fine brushes for pens, made of the hair of wolves' tails, are also in repute among students and merchants. The high road from the capital, after passing through Sunto, winds through the eastern central part, and crosses a range of mountains, the scenery from which is exceedingly fine. Smaller roads thread the border of the province and the larger towns, but a great portion of Whang-hai along its central length, from east to west, seems to be mountainous, and by no means densely populated. There are, in all, twenty-eight cities with magistrates. Whang-hai was never reckoned by the missionaries as among their most promising fields, yet on their map we count fifteen or more signs of the cross, betokening the presence of their con- verts, and its soil, like that of the other provinces, has more than once been reddened by the blood of men who preferred to die for their convictions, rather than live the worthless life of the pagan renegade. Most of the victims suffered at Hai-chiu, the capital, though Whang-chiu, in the north, shares the same sinister fame in a lesser degree. The people of Whang-hai are said, by the Seoul folks, to be narrow, stupid, and dull. They bear an ill name for avarice, bad faith, and a love of lying quite unusual even among Coreans. The official enumeration of houses and men fit for military duty, is 103,200 of the former and 87,170 of the latter. KIUNG-KEI, OR THE CAPITAL PEOVINCE. Kiung-kei, the smallest of the eight circuits, is politically the royal or court province, and physically the basin of the largest river inside the peninsula. The tremendous force of its current, and the volume of its waters bring down immense masses of silt annually. Beginning at a point near the capital, wide sand-banks are formed, which are bare at low water, but are flooded in time of rain, or at the melting of the spring snows. The tides rise to the height of twenty or thirty feet, creating violent eddies and currents, in which the management of ships is a matter of great difficulty. The Han is navigable for foreign vessels, certainly as far as the capital, as two French men-of-war proved in 1866, and it may be ascended still farther in light steamers. The causes 188 COREA. of the violence, coldness, and rapidity of the currents of Han River (called Salt or Salee on our charts), which have baffled French and American steamers, will be recognized by a study of its sources. The head waters of this stream are found in the dis- tant province of Kang-wen, nearly the whole breadth of the penin- sula from the mouth. Almost the entire area of this province of the river-sources, including the western watershed of the moun- tain range that walls the eastern coast, is drained by the tributa- ries which form the river, which also receives affluents from two other provinces. Pouring their united volume past the capital, shifting channels and ever new and unexpected bars and flats are PRINCE Map of the Capital Province. formed, rendering navigation, and especially warlike naval opera- tions, very difficult. Its channel is very hard to find from the sea. The French, in 1845, attempting its exploration, were foiled. Like most rivers in Cho-sen, the Han has many local names. The city of Han-Yang, or Seoul, is situated on the north side of the river, about thirty-five miles from its mouth, measuring by a straight line, or fifty miles if reckoned by the channel of the river. It lies in 37° 30' north latitude, and 127° 4' longitude, east from Greenwich. The name Han-yang, means "the fortress on the Han River." The common term applied to the royal city is Seoul, which means "the capital," just as the Japanese called the capital of their country Miako, or Kio, instead of saying Kioto. Seoul is THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 189 properly a common noun, but by popular use has become a proper name, which, in English, may be correctly written with a capital initial. According to the locality whence they come, the natives pronounce the name Say'-ool, Shay'-ool, or Say'-oor. The city is often spoken of as "the king's residence," and on foreign maps is marked "King-ki Tao," which is the name of the province. The city proper lies distant nearly a league from the river bank, but has suburbs, extending down to the sand-flats. A pamphlet lately published in the city gives it 30,723 houses, which, allovdng five in a house, would give a population of over 150,000 souls. The natui-al advantages of Seoul are excellent. On the north a high range of the Ho Mountain rises like a wall, to the east towers the Kidge of Barriers, the mighty flood of the Han rolls to the south, a bight of which washes the western suburb. The scenery from the capital is magnificent, and those walking along the city walls, as they rise over the hiU-crests and bend into the valleys, can feast their eyes on the luxuriant verdure and glori- ous mountain views for which this country is noted. The walls of the city are of crenellated masonry of varying height, averaging about twenty feet, with arched stone bridges spanning the water- courses, as seen in the reproduced photograph on page 79. The streets are narrow and tortuous. The king's castle is in the north- ern part. The high roads to the eight points of the compass start from the palace, through the city gates. Within sight from the river are the 0-j)ong san, and the Sam-kak san or three-peaked mountain, which the French have named Cock's Comb. North of the city is Cho-kei, or tide-valley, in which is a waterfall forty feet high. This spot is a great resort for tourists and picnic parties in the spring and summer. From almost any one of the hills near the city charming views of the island-dotted river may be ob- tained, and the sight of the spring floods, or of the winter ice breaking up and shooting the enormous blocks of ice with terrific force down the current, that piles them up into fantastic shapes or strews the shores, is much enjoyed by the people. Inundations are frequent and terrible in this province, but usually the water subsides quickly. Not much harm is done, and the floods enrich the soil, except where they deposit sand only. There are few large bridges over the rivers, but in the cities and towns, stone bridges, constructed with an arch and of good masonry, are built. The islands in the river near the capital are inhabited by fisher- men, who pay their taxes in fish. Another large stream which 190 CORBA. joins its waters with the Han, within a few miles from its mouth near Kang-wa Island, is the Ein-chin River, whose head waters are among the mountains at the north of Kang-wen, within thirty miles of the newly-opened port of Gen-san on the eastern coast. Several important towns are situated on or near its banks, and it is often mentioned in the histories which detail the movements of the armies, which from China, Japan, and the teeming North, have often crossed and recrossed it. Naturally, we expect to find the military geography of this province well studied by the authorities, and its strategic points strongly defended. An inspection of the map shows us that we Military Geography of Seoul. are not mistaken. Four great fortresses guard the approaches to the royal city. These are Suwen to the south, Kwang-chiu to the southeast, Sunto or Kai-seng to the north, and Kang-wa to the west. All these fortresses have been the scene of siege and battle in time past. On the walls of the first three, the rival banners of the hosts of Ming from China and of Taiko from Japan were set in alternate succession by the victors who held them during the Japanese occupation of the country, between the years 1592 and 1597. The Manchiu standards in 1637, and the French eagles in 1866, were planted on the ramparts of Kang-wa. Besides these castled cities, there are forts and redoubts along the THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 191 river banks, crowning most of the commanding headlands, or points of vantage. Over these the stars and stripes floated for three days, in 1871, when the American forces captured these strong- holds. In most cases the walls of cities and forts are not over ten feet high, though, in those of the first order, a height of twenty- five feet is obtained. None of them would offer serious difficulty to an attacking force possessing modem artillery. Kai-seng, or Sunto, is one of the most important, if not the chief, commercial city in the kingdom, and from 960 to 1392, it was the national capital. The chief staple of manufacture and sale is the coarse cotton cloth, white and colored, which forms the national dress. Kang-wa, on the island of the same name at the mouth of the Han Kiver, is the favorite fortress, to which the royal family are sent for safety in time of war, or are banished in case of deposition. Kang-wa means "the river-flower." During the Manchiu invasion, the king fled here, and, for a while, made it his capital. Kwang-chiu was anciently the capital of the old kingdom of Hiaksai, which included this province, and flourished from the beginning of the Christian era until the Tang dynasty of China destroyed it in the seventh century. Kwang-chiu has suffered many sieges. Other important towns near the capital are Tong-chin, opposite Kang-wa, Kum-po, and Pupion, all situated on the high road. In-chiiin, situated on Imperatrice Gulf, is the port newly opened to foreign trade and residence. The Japanese pronounce the characters with which the name is written, Nin-sen, and the Chinese Jen-chuan. At this place the American and Chi- nese treaties were signed in June, 1882 ; Commodore Shufeldt, in the steam corvette Swatara, being the plenipotentiary of the United States. Situated on the main road from the southern provinces, and between the capital and the sea, the location is a good one for trade, while the dangerous channel of the Han Eiver is avoided. Most of the islands lying off the coast are well wooded ; many are inhabited, and on a number of them shrines are erected, and hermits live, who are regarded as sacred. Their defenceless posi- tion offer tempting inducements to the Chinese pirates, who have often ravaged them. Kiung-kei has been the scene of battles and contending armies and nations and the roadway for migrations from the pre-historic time to the present decade. The great high- ways of the kingdom converge upon its chief city. In it also Christianity has witnessed its grandest triumphs and bloodiest 192 COREA. defeats. Over and over again the seed of the church has been planted in the biood of its martyrs. Ka-pion, east of Seoul, is the cradle of the faith, the home of its first convert. For political purposes, this "home province " is divided into the left and right divisions, of which the former has twenty-two, and the latter fourteen districts. The kam-sa, or governor, lives at the capital, but outside of the walls, as he has little or no au- thority in the city proper. His residence is near the west gate. The enumeration of houses and people gives, exclusive of the capital, 136,000 of the former, and 680,000 of the latter, of whom 106,573 are enrolled as soldiers. The inhabitants of the capital province enjoy the reputation, among the other provincials, of being light-headed, fickle, and much given to luxury and pleasure. "It is the officials of this province," they say, "who give the cue to those throughout the eight provinces, of rapacity, prodigality, and love of display." Official grandees, nobles, literary men, and professionals generally are most numerous in Kiung-kei, and so, it may be added, are singing and dancing girls and people who live to amuse others. When fighting is to be done, in time of war, the government usually calls on the northern provinces to furnish soldiers. From a bird's-eye view of the history of this part of Corea, we see that the inhabitants most anciently known to occupy it were the independent clans called the Ma-han, which about the beginning of the Christian era were united into the kingdom of Hiaksai, which existed until its destruction by the Tang dynasty of China, in the seventh century. From that time until 930 A.D. it formed a part of the kingdom of Shinra, which in turn made way for united Korai, which first gave political unity to the peninsula, and lasted until 1392, when the present dy- nasty with Cho-sen, or Corea, as we now know it, was established. The capital cities in succession from Hiaksai to Cho-sen were, Kwang-chiu, Sunto, and Han-yang. CHUNG-CHONG, OK SERENE LOYALTY. The province of Serene Loyalty lies mostly between the thirty- sixth and thirty-seventh parallel. Its principal rivers are the Keum, flowing into Basil's Bay, and another, which empties into Prince Jerome Gulf. Its northeast corner, is made by the Han Eiver bending in a loop around the White Cloud (Paik Un) Moun- tain. Fertile flats and valleys abound. The peninsula of Nai-po THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 193 (within tlie waters), in the northwestern corner, is often called the "Granary of the Kingdom." Most of the rice of the Nai-po, and the province generally, is raised for export to the capital and the north. In the other circuits the rice lands are irrigated by leading the water from the streams through each field, which is di- vided from the other by little walls or barriers of earth, while in this region, and in ChuUa, the farmers more frequently make great reservoirs or ponds, in which water is stored for use in dry weather. The mountains are the great reservoirs of moisture, for in all the peninsula there is not a lake of noticeable size. The coast line is well indented with bays and harbors, and the run to Shantung across the Yellow Sea is easily made by junks, and even in open boats. On this account the native Christians and French missionaries have often chosen this province as their gate of entry into the "land of martyrs." In the history of Corean Christianity this province will ever be remembered as the nursery of the faith. Its soil has been most richly soaked with the blood of the native believers. With unimportant exceptions, every town along its northern border, and especially in the Nai-po, has been sown with the seeds of the faith. The first converts and confessors, the most devoted adherents of their French teachers, the most gifted and intelligent martyrs, were from Nai-po, and it is nearly certain that the fires of Koman Chris- tianity still smoulder here, and wdll again burst into flame at the first fanning of favorable events. The three great highways from Fusan to the capital cross this province in the northeastern portion. Over these roads the rival Japanese armies of invasion, led by Konishi and Kato, passed in jealous race in 1592, reaching the capital, after fighting and reducing castles on the way, in eighteen days after disembarkation. Chion-Chiu, the fortress on whose fate the capital depended, lies in the northeast, where two of the roads converge. The western, or sea road, that comes up from the south, hugs the shore through the entire length of the prov- ince. Others, along which the Japanese armies marched in 1592, and again in 1597, traverse the central part. Along one of these roads, the captive Hollanders, almost the first Europeans in Corea, rode in 1663, and one of the cities of which Hamel speaks, Kon- sio (Kong-Chiu), is the capital and residence of the provincial governor. The bays and islands, which have been visited by foreign navi- gators, retain their names on European or Japanese charts. Some 13 194 COREA. of these are not very complimentary, as Deception Bay, Insult Island, and False Eiver. At Basil's Bay, named after Captain Basil Hall, Gutzlaff also landed in 1832, planted potatoes, and left seeds and books. Tlie archipelago to the northwest was, in 1866, named after the Prince Imperial, who met his death in Zululand in 1878. Prince Jerome's Gulf is well known as the scene of the visits of the Rover and the Emperor, with the author of "A For- bidden Land" on board. Haimi, a town several times mentioned by him, is at the head of Shoal Gulf, which runs up into the Nai-po. Two other bays, named Caroline and Deception, indent the Nai-po peninsula. Caroline FERRIERES ISD8. Map of Chung-chong Province. The large shoal off the coast is called Chasseriau. Other wide and dangerous shoals line parts of the coast, making navigation exceedingly difficult. Fogs are frequent and very dense, shroud- ing all landmarks for hours. The tides and currents are very strong, rising in some places even as high as sixty feet. The in- ternational body-snatching expedition, undertaken by a French priest, a German merchant, and an American interpreter, in 1867, to obtain the bones or ancestral relics of the Eegent, was planned to take advantage of a certain "nick of time." The river empty- ing into the Prince Jerome Gulf, runs some thirty miles inland, and can be ascended by a barge, or very light-draught steamer, only within the period of thirty hours during spring tides, when the THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 195 water rises to a height of three feet at the utmost, while during the rest of the month it dries up completely. On account of delays, through grounding, miscalculated distances, and the bur- glar-proof masonry of Corean tombs, the scheme failed. The nar- rative of this remarkable expedition is given in a certain book on Corea, and in the proceedings of the United States Consular Court at Shanghae, China, for the year 1867. The flora is a brilliant feature of the summer landscape. Tiger-lilies and showy compositse, asters, cactus plants, cruciferas, labiatse, and many other European species abound side by side with tropical varieties. The air is full of insects, and the number and variety of the birds exceed those of Japan. Pigeons, butcher- birds, fly-catchers, woodpeckers, thrushes, larks, blackbirds, king- fishers, wrens, spoonbills, quail, curlew, titmouse, have been no- ticed. The ever-present black crows contrast with the snowy heron, which often stand in rows along the watercourses, while on the reefs the cormorant, sea-gulls, and many kinds of duck& and diving birds, many of them being of species differing from those in Europe, show the abundance of winged life. The archi- pelago and the peninsula alike, are almost virgin soil to the stu- dent of natural history and the man of science will yet, in this secluded nook of creation, solve many an interesting problem con- cerning the procession of life on the globe. So far as known, the Coreans seem far behind the Japanese in the study and classifica- tion of animate nature. The Coreans are not a seafaring people. They do not sail out from land, except upon rare occasions. A steamer is yet, to most Coreans, a wonderful thing. The common folks point to one, and call it " a divine ship." The reason of this is, that they think the country of steamships so utterly at the ends of the earth, that to pass over ten million leagues, and endure the winds and waves^ could not be done by human aid, and therefore such a ship must have, in some way, the aid of the gods. The prow and stern of fishing-boats are much alike, and are neatly nailed together with wooden nails. They use round stems of trees in their natural state, for masts. The sails are made of straw, plaited together with cross-bars of bamboo. The sail is at the stern of the boat. They sail well within three points of the wind, and the fishermen are very skilful in managing them. In their working-boats, they do not use oars, but sculls, worked on a pivot in the gunwale or an outrigger. The sculls have a very long sweep, and are worked 196 COREA. by two, three, and even ten men. For narrow rivers this method is very convenient, and many boats can easily pass each other, or move side by side, taking up very little room. For fishing among the rocks, or for landing in the surf, rafts are extensively used all along the coasts. These rafts have a platform, capable of holding eight or ten persons. The boats or barges, which are used for pleasiu"e excursions and picnic parties, have high bows and orna- mental sterns, carved or otherwise decorated. Over the centre a canopy stretched on four poles, tufted with horsehair, shelters the joleasure-seekers from the sun as they enjoy the river scenery. In the cut we see three officials, or men of rank, enjoying themselves at a table, on which may be tea, ginseng infusion, or rice spirit. A Pleasure-party on the River with fruits in dishes. They sit on silken cushions, and seem to be pledging each other in a friendly cup. Perhaps they will compose and exchange a pedantic poem or two on the way. In the long, high bow there is room for the two men to walk the deck, while with their poles they propel the craft gently along the stream, while the steersman handles the somewhat unwieldy rudder The common people use a boat made of plain unpainted wood, neatly joined together, without nails or metal, the fastenings being of wood, the cushions of straw matting and the cordage of sea grass. By official reckoning Chung-chong contains 244,080 houses, with 139,201 men enrolled for military service, in fifty-four districts. It contains ten walled cities, and like every other one of the eight provinces is divided into two departments, Eiglit and Left. THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 197 CHULLA, OR COMPLETE NETWOEK. This province, the most southern of the eight, is also the warmest and most fertile. It is nearest to Shang-hae, and to the track of foreign commerce. Its island-fringed shores have been the scene of many shipwrecks, among which were the French frigates, whose names Glory and Victory, were better than their inglorious end, on a reef near Kokun Island. Until the voyage of Captains Maxwell and Basil Hall, in the Alceste and Lyra, in 1816, "the Corean archipelago" was abso- lutely unknown in Europe, and was not even marked on Chinese charts. In the map of the empire, prepared by the Jesuits at Peking in the seventeenth century, the main land was made to extend out over a space now known to be covered by hundreds of islands, and a huge elephant — the conventional sign of ignorance of the map-makers of that day — occupied the space. In these virgin waters. Captain HaU sailed over imaginary forests and cities, and straight through the body of the elephant, and for the first time explored an archipelago which he found to be one of the most beautiful on earth. A later visitor, and a naturalist, states that from a single island peak, one may count one hundred and thirty-five islets. Stretching far away to the north and to the south, were gToups of dark blue islets, rising mistily from the sur- face of the water. The sea was covered with large picturesque boats, which, crowded with natives in their white fluttering robes, were putting off from the adjacent villages, and sculling across the pellucid waters to visit the stranger ship. On these islands, as Arthur Adams tells us, the seals sport, the spoonbill, quail, curlew, titmouse, wagtail, teal, crane and innu- merable birds thrive. The woody peaks are rich in game, and the shores are happy hunting-grounds for the naturalist. Sponges are very plentiful, and in some places may be gathered in any quantity. There are a number of well-marked species. Some are flat and split into numerous ribbon-like branches, others are round and finger-shaped, some cylindrical, and others like hollow tubes. Though some have dense white foliations, hard or horny, others are loose and flexible, and await only the hand of the diver. The Corean toilet requisites perhaps do not include these useful arti- cles, which lie waste in the sea. The coral-beds are also very splendid in their living tints of green, blue, violet, and yellow, 198 CORBA. and appear, as you look down upon them through the clear trans. parent water, to form beautiful flower-gardens of marine plants. In these submarine parterres, amid the protean forms of the branched corals, huge madrepores, brain-shaped, flat, or headed like gigantic mushrooms, are interspersed with sponges of the deepest red and huge star-fishes of the richest blue. Seals sport and play unharmed on many of the islands, and the sea-beach is at times blue with the bodies of lively crabs. An unfailing store- house of marine food is found in this archipelago. The eight provinces take their names from their two chief cities, as Mr. Carles has shown. Whang Hai Do, for instance, is formed by uniting the initial syllables of the largest cities, Whang-chiu and Hai-chiu. In the case of ChuUa-Do, the Chon and Nai in Chon- chiu and Nai-chiu (or Chung-jiu and Na-jiu) become, by euphony, ChuUa or Cholla. Hamei tells of the great cayman or " alligator," as inhabiting this region, asserting that it was " eighteen or twenty ells long," with "sixty joints in the back," and able to swallow a man.^ The soil of ChuUa is rich and well cultivated, and large quan- tities of rice and grain are shipped to the capital. The wide val- leys afford juicy pasture for the herds of cattle that furnish the beef diet which the Coreans crave more than the Japanese. The visit- ing or shipwrecked foreign visitors on the coast speak in terms of highest praise of fat bullocks, and juicy steaks which they have eaten. Considerable quantities of hides, bones, horns, leather, and tallow now form a class of standard exports to Japan, whose people now wear buttons and leather shoes. As a beef market, Corea exceeds either China or Japan — a point of importance to the large number of foreigners living at the ports, who require a flesh diet. Troops of horses graze on the pasture lands. ChuUa is well furnished with ports and harbors for the junks that ply northward. The town of Mopo, in latitude 34° 40', has been looked upon by the Japanese as a favorable place for trade and residence, and may yet be opened under the provisions of the treaty of 1876. This region does not lack sites of great historic interest. The castle of Nanon, in the eastern part, was ' Mr. Pierre L. Jouy, of tlie Smithsonian Institute, who in 1884 spent six months in Corea in zoological collecting and research, says : * * No monkeys or alligators are found in Corea. I am at a loss to understand how the alligator story originated." Was the alleged animal the giant salamander, or the akif Japanese art and legend refer often to alligators. THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 199 the scene of a famous siege and battle between the allied Coreans and Chinese and the Japanese besiegers, during the second inva- Map of Chulla-do. sion, in 1597. The investment lasted many weeks, and over five thousand men were slaughtered. It was in this province also that the crew of the Dutch ship Sparrowhawk were kept prison- 200 COREA. ers, some for thirteen years, some for life, of whom Hendrik Hamel wrote so graphic a narrative. For two centuries his little work afforded the only European knowledge of Corea accessible to inquirers. Among other employments, the Dutch captives were set to making pottery, and this province has many villages devoted to the fictile art. The work turned out consists, in the main, of those huge earthern jars for holding water and grains, common to Corean households, and large enough to hold one of the forty thieves of Arabian Nights story. Through the labors of the French missionaries, Christianity has penetrated into Chulla-do, and a large number of towns, espe- cially in the north, still contain believers who are the descendants or relatives of men and women who have exchanged their lives for a good confession. The tragedy and romance of the Christian martyrs, of this and other provinces, have been told by Pallet. Most of the executions have taken place at the capital city of Chon-chiu. Many have been banished to Quelpart, or some of the many islands along the coast, where it is probable many yet live and pine. Three large, and several small rivers drain the valleys. Two of these flow into the Yellow Sea and one into the sea of Japan. The main highway of this province traverses the western portion near the sea, the other roads being of inferior importance. Forti- fied cities or castle towns are numerous in this part of Corea, for this province was completely overrun by the Japanese armies in 1592-1597, and its soil was the scene of many battles. By official enumeration there are 290,550 houses, and 206,140 males enrolled for service in war. The districts number fifty-six. The capital is Chon-chiu, which was once considered the second largest city in the kingdom. If Corea is "the Italy of the East," then Quelpart is its Sicily. It lies about sixty miles south of the main land. It may be said to be an oval, rock-bound island, covered with innumer- able conical mountains, topped in many instances by extinct vol- canic craters, and " all bowing down before one vast and towering giant, whose foot is planted in the centre of the island, and whose head is lost in the clouds." This peak, called Mount Auck- land, or Han-ra san, by the people, is about 6,500 feet high. On its top are three extinct craters, within each of which is a lake of pure water. Corean children are taught to believe that the three first-created men of the world still dwell on these lofty heights. THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 201 The whole surface of the island, including plains, valleys, and mountain flanks, is carefully and beautifully cultivated. The fields are neatly divided by walls of stone. It contains a number of towns and three walled cities, but there are no good harbors. As Quelpart has long been used as a place for the banishment of convicts, the islanders are rude and unpolished. They raise excel- lent crops of grain and fruit for the home provinces. The finely- plaited straw hats, which form the staple manufacture, are the best in this land of big hats, in which the amplitude of the head- coverings is the wonder of strangers. Immense droves of horses and cattle are reared, and one of the outlying islands is called Bullock Island. This island has been known from ancient times, when it formed an independent kingdom, known as Tam-na. About 100 A.D., it is recorded that the inhabitants sent tribute to one of the states on the main land. The origin of the high cen- tral peak, named Mount Auckland, is thus given by the islanders. " Clouds and fogs covered the sea, and the earth trembled with a noise of thunder for seven days and seven nights. Finally the waves opened, and there emerged a mountain more than one thousand feet high, and forty ri in circumference. It had neither plants nor trees upon it, and clouds of smoke, widely spread out, covered its summit, which appeared to be composed chiefly of sulphur." A learned Corean was sent to examine it in detail. Pie did so, and on his return to the main land published an account of his voyage, with a sketch of the mountain thus born out of the sea. It is noticeable that this account coincides with the ideas of navigators, who have studied the mountain, and speculated on its origin. KIUNG-SANG, OE RESPECTFUL CONGRATULATION. Kiung-sang do, or the Province of Eespectful Congratulation, is nearest to Japan, and consists chiefly of the valleys drained by the Nak-tong River and its tributaries. It admirably illustrates the principle of the division of the country on the lines furnished by the river basins. One of the warmest and richest of the eight provinces, it is also the most populous, and the seat of many his- torical associations with Japan, in ancient, mediaeval, and modern times. Betv/een the court of Kion-chiu, the capital of Shinra, and that of Kioto, from the third to the tenth century, the relations of war and peace, letters, and religion were continuous and fruit- ful. When the national capital was fixed at Sunto, and later at ^02 COREA. Seoul, this province was still the gateway of entrance and exit to the Japanese. Many a time have they landed near the mouth of the Nak-tong River, which opens as a natural pass in the moun- tains which wall in the coast. Rapidly seizing the strategic points, they have made themselves masters of the coimtry. The influence of their frequent visitations is shown in the language, manners, and local customs of southern Cho-sen. The dialect of Kiung- sang differs to a marked degree from that of Ping-an, and much more closely resembles that of modern Japanese. Kiung-sang seems to show upon its surface that it is one of the most ancient seats of civilization in the peninsula. This is certainly so if roads and facilities for travelling be considered. The highways and foot- paths and the relays and horses kept for government service, and for travellers, are more numerous than in any other province. It also contains the greatest number of cities having organized municipal governments, and is the most densely populated of the eight provinces. It is also probable that in its natural resources it leads all the others. The province is divided into seventy-one dis- tricts, each having a magistrate, in which are 421,500 houses, and 310,440 men capable of military duty. Two officials of high rank assist the governor in his functions, and the admirals of the " Sam-nam," or three southern provinces, have their headquarters in Kiung-sang. This title and office, one of the most honorable in the military service, was created after the Japanese war of 1592-1597, in honor of a Corean commander, who had success- fully resisted the invaders in many battles. There are five cities of importance, which are under the charge of governors. Petty officials are also appointed for every island, who must report the arrival or visit of all foreigners at once to their superiors. They were always in most favor at court who succeeded in prevail- ing upon all foreign callers to leave as soon as possible. Pusan has been held by the Japanese from very ancient times. Until 1868 it was a part of the fief of the daimio of Tsushima. ■ It lies in latitude 35° 6' north, and longitude 129° 1' east from Green- wich, and is distant from the nearest point on the Japan coast, by a straight line, about one hundred and fifty miles. It was opened to the Japanese by the treaty of 1876, and is now a bustling mart of trade. The name means, not " Gold HiU," but Pot or Skillet Mountain. The approach to the port up the bay is through very fine scen- ery, the background of the main land being mountainous and the THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 203 bay studded with green islands. The large island in front of the settlement, to the southward, called Tetsuye, or the Isle of En- chanting View, has hills eight hundred feet high. Hundreds of horses were formerly reared here, hence it is often called Maki, or island of green pastures. The fortifications of Fusan, on the northern side, are on a hill, and front the sea. The soil around Fusan is of a dark niddy color, and fine fir trees are numerous. The fort is distant aoout a league from the settlement, and Tong- nai city and castle, in which the Corean governor resides, are about two leagues farther. Tai-ku, the capital, lies in the centre of the province. Shang-chiu, in the northwestern part, is one of the fortified cities guarding the approach to the capital from the southeast. It was captured by Konishi during his brilliant march, in eighteen days, to the capital in 1592. In recent years, much Christian blood has been shed in Shang-chiu, though the city which justly claims the bad eminence in slaughtering Christians is Tai-ku, the capital of the province. Uru-san, a few miles south, is a site rich in classic memories to all Japanese, for here, in 1597, the Chi- nese and Corean hosts besieged the intrepid Kato and the brave, but not over-modest, Ogawuchi for a whole year, during which the garrison were reduced, by straits of famine, to eat human flesh. When the Chinese retreated, and a battle was fought near by, be- tween them and the relieving forces, ten thousand men were slain. Foreign navigators have sprinkled their names along the shore. Cape Clonard and Unkoffsky Bay are near the thirty-sixth parallel. Cho-san harbor was named by Captain Broughton, who on asking the name of the place in 1797, received the reply "Cho-san," which is the name of the kingdom instead of the harbor. Other names of limited recognition are found on charts made in Europe. Many inhabited islands lie off the coast, some of which are used as places of exile to Christians and other offenders against the law. Christianity in this province seems to have flourished chiefly in the towns along the southern sea border. Nearly the whole of the coast consists of the slopes of the two mountain ranges which front the sea, and is less densely inhabited than the interior, hav- ing few or no rivers or important harbors. The one exception is at the mouth of the Nak-tong River, opposite Tsushima. This is the gateway into the province, and the point most vulnerable from Japan. The river after di-aining the whole of Kiung-sang, widens into a bay, around which are populous cities and towns, the port of Fusan and the two great roads to Seoul. Tsushima (the Twin 204 COREA. Islands) lies like a stepping-stone between Corea and Japan, and was formerly claimed by the Coreans, who call it Tu-ma. Its port of Wani-ura is thirty miles distant from Fusan, and often shelters Map of the Province nearest Japan. THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 205 the becalmed or storm-stayed junks which, with fair wind and weather, can make the run between the two countries 4n a single day. From a strategic military point of view, the Twin Islands are invaluable to the mikado's empire, guarding, as they do, the sea of Japan like a sentinel. The Russians who now own the long island at the upper end of the sea, attempted, in 1859, to obtain a footing on Tsushima. They built barracks and planted seed, with every indication of making a permanent occupation. The timely appearance on the scene of a fleet of British ships, under Sir James Hope, put an end to Russian designs on Tsushima. A Japanese writer reports that the Kiung-sang people are rather more simple in their habits, less corrupted in their man- ners, and their ancient customs are more faithfully preserved than in some of the other provinces. There is little of luxury and less of expensive folly, so that the small estates or property are faith- fully transmitted from father to son, for many generations, in the same families. Studious habits prevail, and literature flourishes. Often the young men, after toiling during the day, give the even-' ing to reading and conversation, for which admirable practice the native language has a special word. Here ladies of rank are not so closely shut up in-doors as in other provinces, but often walk abroad, accompanied by their servants, without fear of insult. In this province also Buddhism has the largest number of adherents. Kion-chiu, the old capital of Shinra, was the centre of the scholas- tic and missionary influences of the Buddha doctrine in Corea, and, though burned by the Japanese in 1597, its influence stiU suiwives. The people are strongly attached to their superstitions, and diflicult to change, but to whatever faith they are once converted they are steadfast and loyal. The numerous nobles who dwell in this province, belong chiefly to the Nam In party. KANG-WEN, TnE EH^EE- MEADOW PEOVINCE. Kang-wen fronts Japan from the middle of the eastern coast, and lies between Ham-kiung and Kiung-sang. Its name means River Meadow. Within its area are found the sources of " the river" of the realm. Though perhaps the most mountainous of all the provinces, it contains several fertile plains, which are watered by streams flowing mainly to the west, forming the Han River, 206 COREA. which crosses the entire peninsula, and empties into the Yellow Sea. The main mountain chain of the country, called here the Makira, runs near the coast, leaving the greater area of the prov- ince to the westward. The larger part of the population, the most important high roads, and the capital city Wen-chiu, are in the western division, which contains twenty-six districts, the east- ern division having seventeen. The official census gives the num- ber of houses at 93,000, and of men capable of bearing arms^ 44,000. Some of the names of mountains in this province give one a general idea of the geographical nomenclature of the kingdom, reflecting, as it does, the ideas and beliefs of the people. One peak is named Yellow Dragon, another the Flying Phoenix, and another the Hidden Dragon (not yet risen up from the earth on his passage to the clouds or to heaven). Hard Metal, Oxhead, Mountain facing the Sun, Cool Valle}^, Wild Swamp, White Cloud, and Peacock, are other less heathenish, and perhaps less poetical names. One range is said to have twelve hundred peaks, and from another, rivers fall down like snow for several hundred feet. These " snowy rivers " are cataracts. Deer are very plentiful, and the best hartshorn for the pharmacy of China comes from these parts. Out in the sea, about a degree and a half from the coast, lies an island, called by the Japanese Matsu-shima, or Pine Island, by the Coreans U-lon-to, and by Europeans, Dagelet This island was first discovered by the French navigator. La Perouse, in June, 1787. In honor of an astronomer, it was named Dagelet Island. "It is very steep, but covered with fine trees from the sea-shore to the summit. A rampart of bare rock, nearly as perpendicular as a waU, completely surrounds it, except seven sandy little coves at which it is possible to land." The grand central peak towers four thousand feet into the clouds. Firs, sycamores, and juniper trees abound. Sea-bears and seals live in the water, and the few poor Coreans who inhabit the island dry the flesh of the seals and large quantities of petrels and haliotis, or sea-ears, for the markets or the main land. The island is occasionally visited by Japanese junks and foreign whaling ships, as whales are plentiful in the sur- rounding waters. The Japanese obtained the timber for the pub- lic and other buildings at their new settlement at Gensan from this island. The Land of Morning Calm is, by all accounts of travellers, a land of beauty, and the customs and literature of the people THE EIGHT PROVmCES. 207 prove that the superb and inspiring scenery of their peninsula is fully appreciated by themselves. Not only are picnics and pleas- ure gatherings, within the groves, common to the humbler classes, but the wealthy travel great distances simply to enjoy the beauty of marine or mountain views. Scholars assemble at chosen seats, having fair landscapes before them, poets seek inspiration under waterfalls, and the bonzes, understanding the awe-compelling in- fluence of the contemplation of nature's grandeur, plant their monasteries and build their temples on lofty mountain heights. These favorite haunts of the lovers of natural beauty are as weU known to the Coreans as Niagara and Yo Semite are to Ameri- cans, or Chamouni to all Europe. The places in which the glory of the Creator's works may be best beheld are the theme of ardent discussion and competing praise with the people of each province. The local guide-books, itineraries, and gazetteers, de- scant upon the merits of the scenery, for which each of the eight divisions is renowned. In the River-meadow province, the eight most lovely " sceneries " are all located along the coast. Begin- ning at the south, and taking them in order toward the north; they are the following : 1. The house on Uru-chin, a town below the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude. The inn is called " The House of the Emer- ging Sun," because here the sun seems to rise right out of the waters of the ocean. In front of the coast lies an island, set like a gem in the sea. The view of the rising sun, the tints of sky, river, waves, land, and mountains form a vision of gorgeous mag- nificence. 2. Hion-hai (Tranquil Sea). Out in the sea, in front of this village, are many smaU islands. When the moon rises, they seem to be floating in a sea of molten silver. The finest effect is en- joyed just before the orb is fully above the horizon. In many of the dwellings of the men of rank and wealth, there is a special room set apart for the enjoyment of the scenery, upon which the apartment looks. Especially is this the case, with the houses of public entertainment. At Hion-hai, one of the inns from which the best view may be obtained is called the "House Fronting the Moon." In it are several " looking-rooms. " 3. One of the finest effects in nature is the combination of fresh fallen snow on evergreens. The pure white on the deep green is peculiarly pleasing to the eye of the Japanese, who use it as a popular element in their decorative art, in silver and bronze, 2.08 COREA. in embroidery, painting, and lacquer. The Coreans are equally liappy in gazing upon the snow, as it rests on the deep shadows of the pine, or the delicate hue of the giant grass called bamboo. Near the large town of San-cho is a tower or house, built within ■view of a stream of water, which flows in winding course over the rocks, sparkling beneath the foliage. It has a scene-viewing room to which people resort to enjoy the " chikusetsu, " or snow and bamboo effect. Map of Kang-wen Province. 4 From an elevation near the town of Kan-nun, or Bay Hill, one may obtain a pretty view of the groves and shrubbery grow- ing upon the rocks. During the spring showers, when the rain falls in a fine mist, and the fresh vegetation appears in a new rich robe of green, the sight is very charming. 5. Beneath the mound at An-an the river flows tranquilly, tinted by the setting sun. The sunsets at this place are of ex- quisite beauty. 6. At the old castle town of Kan-nun, there is a room named THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 209 " The Chamber between the Strong Fortress and the Tender Ver- dure." Here the valley is steep, and in the bosom of the stream of water He " floating islands" — so called because they seem to swim on the surface of the water. 7. Near Ko-sion, or High Fortress, is "Three Days Bay," to which lovers of the picturesque resort on summer mornings, to see the sun rise, and on autumnal evenings, to watch the moon- light effects. The fishers' boats gliding to and fro over the gleam- ing waters delight the eye. 8. At Tsu-sen is the " Rock-loving Chamber." Here, among some steep rocks, grow trees of fantastic form. The combination of rock-scenery and foliage make the charm of this place, to which scholars, artists, and travellers resort. In spring and au- tumn, hterary parties visit the chamber dedicated to those who love the rocks. There, abandoning themselves to literary revels, they compose poems, hold scholarly reunions, or ramble about in search of health or pleasure. The people of Kang-wen are industrious and intelligent, with less energy of body than the southern provincials, but like their northern countrymen, they have the reputation of being bold, obstinate, and quarrelsome. In time of bad harvests or lax gov- ernment, " tramps " form bands of thirty or fifty, and roam the country, stealing food or valuables from the villages. Local thieves are sufficiently abundant. During the heavy snows of winter, people travel the mountain paths on snow-shoes, and in excep- tional places, cut tunnels under the snow for communication from house to house. Soldiers test their strength by pulling strong bows, and laborers by carrying heavy burdens on their shoulders. Strong men shoulder six hundred pounds of copper, or two bales of white rice (260 pounds each.) The women of this province are said to be the most beautiful in Corea. Even from ancient times, lovely damsels from this part of the peninsula, sent to the harem of the Chinese emperor, were greatly admired. Christianity has made little progress in Kang-wen, only a few towns in the south- ern part being marked with a cross on the French missionary map. In the most ancient times the Chinhan tribes occupied this por- tion of Corea. From the Christian era, until the tenth century, it was alternately held by Kokorai, or Korai, and by Shinra. 14 210 COREA. HAM-KITING, OR COMPLETE VIEW. Ham-kiung is that part of Corean territory which touches the boundary of Kussia. Only a few years ago all the neighbors along the land frontiers of Cho-sen were Chinese subjects. Now she has the European within rifle-shot of her shores. Only the Tu- men Kiver separates the Muscovites from the once hermits of the peninsula. The southern boundary of Eussia in Asia, which had been thrown farther south after every European war with China, Vi^ ToBakoaate Corean frontier facing Manchuria and Russia. touched Corea in 1858. What was before an elastic line, has in each instance become the Czar's " scientific frontier." By the supplementary treaty of Aigun, March 28, 1858, Count Mouravieff "rectified " the far eastern line of the Czar's domain, by demand- ing and obtaining that vast and fertile territory lying south of the Amur Eiver, and between the Qulf of Tartary and the river Usuri, having a breadth of one hundred and fifty miles. This remote, but very desirable, slice of Asia, is rich in gold and sUk, coal and cotton, rice and tobacco. With energy and entei*prise, the Rus- sian government at once encouraged emigration, placed steamers built in New York on the Usuri River and Lake Hanka, laid out THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 211 212 COREA. the ports of Vladivostok, and Possiet, constructed a telegraph from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and enforced order among the semi-civilized and savage tribes. The name of the new Eussian territory between the Amur River and the Sea of Okhotsk, is Primorskaia, with Vladivostok for the capital, which is finely situated on Peter the Great or Victoria Bay. Immense fortifications have been planned, and the place is to be made the Sebastopol of the Czar's Pacific possessions. This gigantic work was begun under the charge of the late Admiral Popoff, whose name has been given to the iron-turreted war vessels of which he was the inventor, and to a mountain in Central Corea. Possiet is within twenty-five miles of the Corean frontier. It is connected with Nagasaki by electric cable. In the event of a war between China and Eussia, or even of Anglo-Eussian hostihties, the Czar would most probably make Corea the basis of operations against China ; for Corea is to China as Canada is to the United States, or, as the people say, " the lips of China's teeth." Eussia needs a coast line in the Pacific with seaports that are not frozen up in winter, and her ambition is to be a naval power. While England checks her designs in the Mediterranean, and in Europe, her desire is great and her need is greater to have this defenceless peninsula on her eastern borders. The Coreans know too well that the possession of their country by " Eussia the rav- enous " is considered a necessity of the absorption poHcy of Peter the Great's successors. The Tumen Eiver, which rises at the foot of the Ever- White Mountains and separates Corea from Eussia, is about two hundred miles in length. It drains a moun- tainous and rainy country. Ordinarily it is shallow and quiet ; but in spring, or after heavy rains, and swollen by a gi-eat number of tributaries, its current becomes very tui'bulent and powerful. In winter it is frozen over during several months, and hence is easily crossed. Thousands of Coreans fleeing from famine, or from the oppression of government officials. Christians perse- cuted for their faith, criminals seeking to escape the clutches of the law, emigrants desirous of bettering their condition, have crossed this river and settled in Primorskaia, until they now number, in aU, about eight thousand. The majority of them are peasants from Ham-kiung, and know little of the southern parts of their country. There is, however, an "underground railroad" by which persecuted Christians can fly for refuge to Eussian pro- tection. Their houses are built of stout timbers, wattled with THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 213 cane, plastered with mud, and surrounded witli a neat fencing of interlaced boughs. They cover their houses with strips of bamboo, well fastened down by thatching. The chimney is de- tached from the house, and consists of a hollow tree. Under the warmed floor is the usual system of flues, by which the house is kept comfortable in winter, and every atom of fuel utilized. Their food is millet, corn, venison, and beef. They pare and dry melon- like fruits, cutting them up in strips for vdnter use. They dress in the national color, white, using quilted cotton clothes. They make good use of bullock-carts, and smoke tobacco habitually. The national product — thick strong paper — is put to a great va- riety of uses, and a few sheets dressed with oil, serve as windows. Some of the Bussian merchants have married Corean women, who seem to make good wives. Their offspring are carefully brought up in the Christian faith. Some of these Corean children have been sent to the American Home at Yokohama, where the ladies of the Woman's Union Missionary Society of America have given them an education in English. Through the Russian possessions, the Corean liberal, Kin Rinshio, made his escape. From this man the Japanese officials learned so much of the present state of the peninsula, and by his aid those in the War Department at Tokio were enabled to construct and publish so valuable a map of Corea, the accuracy of which astonishes his fellow-country- men. The Russians have taken the pains to educate the people in schools, and, judging from the faces and neat costumes, as seen in photographs taken on the spot, they enjoy being taught. The object of instruction is not only to civilize them as loyal subjects of the Czar, but also to convert them to the Russian form of Chris- tianity. In this work the priests and schoolmasters have had con- siderable success. There are but few Coreans north of the Tumen who cannot read and write, and the young men employed as clerks are good linguists. A number of them are fishermen, liv- ing near the coast. Most of the converts to the Greek church are gathered at Vladivostok. So great has been the fear and jealousy felt by Corea toward Russia, that during the last two generations the land along the boundary river has been laid desolate. The banks were picketed with sentinels, and death was the penalty of crossing from shore to shore. Many interesting relics of the ancient greatness of Corea still abound in Manchuria and on Russian soil. Travellers have visited these ruins, now overgrown with large forest trees, 214 COREA. and have given descriptions and measurements of them. One for- tification was found to cover six acres, with walls over thirty feet in height, protected by a moat and two outer ditches, with gate- ways guarded by curtains. In the ruins were elaborately carved fragments of columns, stone idols or statues, with bits of armor and weapons. Some of these now silent ruins have sustained famous sieges, and once blazed with watch-fires and echoed to battle-shouts. They are situated on spurs or ends of mountain chains, commanding plains and vaUeys, testifying to the knowl- edge of strategic skill possessed by their ancient builders. The Shan-yan Alin, range on range, visible from the Corean side of the river, are between eight thousand and twelve thousand feet high, and. are snow-covered during most of the year. The name means Long-white, or Ever- White Mountains, the Chinese Shang- hai, meaning the same thing. Two of the peaks are named after Chinese emperors. Paik-tu, or White Head, is a sacred mountain famous throughout the country, and is the theme of enthusiastic description by Chinese, Japanese, and Corean writers, the former comparing it to a vase of white porcelain, with a scolloped rim. Its flora is mostly white, and its fauna are reputed to be white- haired, never injuring or injured by man. It is the holy abode of a white-robed goddess, who presides over the mountain. She is represented as a woman holding a child in her arms, after a le- gendary character, known in Corean lore and Chinese historical novels. Formerly a temple dedicated to her spirit was built, and for a long time was presided over by a priestess. The Corean Buddhists assign to this mountain, the home of Manchusri, one of their local deities, or incarnations of Buddha. Lying in the main group of the range, twenty-five hundred feet above the sea, is a vast lake surrounded by naked rocks, probably an extinct crater. Large portions of the mountain consist of white limestone, which, with its snow, from which it is free only during two months of the year, gives it its name. Another imposing range of mountains follows the contour of the coast, and thus presents that lofty and magnificent front of forest-clad highland which strikes the admiration of navigators. Other conspicuous peaks are named by the natives, Continuous Virtue, The Peak of the Thousand Buddhas, Cloud-toucher, Sword Mountain, Lasting Peace, Heaven-reaching. Twenty-four rivers water and drain this mountainous province. The coast of Ham-kiung down to the fortieth parallel is devoid THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 215 of any important harbors. A glance at a foreign chart shows that numerous French, Russian, and English navigators have visited it, and gained precarious renown by sprinkling foreign names upon its capes and headlands. At the south, Yung-hing, or Brough- ton's Bay, so named by the gallant British captain in 1797, is well known for its fine harbors and its high tides. It contains a small archipelago, while the country around it is the most popu- lous and fertile portion of the province. Port Lazareff, east of V^run-clioL 1 o QENSAN -*Td Japan ZW3f, Southern part of Ham-kiung. Yon-fun, near the mouth of the Dungan River, and west of Virginie Bay, is well known. A large Japanese army under Kato occupied this territory during the year 1592. By the recent treaty with Japan, the port of Gensan, front- ing on the south of Brough ton's Bay, was opened for trade and commerce, from May 1, 1880. Gensan lies near the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude. Near the shore is the island of Chotoku, and within the twenty-five mile circuit allowed to Japanese merchants 216 COREA. for general travel, or free movement, is the old castle-town of To- kugen. The tomb of the founder of the reigning dynasty of Cho- sen is situated near the bay and is a highly venerated spot. As the dragon is in native ideas the type of all that is strong, mighty, and renowned, the place is named the " Rise of the Dragon." One of the high roads of the kingdom traverses the strip of land skirt- ing the sea from north to south throughout the province, touch- ing the water at certain places. The greater part of the people dwelling in the province live along this road. The interior, being a mass of mountains, is thinly inhabited, and the primeval for- ests are populated chiefly by tigers and other beasts of prey. In the current scouring the coast of Harn-kiung swim unnum- bered shoals of herring, ribbon fish, and other species inhabiting the open seas. After these follow in close pursuit schools of whales, which fatten on them as prey. Thousands of natives from the interior and the shore villages come down in the season and fish. They often stand knee-deep in the water, looking like long rows of the sno^y heron of a rice-swamp, in their white clothes. They use a kind of catamaran or raft for fishing and for surf navigation, which is very serviceable. They sometimes hunt the whales at sea, or capture them in shoal water, driving them in shore till stranded. Sticking in the bodies of these huge crea- tures have been found darts and harpoons of European whalers. This chase of the herring by the whales was noticed, even in the extreme south of Corea, by Hamel, and by shipwrekced Dutch- men. Since the present year, Japanese whale-hunters have been engaged by Coreans to improve their methods of catching this huge sea-mammal. The capital city of this largest of the provinces, and the residence of the governor, is Ham-hung, situated near the fortieth parallel of north latitude. According to a native geography this province contains 103,200 houses, which gives a population varying from 309,600 to 516,000 souls. There are enrolled and capable of military service (on paper) 87,170 men. For administrative pur- poses the province is divided into divisions, the northern and the southern. There are fifteen walled cities. Formerly, and until the Russians occupied the Primorskaia territory, an annual or bi-annual fair was held at the Corean city of Kion-wen, which lies close to the border. The Manchiu and Chi- nese merchants bartered tea, rice, pipes, gold, and furs for the Corean ginseng, hides, and household implements. Furs of a ( THE EIGHT PROVINCES. 217 thousand sorts, cotton stuff, silks, artificial flowers, and clioice woods, changed hands rapidly, the traffic lasting but two or three days, and sometimes only one day, from noon until sunset. Such was the bustle and confusion that these fairs often terminated in a free fight, which reminds one of the famous Donnybrook. One of the articles most profitable to the Coreans was their cast-off hair. Immense quantities^ cut from the heads of young persons, and especially by those about to be married, were and are still sold by the Chinese to lengthen out their "pig-tails" — that mark of subjection to their Manchiu conquerors. During the time of trade no Chinese or Manchiu was allowed to enter a Corean house, all the streets and doorways being guarded by soldiers, who at the end of the fair drove out any lingering Chinese, who, if not soon across the border, were forced to go at the point of the spear. Any foreigner found inside the border ct other seasons might be, and often was, ruthlessly murdered. The nearest town beyond the frontier, at which the Chinese merchants were wont to assemble, is Hun-chun. ^ This loophole of entrance into Corea, corresponded to Ai-chiu at the Yalu Kiver in the west. As at the latter place, foreigners and Christian natives have attempted to penetrate the forbidden country at Kion-wen, but have been unsuccessful. An outline of the political history of the part of the peninsula now called Ham-kiung shows that many masters have in turn been its possessors. When the old kingdom of Cho-sen, which comprehended Liao Tung and that part of the peninsula between the Ta-tong and the Tumen Rivers, was broken up toward the end of the first century, the northern haK of what is now Ham-kiung was called Oju or Woju, the southern portion forming part of the little' state of Wei, or Whi. These were both conquered by Kokorai, which held dominion until the seventh century, when it was crushed by the Chinese emperors of the Han dynasty, and the land fell under the sway of Shinra, whose borders extended in the ninth and tenth centuries, from Eastern Sea to the Tumen River. After Shinra, arose Korai and Cho-sen, the founders of both states being sprung from this region and of the hardy race inhabiting it. From very ancient times, the boundaries of this province, being almost entirely natural and consisting of mountain, river, and sea, have remained unchanged. ^ Hun-chun is in Chinese Manchuria. The Russian possessions south of Vic- toria Bay extend but a few miles from the mouth of the Tumen. CHAPTEK XXIY. THE KING AND ROYAL PALACE. The title of majesty in Cho-sen is Hap-mun. In full robes of state tlie sovereign wears a silken garment, the gift of his suzerain, the Emperor of China. It is embroidered with dragons, the em- blems of regal power. His throne has riong or dragons sculptured ai'ound it. The steps leading to it are called "the staircase of jade." The cord which is used to tie criminals has a dragon's head at the ends, to signify that the officers act in obedience to the royal command. Chief of the regalia of Corean sovereignty is the Great Seal, the possession of which makes the holder the actual sovereign of Cho-sen. This seal, of which we shaU hear again, seems to have been captured by the French in 1866. In time of war or public danger, the royal library, archives and re- galia are sent to Kang-wa Island for safety. Ridel wrote in 1866 : " In another case, they found a marble tortoise, sculptured in perfect art, upon the pedestal of which was the great seal of state. This royal cartouche was to the simple Corean folk neither visible nor approachable, the possession of which has sufficed many times to transfer the royal authority and to terminate revolutions. It was the regaha of Corean sovereignty. The one which he saw was new and appeared never to have been used." The sovereign, in speaking of himself, uses the term ''Hap- mun," which is the equivalent of the imperial "We " of Asiatic state documents. The word is somewhat similar to that employed by, or for, other rulers — Pharaoh, Subhme Porte, Mikado, aU of which mean the Grand, Chief, or First, Gate of all the gates in the country. The first character in Hap-mun is, however, different from that in Mikado, or Honorable Gate, but the hap is honorific. No other person in the land, official or private, is allowed to use this compound word in speech or writing as applying to anyone except the king. Even in transcribing the term hap, a stroke must be omitted out of respect to the august personage to whom THE KING AND ROYAL PALACE. 21G alone it is applied. At his death, three cups of rice are set out in the households in memoriam. This ceremony must not be imi- tated for any other person. So also, if the character with which the name of the ruling emperor of China is written be found in that of a public person, a gateway, a palace or edifice in Seoul, the graphic sign must be temporarily changed, though the pronuncia- tion remains the same. This same system of graduated honors, of which, in Corea, the king is the culmination, slopes down to the common people, and is duly protected by law. The sovereign's person is hedged round with a divinity that has an antipathy to iron. This metal must ne^er touch his august body, and rather than have an abscess lanced, the king Cheng-jong, in 1800, died from the effects of the disease. No ordinary mortal must touch him, and if by accident this is done, the individual must ever afterward wear a red silk cord. Notwithstanding such regulated veneration for the Hap-mun's person, the royal harem numbers several hundred inmates, duly presided over by eunuchs. None but the king can drink out of a cup made of gold, and a heavy penalty is visited upon all who presume to do so. When out- side the palace, the three signs of the sovereign's power of Hfe and death over his subjects, are the axe, sabre, and trident. The huge violet fan and red umbrella are likewise borne before him. The Chinese envoy is always escorted by soldiers bearing the three em- blems, and by a band of musicians. When the Hap-mun, or king, is in his minority, the queen, who is regent, sits behind a curtain in the council of ministers, and takes part in the discussions. When she is pregnant, the slaughter of beeves is prohibited during the space of three months. This is done in order "to honor heaven by abstinence," and may also be ordered to procure rain. Once every year, the queen entertains ° at her palace some worthy woman in humble Hfe, who has reached the advanced age of eighty years. The king likewise shows favor to old men in the lower walks of hfe. Whenever an auspicious event happens, or good fortune befalls the kingdom, all the officials over seventy, and the common people over eighty years of age, are feasted at the expense of the gov- ernment. When the first male child is born to the king, criminals are pardoned, and general festivity is observed. The birthdays of the royal pair are celebrated every year. The royal princes are supposed to have nothing whatever to do with politics, and any activity in matters of government on their part is jealously resented by the nobles, who form the political parties. 220 COREA. The Royal Castle contains over three acres (15,202 square yards), surrounded by a wall twenty feet high, and a moat the width of which varies from fifty feet to somewhat less. It is crossed by stone bridges in several places. This castled palace is called the "Place of Government," and is divided into two parts called the "East and West " palace. The East, or Lower Palace, is the resi- dence of the king and is so called because situated on level land. The Western palace is used for the reception of the Chinese am- bassadors. The gates of the outer city proper, and inner city, or palace, are named in high-sounding phrase, such as "Beneficent Keception," "Exalted Politeness," "Perfect Change," "Entrance of Virtue," and the throne-room is styled " The Hall of the Throne of the Humane Government." The Chinese ambassador of 1866 spent the night in that part of the royal residence called " The Palace Eeserved for the South," — " the south " here evidently re- ferring to the imperial favor, or the good graces, of the emperor. A marked difference concerning "the freedom of the city" is noticed in the relative treatment of the two embassies. While the entire body of Coreans, dignitaries, servants, merchants, and cart- men enter Peking, and all circulate freely in the streets among the people, the Chinese envoy to Seoul, must leave his suite at the frontier, and proceed to the capital with but a few servants, and while there dwell in seclusion. After the long and rough journey through Shin-king and Corea, the Chinese envoy in 1866 stayed less . than three days in Seoul, and most of the time in-doors. The Jap- anese who, in 1646, were feasted in some part of the Eastern palace, describe it as being handsomely furnished, with the walls gilded and painted with landscapes, beasts, birds, and flowers, with artis- tic effects in gold-dust and leaf. The royal family live each in separate buildings, those above the ninth degree of relationship reside inside the enclosure, all others live beyond the wall in the city. When the wife of the king has a child, she dwells apart in a separate building. The queen is selected from among the old and most loyal families of the nobility. The palace pages, who attend the king day and night, number thirty. There are also three hundred court ladies, and eunuchs are among the regularly- appointed officers of the court. The royal archives and library form an interesting portion of the royal residence. Part of this library, when removed to Kang-wa in 1866, was captured by the French. Bishop Bidel wrote of it, "The library is very rich, consisting of two or three thousand books printed in Chinese, THE KING AND ROYAL PALACE. 221 with numerous illustrations upon beautiful paper, all well labeled, for the most part in many volumes hooped together with copper bands, the covers being of green or crimson silk. I notice among other things the ancient history of Corea in sixty volumes. What was most cui-ious of all was a book formed of tablets of marble, with characters in gold encrusted in the marble, folding upon one another like the leaves of a screen, upon hinges of gilded copper, and each tablet protected by a cushion of scarlet silk, the whole placed in a handsome casket made of copper, which was in its turn enclosed in a box of wood painted red, with chased orna- ments in gilt copper. These square tablets formed a volume of a dozen pages. They contain, as some say, the moral laws of the country, but according to others, whose opinion is more probable, the honors accorded the kings of Corea by the Emperor of China. The Coreans set great store by it." A custom, similar to the old " curfew " of England prevails in the capital. A bell in the castle is struck at sunset, after which male citizens are not allowed to go out of their houses even to visit their neighbors. If such nocturnal prowlers are caught, they run the risk of receiving the bastinado on their legs. At eight o'clock another three strokes are given on the beU. At the hours of midnight, and at two and four a.m. the drum is struck, and the brass cymbals sounded. At these signals the watchmen or guards of the palace are relieved. The night-watch consists of ten reliefs of eighteen each. Twenty stand guard at midnight, thirty at two A.M., twenty at four a.m., and ten at six a.m. There are also extra reliefs with theu* officers ready. The sentinels change after giving the pass-word. The military garrison of the city is divided into five portions, or four in addition to the ho|isehold or palace troops. This is the modern form of the old divisi(5n of Kokorai, into five tribes or clans. There are several noted holidays, on which the curfew law is suspended, and the people are allowed to be out freely at night. These are the fii'st and the last day of the year, the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the first month, and the fiifteenth of August. Even under a despotism there are means by which the people win and enjoy a certain measure of liberty. The monarch hears the complaints of his subjects. Close communication between the palace and populace is kept up by means of the pages employed at the court, or through officers, who are sent out as the king's spies all over the country. An E-sa, or commissioner, who is to 222 CORBA. be sent to a distant province to ascertain the popular feeling, or to report the conduct of certain officers, is also called " The Mes- senger on the Dark Path." He receives sealed orders from the king, which he must not open till beyond the city walls. Then, without even going to his own house, he must set out for his des- tination, the government providing his expenses. He bears the seal of his commission, a silver plate having the figure of a horse engraved on it. In some cases he has the power of life and death in his hands. Yet, even the Messenger of the Dark Path is not free from espionage, for after him forthwith follows his "double" — the yashi or Night Messenger, who reports on the conduct of the royal inspector and also on the affairs of each province through which he passes. The whereabouts of these emissaries are rarely discoverable by the people, as they travel in strict dis- guise, and unknown. This system corresponds almost exactly to that of the ometsuke (eye-appliers), for many centuries in use in Japan, but abolished by the mikado's government at the revolu- tion of 1868. It was by means of these E-sa or spies that many of the Corean Christians of rank were marked for destruction. The system, though abominable in free countries, is yet an excel- lent medium between the throne and the subject, and serves as a wholesome check on official rapine and cruelty. The king rarely leaves the palace to go abroad in the city or country. When he does, it is a great occasion which is previously announced to the public. The roads are swept clean and guarded to prevent traffic or passage while the royal cortege is moving. All doors must be shut and the owner of each house is obliged to kneel before his threshold with a broom and dust-pan in his hand as emblems of obeisance. All windows, especially the upper ones, must be sealed with slips of paper, lest some one should look down upon his majesty. Those who think they have received unjust punishment enjoy the right of appeal to the sovereign. They stand by the roadside tapping a small flat drum of hide stretched on a hoop like a battledore. The king as he passes hears the prayer or receives the written petition held in a split bamboo. Often he investigates the grievance. If the complaint is groundless the petitioner is apt to lose his head. The proces- sion for pleasure or a journey, as it leaves the palace, is one of the grandest spectacles the natives ever witness. His body-guard and train amount to many thousand persons. There are two sedan chairs made exactly alike, and in which of them the king is riding THE KING AND ROYAL PALACE. 223 no one knows except the highest ministers. They must never be turned round, but have a door to open at both ends. The music used on such occasions is — to a Corean ear — of a quiet kind, and orders are given along the line by signals made with pennons. In case of sudden emergencies, when it is neccessary to convey an order from the rear to the front or far forward of the line, the message is sent by means of an arrow, which, with the writing at- tached, is shot from one end of the line to the other. Five caparisoned horses with embroidered saddles precede the royal sedan. The great dragon-flag, which is about fourteen feet square, mounted in a socket and strapped on the back of a strong fresh horse — with four guy ropes held by footmen, Hke banner- string boys in a parade — forms the most conspicuous object in the procession. Succession to the throne is at the pleasure of the sovereign, who may nominate his legitimate son, or any one of his natural male offspring, or his cousin, or uncle, as he pleases. A son of the queen takes precedence over other sons, but the male child of a concubine becomes king when the queen is childless,, which, in Corean eyes, is virtually the case when she has daugh- ters only. Since the founding of the present dynasty in 1392, there have been twenty-nine successors to the founder, among whom we find nephews, cousins, or younger sons, in several instances. Four were kun, princes, or king's son only, and not successors in the royal line. They are not styled loang, or kings, but only hun, or princes, in the official light. One of these four kun, degraded from the throne, was banished after eleven years, and another was served in like manner after fourteen years, reign. The heir to the throne holds the rank of wang (Japanese 0), king, while the younger sons are kun, princes. From 1392 to 1882, the average reign of the twenty sovereigns of Corea who received investiture is very nearly six- teen and a half years. CHAPTER XXy, POLITICAL PARTIES. DuEiNG the past three centuries the nobles have been steadily gaining political power, or rather we might say have been regain- ing their ancient prestige at court. They have compelled the royal princes to take the position of absolute political neutrality, and the policy of the central government is dictated exclusively by them. Those who hold no office are often the most powerful in influence with their own party. The origin of the political parties, which have played such an influential part in the history of modern Corea, is referred to about the time of the discovery of America. During the reign of Sien- chong (1469-1494), the eleventh sovereign of the house of Ni, a dispute broke out between two of the most powerful of the nobles. The court had bestowed upon one of them a high dignity, to which his rival laid equal claim. As usual in feudalism everywhere, the families, relatives, retainers, and even servants, of either leader took part in the quarrel. The king prudently kept himself neutral between the contending factions, which soon formed themselves into organized parties under the names of "Eastern " and *' West- ern." Later on, from a cause equally trivial to an alien eye, two other parties formed themselves under the names " Southern " and "Northern." Soon the Easterners joined themselves to the Southerners, and the Northerners, who were very numerous, split into two divisions, called the Great North and the Little North. In one of those unsuccessful palace intrigues, called conspiracies, the Great North party was mixed up with the plot, and most of its members were condemned to death. The survivors hastened to range themselves under the banner of the Little North. The next reaction which arranged the parties on new lines, occurred dui'ing the reign of Suk-chong (1676-1720), and well illustrates that fanaticism of pedantry to which the literary classes in time of peace formerly devoted their energies. The father of a young POLITICAL PARTIES. 225 noble named Yun, wlio belonged to the Western party, baving died, tbe young man composed an epitaph. His tutor, an influen- tial man of letters, not liking the production of his pupil, pro- posed another. Unable to agree upon the proper text, a lively con- troversy arose, and out of a literary acorn sprang up a mighty oak of politics. The "Western party split into the Sho-ron, and No-ron, in which were found the adherents of the pupil and master. A free translation of the correlative terms sho and no, would be " Old Corea " and *' Young Corea," or Conservative and Progres- sive, or radical. There were now four political parties. The Shi-seik, or " the four parties," are still in existence, and receive illustration better from French than from British politics. Every noble in the realm is attached to one or the other of the four parties, though " trimmers " are not unknown. These Tuhil- poki, or "right and left men," are ever on the alert for the main chance, and on the turn of the political vane promptly desert to the winning side. However trivial the causes which led to their formation, as Western eyes see, the objects kept in view by the partisans are much the same as those of parties in European countries and in the United States. Nominally the prime purpose of each faction is to advance the interests of the country. Actual and very power- ful motives have reference to the spoils of office. Each party en- deavors to gain for its adherents as many of the high appointments and dignities as possible. Their rallying-point is around the heirs apparent, or possible, to the throne. When a strong and healthy king holds the reins of power, political activity may be cool. When the sovereign dies and the succession is uncertain, when a queen or royal concubine is to be chosen, when high ministers of state die or resign, the Corean political furnace is at full blast. When king Suk-chong was reigning in 1720, having no son to succeed him, the four parties coalesced into two, the Opposition and the Court or royal party. The former supported in this case one who proved the successful candidate, a brother of the king ; the latter party urged the claims of an expected heir to the reign- ing king, which, however, was not born, as the king died childless. To secure the throne to their nominee, the brother of the childless king, the opposition secretly despatched a courier to Peking to obtain the imperial investiture. The other party sent- assassins to waylay or overtake the courier, who was murdered before he had crossed the frontier. 15 226 • COREA. Yeng-chong, the nominee of the Opposition, mounted the throne after the death of his brother, and reigned from 1724 to 1776. He was an able ruler, and signalized his reign by abohsh- ing many of the legal tortures until then practised, especially the branding of criminals. Yet personally he was cruel and unscrupu- lous. PubHc rumor credited him with having found a road to power by means of a double crime. By the use of various drugs he made it impossible for his brother to have an heir, after which he poisoned him. Stung by these reports, he began, as soon as he was made sov- ereign, to send to the block numbers of the opposite party whom he knew to be his enemies. Some years after, his eldest son hav- ing died, he nominated his second son, Sato, to be his heir, and associated him with himself in the government of the kingdom. This young and accomplished prince endeavored to make his father forget his bitter hatred against the Si-pai party, to pro- claim general amnesty, and to follow out a frank policy of recon- ciliation. The king, irritated by his son's reproaches, and hounded on by his partisans, resolved to put the prince out of the way. By the royal command a huge chest of wood was made, into which the young prince was ordered to sleep while living. The ponder- ous lid was put on during one of his slumbers and sealed with the royal seal. They then covered this sarcophagus with leaves and boughs, so that in a short time the young prince was smoth- ered. This horrible crime served only to exasperate the party of the prince, and they demanded that his name should be enrolled in the list of sovereigns. Their opponents refused, and this ques- tion is still a burning one. The king's defenders, to this day de- cline to rehabilitate the character of the smothered prince. The others demand that historic justice be done. Though other ques- tions have since arisen, of more immediate moment, this particu- lar moot point makes its distinct hue in the opposing colors of Corean politics. This, however, does not take on the features of an hereditary feud, for oftentimes in the same family, father and son, or brothers may hold varying views on this historical dispute, nor does it affect marriage between holders of diverse views. The Corean Komeo and Juliet may woo and wed without let or dan- ger. In general, it may be said that the Piek-pai are radical and fiery, the Si-pai are conservative and conciliatory. Cheng-chong, who ruled from 1776 to 1800, a wise, moderate, and prudent prince, and a friend of learning, favored the men of POLITICAL PARTIES. 227 merit among the Southern Si-pai, and is also noted for having revised the code of laws. Among the more radical of the partisans, the object in view is not only to gain for their adherents the public offices, but also to smite their rivals hip and thigh, and prevent their getting appoint- ments. Hence the continual quarrels and the plots, which often result in the death of one or other of the leaders. Assassination and murderous attacks are among the means employed, while to supplant their enemies the king is besought to order them to death or exile. Concessions are made by the dominant party to the other only to avoid violent outbreaks, and to keep the peace. With such a rich soil for feuds, it is not wonderful that Corea is cursed with elements of permanent disturbance like those in mediaeval Scotland or Italy. As each of the noble famiUes have many retainers, and as the feuds are hereditary, the passions of human nature have full sway. All manner of envy and malice, with all uncharitableness floiurish, as in a thicket of interlacing thorns. The Southern and No-ron parties have always been the most numerous, powerful, and obstinate. Between them mar- riages do not take place, and the noble who in an intrigue with one of his enemies loses caste, his honors, or his life, hands down to his son or his nearest relative his demand for vengeance. Often this sacred duty is associated with an exterior and visible pledge. He may give to his son, for instance, a coat which he is never to take off until revenge is had. The kinsman, thus clad with ven- geance as with a garment, must wear it, it may be until he dies, and then put it upon his child with the same vow. It is not rare to see noblemen clad in rags and tatters during two or three gen- erations. Night and day these clothes call aloud to the wearer, reminding him of the debt of blood which he must pay to appease the spirits of his ancestors. In Corea, not to avenge one's father is to be disowned, to prove that one is illegitimate and has no right to bear the family name, it is to violate, in its fundamental point, the national reli- gion, which is the worship of ancestors. If the father has been put to death under the forms of law, it behooves that his enemy or his enemy's son should die the same death. If the father has been exiled, his enemy's exile must be secured. If the parent has been assassinated, in like manner must his enemy faU. In these cases, public sentiment apj)lauds the avenger, as fulfilling the holy dictates of piety and religion. 228 COREA. Tlie pretext of accusation most often employed by the rival factions is that of conspiracy against the life of the king. Peti- tions and false evidence are multiplied and bribery of the court ministers is attempted. If, as is often the case, the first petition- ers are thrown in jail, beaten, or condemned to mulct or exile, the partisans assess the fine among themselves and pay it, or manage by new methods, by the favor or venality of the court ministers, or the weakness of the king, at last to compass their ends, when those of the vanquished party are ousted from office, while the victors use and abuse their positions to enrich themselves and ruin their enemies, until they in their turn are supplanted. It is no wonder that a Corean liberal visiting in Tokio, in 1882, declared to a Japanese officer his conviction that Corea's dfficulties in the way of national progress were greater than those of which Japan had rid herself, mighty as these had been. By the revolutions of 1868, and later, the ripened fruits of a century of agitation and the presence of foreigners, Japan had purged from her body politic feudalism and caste, emancipating herself at once from the thrall of the priest and the soldier ; but Corea, with her feudalism, her court intrigues, her Confucian bigotry, and the effete products of ages of seclusion and superstition has even a more hopeless task to attempt. The bearing of these phases of home politics will be further displayed when the new disturbing force of Christianity enters to furnish a lever to am- bition and revenge, as well as to affection and philanthropy. A native caricature, which was published about a generation ago, gives even a foreigner a fair idea of the relative position of each party at that epoch. At a table gorgeously furnished, a No- ron is seated at his ease, disposing of the bountiful fare. A Sho- ron seated beside him, yet in the rear, graciously performs the office of servant, receiving part of the food as reward for his at- tendance. The Little North, seeing that the viands are not for him, is also seated, but with a more sedate and serious visage. Last of all the Southern, covered with rags, keeps far in the rear, behind the No-ron, who does not notice him, while he, in vexation, grinds his teeth and shakes his fist like a man who means to take burning vengeance. Such was the political situation before 1850, as some native wit pictured it for the amusement of the Seoulians. It requires a ruler of real ability to be equal to the pressure brought upon him by the diverse and hostile political parties. Nominally sovereign of the country, he is held in check by pow- POLITICAL PARTIES. 229 erful nobles intrenclied in privileges hoary with age, and backed by all the reactionary influences of feudalism. The nobles are the powerful middle term in the problem of Corean politics, who con- trol both king and commons. The nobles have the preponderance of the government patronage, and fiU the official positions with their liegemen to an extent far beyond what the theory of the law, as illustrated in the literary examinations, allows them. A native caricature thus depicts the situation. Cho-sen is repre- sented as a human being, of whom the king is the head, the nobles the body, and the people the legs and feet. The breast and belly are full, while both head and lower limbs are gaunt and shrunken. The nobles not only drain the life-blood of the peo- ple by their rapacity, but they curtail the royal prerogative. The nation is suffering from a congestion, verging upon a dropsical condition of over-officialism. The disease of Cqreals near neig^hbor, old Japan, was like- wise^ajurplus of governm