ARTICLE V. SOME NOTES OF A TRIP TO COREA, IN BY G. JAMES MORRISON, Esq. In placing the following paper before the Society I hope it will be understood that it is only intended to be of a superficial character. In first visiting a strange country one sees many new things, but one is sure to make egregious mistakes if he generalizes too quickly and on insufficient bases, and I would rather have the paper characterized as incomplete than as incorrect. I left Shanghai on the morning of Sunday the 8th July, and after a rather stormy passage the Ferrier Islands were sighted on the morning of Tuesday the 10th. These islands are at what may be called the entrance to the harbor of Jenchuan, inasmuch as after passing them the course lies among islands all the way up to the anchorage. Passing the Ferriers at about 10 o'clock, we arrived at Roze Island at about 5 p.m. The official name of the port is Jenchuan which is the name of the nearest place of any importance, but the spot where the Custom House has been temporarily located and where it is purposed to make the foreign settlements, is called Chi-mul-poo and the port is usually spoken of by that name. In front of Chi-mul-poo there is an island called by the French Roze Island, immediately to the west of which there is good anchorage for a large number of vessels. The scenery between the Ferriers and Roze Island is very pleasing when the water is high, but at low tide the vast extents of mud flats detract much from the beauty of the landscape. There is a rise and fall of about 28 feet at spring tides at Chimul-poo, and at low water there is a foreshore of mud about two-thirds of a mile in width. In some of the bays in the neighbourhood the extent of foreshore is very much greater. The Custom House has been placed close to a small bluff which projects some distance into the bay, and here it has been possible to construct a small jetty of reasonable length reaching down to low water. At present the vessels lie about half a mile to a mile south-west of Roze Island, and against the tide it sometimes takes an hour for a boat to reach one from Chi-mul-poo. The charge for a boat to a steamer and back is from $1 upwards, but as trade increases this charge will no doubt be much diminished. On a bright day and at high tide the view of the islands from Chi-mul-poo is very picturesque; the view of the mainland from the sea is not so pleasing,-still it compares very favorably with Chefoo or any of the places which residents in Shanghai have opportunities of visiting during a short holiday, and there is every reason to hope that some day a very delightful watering place may exist on some point on the south-west coast of Corea. Chi-mul-poo can hardly as yet be called a model settlement, but it may possibly have a great future in store. Immediately to the south of the knoll or bluff above-mentioned lies the Japanese settlement. Here the Japanese have built a considerable number of wooden shanties, and offer for sale a most heterogeneous mass of commodities. They seem to have settled down determined to cast in their lot with the place, and it may only be a few years before some of these men who are at present owners of a shanty and a few dollars' worth of stores will be wealthy storekeepers. The great difficulty to be encountered is the absence of the trading class, who could exchange commodities with the foreign importer. I feel quite certain, however, that the difficulty does not arise from the inability of the country to furnish exports, but from the absence of a class which hitherto has not been required, and which the usual law of supply and demand will soon call existence Among the Japanese storekeepers there are I believe now one or two Europeans, but there were none when I was at Chi-mul-poo. Immediately to the south of the Japanese settlement lies the foreign settlement-for foreigners other than Japanese. I cannot say that I think the choice of a site has been a happy one. The ground is low and must be raised with disintegrated granite, a process which is generally considered very unhealthy; but putting aside this, which after all is but a temporary difficulty which will disappear after the settlement is all raised, nothing can ever improve the two-thirds of a mile of mud foreshore at low water. Even if after 30 or 40 years the place became rich enough to reclaim all this, it is very doubtful if the result would not be to throw out another mud flat in front. There were no houses on this settlement when I was there, and it is to be hoped that the question of the location of the settlement may be reconsidered. The anchorage is undoubtedly very good, and if the settlement must be in that neighbourhood, either Roze Island or the land immediately to the north of the Custom House knoll would be preferable to the present place. As all the goods would be taken into the country in boats by the Seoul river, there is very little objection to the settlement being on an island, particularly when the distance to the mainland is only a few hundred yards. The European portion of the population is almost entirely confined to the customs staff. The Commissioner, Mr. Stripling, is an old and valued member of this Society, whose hospitality to strangers in that country will astonish no one who knows him here. His residence is situated rather more than a mile from the settlement, and most of the staff live in the adjoining house; but ere long (that is as soon as the receipts begin to flow in) it is intended to build houses better suited to the requirements of the place. On landing at Chi-mul-poo I found that I could ride to the capital, but my baggage would have to be carried by bulls. The idea of veritable bulls being used as beasts of burden was new to me, but it appears that when hard-worked they are very quiet, and I soon got accustomed to seeing them toil along under enormous loads. A few cows are used for the same purpose, but their number is very limited compared with the number of bulls. (It may be remarked here that all the male cattle as well as the horses are entire, the process of castration not being practised in Corea except in the case of eunuchs required for the palace). The breed of cattle is remarkably handsome, but the cows do not seem to give much milk. Through the kindness of Mr. Stripling I was provided with a first-rate pony, but in spite of this the journey to the capital was rather tiresome. The country, though somewhat pretty, is on the whole uninteresting. The soil consists of disintegrated granite and other rocks, and consequently there are many large barren patches to be seen in every direction, some of the hills being absolutely bare. As usual when travelling in such countries with some of the attendants on foot, it was necessary to go at a walk, and the consequence was that starting from Chi-mul-poo at 10 a.m. on Wednesday the 11th, we did not reach our resting place at the capital till 7.30 p.m.,-the distance being about 25 or 26 miles. The Capital of Corea-Han-yang or Seoul as it is called on maps, Seoul as it is generally known by Coreans and by foreigners, and Hwang-ch êng as it is usually called by the Chinese--is a large but not very densely populated city. It is surrounded by a wall, and has large and somewhat handsome gateways. The main roads are very wide, somewhat after the character of the roads in Peking, but being composed of disintegrated granite they dry very quickly after rain, and are much cleaner than the roads in the Chinese capital. The smaller sheets are filthy. They have side ditches into which is thrown all the refuse from the houses, and the smell is almost unbearable. The palaces |