Corea or Cho-sen

or Cho-sen, by A (Arnold) Henry Savage-Landor

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Title: Corea or Cho-sen
Author: A (Arnold) Henry Savage-Landor
Release Date: August 7, 2004 [EBook #13128]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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COREA
OR CHO-SEN

COREA
OR CHO-SEN
THE LAND OF THE MORNING CALM
BY
A. HENRY SAVAGE-LANDOR
AUTHOR OF
"ALONE WITH THE HAIRY AINU"
With Numerous Text and Full-Page Illustrations from Drawings made by the Author
[Illustration: A. HENRY SAVAGE-LANDOR.]
[Illustration: SIGNATURE OF A. HENRY SAVAGE-LANDOR.]
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1895
[All rights reserved]

BY GRACIOUS PERMISSION
I Humbly Dedicate
THIS WORK
TO
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

PREFACE
In this book I have sought to present the reader with some dry facts about Corea and the Coreans. I have attempted to describe the manners and customs of the people as accurately as possible from the impressions which my visit to their country left upon me, but of course I do not claim that these personal opinions expressed are absolutely infallible. My sojourn extended over several months, and I never during all that time neglected any opportunity of studying the natives, giving my observations as they were made a permanent form by the aid both of pen and of brush. I was afforded specially favourable chances for this kind of work through the kind hospitality shown me by the Vice-Minister of Home Affairs and Adviser to the King, Mr. C.R. Greathouse, to whom I feel greatly indebted for my prolonged and delightful stay in the country, as well as for the amiable and valuable assistance which he and General Le Gendre, Foreign Adviser to His Corean Majesty, gave me in my observations and studies among the upper classes of Corea. I am also under great obligations to Mr. Seradin Sabatin, Architect to His Majesty the King, and to Mr. Krien, German Consul at Seoul, for the kindness and hospitality with which they treated me on my first arrival at their city.
The illustrations in this book are reproductions of sketches taken by me while in the country, and though, perhaps, they want much in artistic merit, I venture to hope that they will be found characteristic.
For literary style I hope my readers will not look. I am not a literary man, nor do I desire to profess myself such. I trust, however, that I have succeeded in telling my story in a simple and straightforward manner, for this especially was the object with which I started at the outset.
A. HENRY SAVAGE-LANDOR.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Christmas on board--Fusan--A body-snatcher--The Kiung-sang Province--The cotton production--Body-snatching extraordinary--Imperatrice Gulf--Chemulpo.
CHAPTER II
Chemulpo--So-called European hotels--Comforts--Japanese concession--The Guechas--New Year's festivities--The Chinese settlement--European residents--The word "Corea"--A glance at Corean history--Cho-sen.
CHAPTER III
The road to Seoul--The Mapu--Ponies--Oxen--Coolies--Currency--Mode of carrying weights--The Han River--Nearly locked out.
CHAPTER IV
The Coreans--Their faces and heads--Bachelors--Married men--Head-band--Hats--Hat-umbrellas--Clothes--Spectacles.
CHAPTER V
The Woman of Cho-sen--Her clothes--Her ways--Her looks--Her privileges--Her duties--Her temper--Difference of classes--Feminine musicians.
CHAPTER VI
Corean children--The family--Clans--Spongers--Hospitality--Spinning-tops --Toys--Kite-flying--Games--How babies are sent to sleep.
CHAPTER VII
Corean inns--Seoul--A tour of observation--Beggars--Lepers--Philosophy--An old palace--A leopard hunt--Weather prophets--The main street--Sedan chairs--The big bell--Crossing of the bridges--Monuments--Animal worship--The Gate of the Dead--A funeral--The Queen-dowager's telephone.
CHAPTER VIII
Seoul--The City Wall--A large image--Mount Nanzam--The fire-signals--The women's joss-house--Foreign buildings--Japanese settlement--An anecdote--Clean or not clean?--The Pekin Pass--The water-carrier--The man of the Gates.
CHAPTER IX
The Corean house--Doors and windows--Blinds--Rooms--The "Kan"--Roasting alive--Furniture--Treasures--The kitchen--Dinner-set--Food--Intoxicants--Gluttony--Capacity for food--Sleep--Modes of illumination--Autographs--Streets--Drainage--Smell.
CHAPTER X
A Corean marriage--How marriages are arranged--The wedding ceremony--The document--In the nuptial chamber--Wife's conduct--Concubines--Widows --Seduction--Adultery--Purchasing a husband--Love--Intrigue--Official "squeezing"--The cause.
CHAPTER XI
Painting in Seoul--Messages from the King--Royal princes sitting for their portraits--Breaking the mourning law--Quaint notions--Delight and despair--Calling in of State ceremony--Corean soldiers--How they mount guard--Drill--Honours--A much-admired shoe--A gift.
CHAPTER XII
The royal palace--A royal message--Mounting guard--The bell--The royal precinct--The Russian villa--An unfinished structure--The Summer Palace--The King's house--Houses of dignitaries--The ground and summer pavilion--Colds--The funeral of a Japanese Minister--Houses of royal relations--The queen--The oldest man and woman--The King and his throne--Politics and royalty--Messengers and spies--Kim-Ka-Chim--Falcons and archery--Nearly a St. Sebastian--The queen's curiosity--A royal banquet--The consequences.
CHAPTER XIII
Students--Culture--Examination ground--The three degrees--The alphabet--Chinese characters--Schools--Astronomers--Diplomas--Students abroad--Adoption of Western ways--Quick perception--The letter "f"--A comical mistake--Magistrates and education Rooted superstition--Another haunted palace--Tigers--A convenient custom.
CHAPTER XIV
Religion--Buddhism--Bonzes--Their power--Shamanism--Spirits--Spirits of the mountain--Stone heaps--Sacred trees--Seized by the spirits--Safe-guard against them--The wind--Sorcerers and sorceresses--Exorcisms--Monasteries --Temples--Buddha--Monks--Their customs and clothing--Nuns--Their garments--Religious ceremonies--The tooth-stone.
CHAPTER XV
Police--Detectives--The plank-walk--The square board--The wooden blocks for hands and feet--Floggings--The bamboo rod--The stick--The flexible board--A flogging in Seoul--One hundred strokes for three-halfpence --Wounds produced--Tender-hearted soldiers--Imprisonment--Exile--Status of women, children, and bachelors--Guilds and the law--Nobles and the law--Serfdom--mild form of slavery.
CHAPTER XVI
Executions--Crucified and carried through the streets--The execution ground--Barbarous mode of beheading--Noble criminals--Paternal love--Shut out--Scaling the wall--A catastrophe--A nightmare.
CHAPTER XVII
The "King's procession"--Removing houses--Foolhardy people--Beaten to death--Cavalry soldiers--Infantry--Retainers--Banners--Luxurious saddles--The King and his double--Royal palanquins--The return at night.
CHAPTER XVIII
Fights--Prize fights--Fist fights--Special