FROM COREA TO QUELPAERT ISLAND: IN BY COLONEL C. CHAILLÉ-LONG. Ex-Secretary of Legation and Consul General and Chargé d'Affaires ad interim, INTRODUCTORY NOTICE OF COREA.-The land of Corea or Chosön, for The contour of the peninsula is in singular conformity to the shape of a dragon, the ideal emblem of power, which exerts the most potent influence over the Corean mind; which, once swayed by Buddhism and subsequently by the ethics of Confucius, is now almost wholly influenced by Shamanism or the worship of the spirits of earth and air, the Dragon being the supreme agent and recognized alike by prince and peasant. It is not improbable that this configuration of Chosön has lent a double significance to "Dragon worship" in which "worship of ancestors" is accounted a mere incident. To establish the comparison, the reader may imagine the dragon's head to rest upon the mouth of the Tumen River in the Sea of Japan, the ears to project to Cape Bruat, the neck to form the indentation at Broughton Bay, the shoulders and back at capes Duroche and Pelissier, the tail at Fusan in the south, prolonged to Quelpaert Island, and the pedal extremities resting upon the islands of the archipelago in the South Yellow Sea and northward in the mouths of the Ta-Tong and the Yalu rivers. The backbone of the dragon on the eastern part of the peninsula is a sinuous range of mountains forming a sort of wall along the Japan Sea throughout the entire length south. The country descends in slopes and circuitous monticules toward the west, forming a succession of fertile valleys through which on their way to the Yellow Sea run the rivers Han, the Ta-Tong, the Yalu and others of less importance. The climate of Corea is dry and cold in winter, wet and hot in summer. The four seasons in fact are well marked, the three months of spring are mild and temperate, while the autumn months are unsurpassed for their evenness of temperature. The flora presents a varied and unlimited field of wild specimens, and the mountains which encircle the capital city are adorned in season with flowers of every hue. The fauna consists of the bear, boar, deer, leopard, and the tiger. The presence of this latter, to be found in great numbers north of the capital and with longer hair and more vigorous body than his Chinese brother from whence through Manchuria he has come to Corea, must vex the naturalist, who will be at a loss to understand why the tiger should have abandoned his native haunts in the jungle to seek the cold and somewhat barren steppes of Manchuria and the distant mountains of Corea. Game of almost every kind is plentiful, and the black and white swan, wild geese, ducks, bustards and golden pheasants abound. The rivers afford fish, oysters, clams and terrapin. The mineral resources of the country are reputed to be great, and the natives report rich deposits of gold, silver, lead and coal, but for a fact the government hesitates to award concessions to have them opened, alleging that digging into the earth and above all the hill-sides, would disturb the Dragon, and all sorts of ills would surely come out of such desecration. His Majesty Li, however, under a pressure of need of money seems quite disposed to grant concessions now, and only recently an enterprising American missionary visited the United States for the purpose of disposing of royal grants of this nature, but American capital was not allured even by the enthusiastic representations of the sacerdotal agent. Corea, heretofore known to the outside world as the "Hermit Nation' by reason of her isolation, first opened her ports to Japan in 1876 and in 1882 made a treaty with the United States and subsequently with England, Germany, Russia and France, all of whom maintain, together with China, representatives at Seoul. It is a matter of justice to state that Corea was induced to abandon her policy of seclusion and treat with the outside world-whom she looked upon as " Barbarians from the Western Ocean "-through the friendly offices of Li-Hung-Chang, the liberal minded and distinguished statesman and Viceroy of China. The change from the old to the new régime was not left unchallenged. Corea possessed a large class, and there is but little doubt that she possesses it to-day, a majority who hate the foreigner and who are wedded to the ancient order of things. The Tai-Wen-Kun, who was regent during the days of persecution and massacre of the missionaries and their converts, is no longer in power, His Majesty Li having assumed the reins of actual government in 1873. Although living in retirement the Tai-Wen-Kun still exercises great influence, and to him doubtless are due the frequent acts of violence and disorder which have disturbed and even threatened the power of the State, notably in 1882, 1884, 1886 and again in 1888. These biennial revolutions show full well their forecast by the ever potent horoscope guided by the cunning hand of the TaiWen-Kun. His Majesty Li is descended from the dynasty founded by Li-Tadjo and is the twenty-eighth sovereign of the line. Subsequent to the fall of the Mongol dynasty from the Dragon throne of China in the year 1392, Li-Tadjo, then a young and ambitious soldier, was chosen King of Corea (that is Li-Tadjo murdered the reigning king and succeeded him). Tadjo, with the instinct of the soldier, caused the capital to be removed from Sunto to its present site at Seoul with a view to utilize its admirable natural defences. His Majesty is known as Tai-Chosön, Tai-Kun-Chu (Great King of Great Chosön). He governs with three prime ministers with six boards or departments, each with a president and an unlimited number of vice-presidents. The high rank men are known as Pansa, Champan, Chamwei, with an officer known as Chusa who acts as the king's messenger or as interpreter to the different officers. The revenues are derived from a land tax, the amount of which is an unknown quantity save to the 'Chinese-Corean Customs Service," which was organized by China and sent to Corea as a model and which is composed principally of Europeans who have entered that service, and which has been established by Sir Robert Hart. The revenue derived from this service which includes the duties on imports and exports reaches scarcely two hundred thousand dollars, a little more than sufficient to pay the expense of the service itself. The native taxes are collected by the king and the mandarin class, among whom there is an amicable arrangement as to its distribution, the system bearing a close resemblance to the ancient feudal customs, Corea, in fact, being a feudal government, pure and simple, in which the king and mandarins are after all but feudal barons. Prodigal in the extreme, this revenue is expended in the ever recurring fêtes and festivals, and the government is already deeply indebted to German merchants, who have given it somewhat carte blanche in the purchase of arms and the construction of a mint, which is inoperative, because the people refuse to use the newly coined copper money, preferring the copper "cash" of their "daddies," the only money current in Corea. The discovery of a rich gold mine by the American prospectors, who have recently gone out, is perhaps the only hope to maintain the already seriously impaired credit of the once "Hermit Nation." The population is variously estimated in numbers at ten to twelve millions of souls, and, more robust than either the Chinese or Japanese, is a type apart from either, and is a composite of the many wild races of the Manchurian plateau, from which it has been evolved. The origin of the Corean people presents an interesting study for the ethnologist, and in this sense as well as geographically the writer was induced during his official residence in Corea to undertake the expedition-an account of which is subjoined, to the island of Quelpaert, or Chae-Ju, where he found himself in the footprints of the great Mongol conqueror KublaiKhan, who undoubtedly constructed the system of fortifications and sea walls, still in excellent repair, and which are garrisoned even now by the descendants of his soldiers left there, and whose very arms and accoutrements are doubtless the same once worn by the veteran legions of the great khan. The island of Quelpaert or Chae-Ju, its native name, is situated south of the peninsula of Corea, about sixty miles, between parallels 33° and 34° north and meridians 126° and 127° east from Greenwich. Forty miles in extent, E. N. E. and W. S. W., it has a breadth of seventeen miles, a high range of mountains traverses its entire length, culminating in the centre by a lofty peak known as HALLA SAN (cloud mountain) 6,500 feet above the sea level. Two hundred and thirty-five years ago, in the year 1653, the Dutch ship Sparwehr, en route from Holland, bound to Nagasaki, was wrecked off the coast of Quelpaert, and of the crew of sixty-four men, thirty-six succeeded in reaching the shore alive. Among these was Hendrik Hamel, who, after fourteen years of imprisonment in Corea, escaped with a few of his surviving companions, and eventually returning to Holland published an account of his sojourn in the land of the "Morning Calm." His story for the first time lent a special interest to Corea, and it was subsequently incorporated in a book published at Amsterdam, 1680, by Jacob de Meurs, entitled "Contes des Ambassadeurs Memorables de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales," and the following extract therefrom is cited as lending a dramatic interest to the island which, besides Hamel, had not been visited by any traveller from the "Western Ocean," nor indeed from any part of the globe, for the inhabitants of Chae-Ju, as we shall see, permitted no stranger to visit them. The author of the book, "Contes des Ambassadeurs," says : The pilot (of the Sparwehr), annoyed at not knowing where he was, finally took the latitude of the place and found that it was the Island of Quelpaert, which is in latitude thirty-three degrees, thirty-two minutes. The barbarians, meanwhile, burned all the wood of the vessel, and this nearly cost them their life, the great fire they made having so heated two pieces of cannon that they went off and shattered everything that lay before them in the direction of the sea, towards which they were pointed, though it happened that no men were there. This noise alarmed them so that they all fled as fast as they could; but they came back soon after and finished their work, when they were assured that the thing would not happen again. After this the Hollanders went to see the Governor and made him a present of a bottle of red wine, which he found so good and so much to his liking that he gave them better treatment than they had had, sending them twice a day rice cooked in water; and, moreover, he would have them look on at the punishment of the men who had secretly carried away some fragments of the vessel. 46 In this punishment they began by tying the hands behind the back with some bits of the iron that had been stolen; then the men were laid flat on the ground and beaten with sticks on the soles of their feet until they seemed to be half dead." The amiable old Governor, the account alleges, was shortly after replaced by a man as brutal as his predecessor was kind and gentle. The prisoners endeavored to escape, but, caught in the attempt, they were brought before the Governor, who caused them to be placed in chains, and said: "What was your plan, and what did you suppose would become of you, wretched men, when you risked yourselves at sea without bread or water or other things necessary to life? They all answered as with one voice that there was no danger they would not face rather than live as they did ; that their comrades in suffering shipwreck had died but once, while the life of those who had fallen into the hands of |