The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-01-13
Recent Publications.

| always maintained a curious isolation from
the rest of the world; and was unknown, even
by name, to European geographers until the
sixteenth century. The peninsula with its
islands, says Mr.. Grifis, is nearly equal in size
/! to Minnesota or to Great Britain. In general
shape and relative position to Asia it resem-
bles our peninsula of Florida. Traditions and
| geology tend to show that the Chinese prov
ince of Shantung and Corea were once con-
| neeted; and the waters which join the Gulf of
| Pechili and the Yellow Sea need but an eleva-
| ton of few feet to raise them above the sea-
level, while the province of Manchuria which
borders the water rises but few feet above it,
and is nearly impossible in heavy rains The
| description of Corea, its rocky islands with
| cone-bearing trees, the winding chain of in
| land mountains and the strip of waste land
with which the Corean government has sur
rounded the country lest it tempt invaders, is
very striking. The fauna, says Mr.. Grifis in
his vivid fashion, suggests at once India. Eu-
rope, Massachusetts and Florida. Horses are
numerous but mostly small and stunted. I'm
mense numbers of oxen are found in the south
ern part of Corea. Sheep exist only as they
are imported from China for sacriicial pur-
poses. The Chinese are pressing on to the
| waste land, and the Coreans have not force to
drive away the intruders that swarm from
neighboring Manchuria; and in this tendency
Mr.. Grifis sees warning of change of affairs,
new dynasty, perhaps, on the Chinese throne
| The modern Coreans trace their history back
as far as 1122 B. c., when nobleman Of the
| court of the tyrant Chow Sin, named XII Tsze,
departed with defeated army which had
vainly arisen against the bad ruler and settled
in Corea which they called by the name its in
habitants give 1t to-day, Chosen or Morning
Calm. The ancient Corea was, according to
| the modern Coreans, outside and west of their
| present country, Ki-Tsze and his direct line
| reigned until 8. B. G. The history and relig-
! ions of Corea are closely connected with those
| of Japan. The legends are in many cases
such as are common to primitive peoples A
deity, half benefcent, half mischievous, recalls
the Greek Mercury; and the story of Androm-
eda has parallel in Corea.
Modern Corea is divided into eight prov
inces, of which the translated names sound
very curious to American ars-Respectful
Congratulation or Complete Network Province
would look well in election returns The his
| tory OF the campaigns of the wars between
China and Corea is graphically written.
| Mr.. G.itfis possesses a remarkable instinct for
selecting from the great mass of material, such
things as tend to give clear idea of the his
tory, the domestic life and the scenery of &C.
rea. He has genuine sense of humor which,
however, never interferes with the progress or
reliability of his more serious work. A few
notes only can be gathered here from his ex-
ceedingly interesting and copious descriptions.
Although living on the soa-borders, the Core
ans are not sea-faring people. Their ships
have straw sails, with cross-bars of bamboo,
and are set at the stern of the boat Instead
OF oars they use long SOULS worked by several
men. They call steamer "a divine Ship
and look upon it with awe. A favorite amuse-
with Corean gentlemen is to sail in canopied
boats, drinking tea or rice spirit, and compos-
ing poems according to elaborate and pedantic
| rules of verse. The several provinces differ
| much in scenery and social conditions. Politi-
cally, the country is governed by mobiles, who
have compelled the.royal princes to take po-
sition of absolute neutrality. Persons who
hold no Office are frequently most powerful in
influence with their own party. The present
| po1lblSdl pdIh0S ddtO DdCh W years near Inc
tine of the discovery of America The East
erners joined themselves to the Southerners,
and the Northern party split into two factions,
called the Great North and the Little North
a state of affairs which is easily recognized by
those who have watched Eastern Massachu-
sets and the South, and have observed the
strange division of last autumn's elections
But the next Corean crisis in politics, cannot
have an American parallel, unless Boston
should one day repeat its history. A young
man composed an epitaph upon his deceased
father. His tutor thought he could write a
better obituary, and proceeded to crafty him.
self in this respect All Corea took sides up
on this literary question, and divided itself
anew into Conservative and Progressive par
ties. At present, observes Mr.. Griffis,
Corean politics resemble the parties OF
| France rather than of England. There
| are four parties, and of course float
| ing element attaching itself to one or
| another side as the case may be. About 1850.
Corean Mast drew effective political cartoons.
| A king, three prime ministers, six official de-
! partments and newspaper called Cho po are
the machinery of government which is after
the Picking model. Each province has its gov
ernor, and the cities have municipal officers.
| The magistrates are chosen from among ltera-
ry men and their official residences have poetic
| titles. The Ccrean notions of the admnistra
tion of justice show the nation to be only half
civilized. Their ceremonies and festivals are
curious in the extreme Children are we'll
| treated, much petted by their mothers, of whom
they have no fear, but they hold by the Japa
nese proverb which says there are flour dread
full things, earthquake wind, fire and father"
| Their household utensils are excellent, but
| glass is almost unknown, and an American
beer-bottle is rare bric-a-brac to the Corean as-
thete. The dress is baggy, buttons are not
known, and the Corean woman threads the
"ear'' of her needle. Whatever is to be praised
as excellent is called a dragon The tiger
enjoys much legendary fame for acuteness and
| force. The great state seal is tortoise; and a
favorite animal of mythical lore is the kirin,
| which may be briefly described as curly-tailed
| unicorn. All these creatures, and many more,
| are objects OF terror to the Coreans; and for
| "this delirium tremens of Paganism'' Mr.. Grit
| fs can but prescribe science and Christianity.
| The legends and fairy lore are exceedingly in
| teresting, and the proverbial sayings much to
the point Here again the tiger comes to the
front. So great are the ravages of these great
cats that the Chinese say that "the Coreans
hunt the tigers half the year, and the tigers
hunt the Coreans the other half" On their
part, the Coreans prefer tigers to their Chinese
neighbors, and have saying: "After the Chi.
nese, the tigers ''To nourish tiger and have
him devour you" is the story Of ingratitude
which corresponds to our legend of the recha6e
viper. "Corean shrewdness, says Mr.. Grifis,
"utilizes the phenomena of local experience
So common is the disappearance of villager
through vsitations of the tiger, that the stand
ard method of escaping creditors or processes
of law is to leave bits of ones torn clothes in
the woods and then to abscond. 0bliging
friends and relatives quickly report, "Devoured
by a tiger" and too often it is believed that
"Joseph without doubt is rent in pieces
proceeding which the author considers the To-
cal substitute fcr trip to Europe. The native
worship of Corea is similar to the Chinese.
Missionaries find their greatest hindrances in
the rites of ancestral piety. Their idols are
such as are common to all Buddhist Asia. The
Coreans claim to have possessed letters for