Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-28
COREA AND THE COREANS
a Corner of the Earth Now Being
Opened for Public inspection.

IA
There is much natural beauty IN the
country, the beau y Of mountain, forest
and prairie, of profuse vegetation and
plentiful rivers and Cataracts. And the
people are not Indifferent to these beau
ties; they are seeing race, and proud
(amOng themselves) of their marine and
mountain views. The country is Ter
tile, but the climate has great extremes
of heat and cold. The Indian story of
"the tiger that owns my village" would
be thoroughly appreciated in Corea,
where very large and fierce species
OF that terrible apimal abounds, and the
idea of It pervades all works Of art. To
Japanese children, Chosen is known as
"the land OF the tiger" Leopards,
bears and wolves are also very mum er-
Gus, the wild deer and the wild hog
abound, monkeys are found in the
southern provinces, and aylligators and
salamanders ia the rivers. The people
are large eaters, especially of meat;
small oxen in great numbers supply
them IN the south, and dogs are eaten
commonly. Tea and rice are rare luz
uries, and fish is chiefly devoured raw.
Altogether the "diet" is an uncomforta.
BILE one. Sheep are imported from
China for sacrificial purposes only, and
goats are rare. The poorer classes are
meagerly fed; they live, like the Japa-
nese, on mlllet and beans Ali classes
use tobacco very much, We may take
1t that the manners and customs which
Mr.. Grittis describes as existing now are
just the same as they have been Tor
ages: domestic slavery in it's mildest
form, for instance, the position of
women, the fraternal principles on
which trades and industries are con-
Quoted, and the curious ceremonies of
marriage, burial and mourning.
Women are not so i'll off in Corea as
IN many other less secluded heather
countries. They have 20 rights, and
are disposed of like the other animals;
but they are not ill-treated by their
owners, and though their personal in
significance actually extends to their
having 40 names, they receive titles of
honor in public, their apartments are
secure from intrusion, they can not be
punished for any crime 1.-THE males of
the family being responsible for them J,
and they are free land safe) to 20 about
st all hours. Widows of position are
not supposed to marry again, and are
expected to mourn ali their lives, but
a man whose wife dies wears half
mourning for very short time. It is
a breach Of good manners to be
vehemently sorry for ones wife, and
the sex that makes every law finds that
one easy to keep.
A Corean king is q rather absurd
parsonage; nobody must touch him
unbidden, and anyone who accidental
ly does SO has henceforth to wear
red cord round the neck. Metal, also,
must never approach the royal person.
The king has despotic power; but it is
tempered by many kindly customs; lie
hears the complaints of his subjects,
and Is IN constant communication with
the populace, by means of commits
sioner2. The royal outings are tre-
mendous affairs, with caparisoned
horses, dragon flags, and the sacred fan
and umbrella. The mobiles are s. Dad
and cruel class, according to all &C
counts of them; the officials and
magistrates are literary" Literature
LAS HUH Ilu1S lmmSmOTlal DE6n n6lQ
IN honor in Corea, from whence TIE
Japanese adopted printing in the
twelfth century, when a work of the
Buddhist canon was printed from wood
en- blocks. GA Corean book is known
which dates authenticity from the
period 1317-24, over q century before
the earliest printed book known in
Europe" The Coreans are Buddhists,
but Shamanism has never lost its hold
upon them, and the old gods are
reverenced still, just as the old myths
remain in modern Greece. TIE air is
not empty for a Corean, and every
has its three unlucky days, the 5Lh,
the 10Th, and tae 25Ih. The worship
Of ancestors and the Chinese system of
ethics, or Confucianism, are there rul-
ing principles, and the fuIfllment of
the parental and fliaI relations in an
admirable manner is the distinguish
ing virtue of the hermit race.-London
Spectator.