Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-01-25
known. All the water is taken from wells

| known. All the water Is taken from wells
IN gourds, which grow to large size.
When Corean gentleman with foreign
Ideas wished to have n bath-tub i'll his
house, the only way he could obtain il
was to take a long and large log of wood,
and have it followed out bit by bit, until
1t was the shape and size he wished.
The principle food of the Coreans is
rice as with all eastern nations, but SO
poorly Is it cooked, being filled with sand
and dlrt, that it is very unpalatable, cx-
ceptlng to the natives All the food is
poorly cooked, there is no variety i'll the
preparation of it, and all meals are the
same. They feed themselves with chop
STICKS assisted by a flat spoon. All the
CHINA Is crudely made it is a thick sort
OF greenish ware, roughly finished, and If
at all ornamented it is with the poorest
grotesque figures. 1t is almost impossi-
bic to believe that Japan learned how to
make her exquisite vases from these peo-
pie III ancient times. Vegetation is lux
urious is some respects. There is abun-
dance of the best quality of hay, but this
is burned for fuel, wood never being used.
The cattle excel any found along the
coast of Asia, and with good grazing they
would become profitable for expectation.
There are not many varieties of fruit, but
peaches are large and luscious and al
most twice the size Of those in America.
There are some nuts, and the chestnut is
larger than any known in Europe, and
twice as large as the Italian. Vegetables
are not abundant, but they have several
foreign species, and they have plenty OF
eggs and splendid meat.
When a gentleman of high rank visits
| another 1t is the custom to take with him
| not only presents, but all the food ne
will require, and food for the family he
visits. To each person is assigned enor-
nous quantities of meat, more than one
could possibly eat with the best appe-
tite. The utensils for cooking are very
strange. The stove is made of stone ard
so arranged that the smoke from the
fire goes through pipe under the moor
OF the house, and makes its escape from
the other side, and in every house the
smoke will be seen issuing from the
aoor. On asking for wash basin, the
utensil for boiling rice may be handed
you. The sleeping apartments are used
for every other purpose The bed, on
the floor, is hard and uncomfortable, and
hot from the smoke underneath. In
summer they lie down on the floor in
their clothes and rest their heads on
mere blocks aof rough wood There Is
| lack OF neatness about every thing. 1t Is
almost impossible to get clean water for
drinking; the wells are generally filthy
and even boiling the water many times
does not purify 1t. At present there
are not many foreigners III the country,
only the Japanese and American lega-
tons having been established there,
and Tor those lew strangers the lnconven-
fences and hardshlps are beyond express
sion.
| Learning and Language are further
advanced than might be expected The
written language Is the same as the Chi
nese, anu thus with little change the
whole Chinese literature is at their COM
mand. But learning to read is labori-
GUS task, SO that many do not reach high
standard OF mental culture. Some OF the
| Coreans however, surpass the Japanese
i'll writing and reading Chinese. The
spoken language Is very much like the
Japanese and no doubt both are from
the same origin. In spite of many dis
agreeable customs this people are fal
from being uninteresting. They seem
eager to learn and interested in getting
new ideas to work from. They have
thus far taken kindly to innovations, and
Will probably be as progressive as the
Japanese. In the one instance of the
| Corean converted last spring to Christi
anlty, is n good example of what the race
may become.