The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1884-01-02
C0REA AND THE CQREANS,
A JAPANESE SCHOLARS ACCOUNT
OF THE HERMIT NATION.
The Country Which Only Recently
Established Intercourse With the
Outside WOrld-A Peculiar People.

Established Intercourse With the
Outside WOrld-A Peculiar People.
A native japanese scholar has written
for the New York Tribune an account of
Corca. the country which recently sent
! IN embassy to the United States. The
! writer SAYS: Corca, like Japan, for many
years refused all intercourse with her
sister nations, and now that the barrier
which has shut her out from them has
| been removed, much interest has been
| awakened in regard to this strange coun-
try. This interest none feels more
strongly than Japan, as many of her
arts, as well as literature and religion,
were originally learned from Corca.
Once in several weeks steamers cave
Japan for Corca. The journey is made
in about Il week with fair sailing. This
time will bring one to the coast, where
anchor is cast some distance from shore.
| At this point is a river which cmptics
into the ocean. and it is possible to reach
Soul. the capital, by means of this, but
the journey cannot be made in large
boats, on account of shadows and tides.
Ships anchor two or three miles from
| shore, and the crew row to n little vii
larc near the mouth of the river and
obtain conveyance for the journey over
land. This conveyance resembles the
Japanese /" kago," and is carried by two
| poles underneath. in the hands of two
men elevated as high as the waist, while
in Japan the poles are carried on
shoulders, and attached to the "kago."
at the top. The distance to Soul IS
twenty-five miles. and is made in a day.
The face of the country is hilly and but
| roughly cultivated trees are scarce, being
cut down for use before half grown, and
everything gives evidence OF a careless
and ignorant people. There are few vii
lagos along the way, and none OF any. IN
tcrcst. Near the capital are some very
fine gates of great beauty and Workman
ship, but the temples have non of the
gorgeous appearance found in neighbour
ing countries. There are some fine walls
around the city.
The streets are very narrow, filled with
rubbish and pervadcd by gases from de-,
caying matter: the houses, crowded
closely together, arc really nothing more
than rude huts, built at the bottom OF
stone and mud, and at the top of wood.
There is no house with a second story,
and most of them are very small. The.
rooms are only about six feet square,
with no sort of ornamcntation or furnl-
ture. The inmates sit on the bare wooden
floors without mats or cushions, and only
in the richest houses are straw mattings
spread down. Sometimes a sort OF
bench or chair, covered with oiled paper,
| is offered to a foreign guest. The houses
do not open into the streets, and some
times there is no door, and the entrance
is by Il low window. with 4 paper
covered sash. Many of the
dwellings arc built with one part at right
angles to the other. onc-half being the
section for women and the other for men.
Even the kings palace, a building better
than the rest, and supposed to be very
fine, has only the addition of tiles to the
roof. 1t seems impossible to believe, IN
walking around this city, that there are
as many as three thousand souls in this
small place of crowded houses.
One seldom meets a women on the
streets, and those are only from the poor
est and lowest class, rs a respectable
women never shows her face to any man
excepting her nearest relatives. A maj
cannot see his brothers wife, or any
female but his immediate family, and few
women SCI other women outside OF thcl:
own houses. For years women have
lived in adjoining dwellings, and have
never seen each other. All their life is
lived in the few square feet of rooms as
signed them, cooking, eating, sleeping
and washing their clothes, with not
the slightest bit of mental culture, and
with no idea of the world out
side; perfect prisoners, and to whom the
light of day is almost unknown. There
is little beauty among the women OF
Corca; their faces are pallid, and no
wonder, and sadness and WEAKNESS mark
the countcnances of even the Youngest.
Their costumes seem frightfully rigid,
and their condition worst of all the
women in the world, hardly excepting the
women of India. Although when a girl
is born the parents give her a name, she
is never called by it, but is designated as
the daughter, or the elder sister, aunt or
cousin Of this person or that. 1t is only
on the wedding night that the husband
is told the name of his wife. and if he
ever calls her name it is when no one
can hear. Thus q woman is almost with
out identity.
When a woman from some necessity
goes from one house to another, a large
box-likc conveyance with a lid is brought
by coolies to the house and left; it is
then carried by servants into her room,
where she gets into it, is covered up and
carried outside. Then the coolies ap-
pear and carry her only into the gateway
of the house she is to visit, and then
they 90 away; she is then ca ried into
| the womcn's room by those who arc per
mittcd there, and then she comes forth
from her pcnt-up conveyance.
The clothes Of both men and women
are about the most respectable thing in
Corca. 4 skirt is worn by women, and
also an upper part like a waist, in crude
imitation of European dress. These
clothes are washed frequently, and this
seems to be the only particular i'll which
they are clearly. The masculine attire is
made in one piece, often wadded and
made of nice material, and buttons across
the chest, fastening it tightly. A mans
hair is carefully arranged, and may be
dimly seen through his tall hat, which is
made of hair: and the hat is not removed
on any occasion. His feet are tightly