The N.C. Republican, and civil rights advocate., 1884-05-22
IN COREA.
Customs OF the Country-Arrtval of the
First American Missionaries.

Customs OF the COuntry-Arriva1 of the /
First American Missionaries.
The ladies of our party were, so far
as we could ascertain, the first Amer
lean ladies who stepped upon the
eastern coast of Corea Two by two
we walked through the winding lanes,
past the walls of mud and cobblestones
which enclosed the back yards of
Corean house, until we came into the
main street, where there were few
shops, but nearly all were houses
These were one-storied, thatched roof,
and fronting the street; had one door
and one window, provided sometimes
with single shutter opening upward,
and sometimes with two shutters open
ing sideways.
There was no glass in the windows.
The floors were smoothly polished.
Occasionally they were covered with
straw mating or a thin layer CT wood.
In the sides of the mud-and-stone
walls of the houses dark, smoky open4
zings could be seen. These openings,
= we were told! served for chimneys.
Underneath the floor is an arched
brickwork, in the hollow OF which,
during the cold weather, fire is made
+n1 nj
tire flooring, and circulates through
f the sides of the wall of the house,
! until it escapes at the sooty opening
already mentioned.
The clothing of the men was usual
Iy white, and generally made of home
spun grass cloth. 1t consisted of a
sort of jacket and pair of trousers
made in loose zouaye fashion. Their
: head was adorned with a black,
transparent, broad-brimmed hat OF
t horsehair through which knot Of hair
= about three or four inches high could
h be seen. Occasionally this grass cloth
was of light shade Of blue or green.
Q The women wore very short-waisted
. Jackets and full-gathered skirts. Their
o hair was parted in the middle and
u smoothly combeI. The general ap-
e pearance of these Corean women was
q more like that Of Europeans than either
J. the Chinese or japanese.
The hair of the youth and young
men of Corea is worn parted in the
r middle so long as they are unmarried
: AS soon as they become husbands thell
hair is tied in knob on the top O.
their heads, just as the Chinese did il
4, their native Ming dynasty, and as the
~ Taoist priests in China do to-day.
In all towns there are schools, but
N the buildings are small, hardly large
s. enough to accommodate twenty-five
scholars. Not more than one-ffth O
ps the boys attend school. The girls d.
not 90 to school. The roofs of thu
n school rooms are so low that one cOul(
not stand erect in them if he had hi
IN hat on. The scholars had no desks O.
he tables, but wrote on the floor. The.
k study the Chinese classics, but not tn
= history of their own country. 1t il
It's said that there is one history of Cores
~ u, However, none except officials are al
lowed to read it, since by reading 0
" w the wrong-doing of others they nigh
on be melted to perform wrong acts them
selves.
to Most of their books, whether in Chi
We nese or Corean characters, are Writte
by hand In Seoul, the capital, ther
s are two book stores-the only ones i
all the kingdOm-in which books writ
ten by hand. as well as those printe
from wooden blocks, but not frOr
movable types, are to be found.
In corresponding with person c
ones own or inferior rank they enclos
the letter in one envelope, but in wr'
- ing to one of higher rank the letter
l. enclosed in two envelopes.
The Coreans, although living be
Ie; 'Il; tween China and Japan, do not gene
rally drink tea.
" In certain ailments one mode {
% treatment practised by the medical fri
10 ternity is to insert into that part {
80 ;he body which is ailing an iron need
10 which is heated red hot Chrsstta
30 Ac7rocoto