The National tribune., 1888-12-27


We arrived at Fusan in the evening, and the
sun was just setting as our ship cast anchor in
this land-locked harbor. Korea is noun
tainous country. 1t is of the size of Kansas,
and its shape is that Of a long peninsula,
hanging down like nose to the face of west
ern Asia. It's shores are bordered with hills
and skirted with islands to such an extent that
the King Of Korea has been called the King of
the Ten Thousand Islands The ride about
the coast is picturesque in the extreme. Great
gray rocks rise from the sea as you near the
coast, and as you approach Fusan there are
three OF these at the entrance of the harbOr,
which undergo strange transformations in the
different lights and shadows One rock weigh
ing thousands of tons seems now a medieval
castle of the Rhine or the Danube and as you
look at it an hour later it has changed into the
head and bust of an enormous stone giantess,
who seems to throw up her head and bar the
entrance to the harbOr. Now ragged hills rise
on all sides around you. You have passed
over the bosterous, shallow Korean straits, and
the clear blue sea of this little harbor looks
like lake. The hills of the shore rise alb
ruptiy from it, and as the sun goes down they
seem covered with crawling figures of white
and black. These figures look ghost-like
through tho glass in the cleaning and we
soon learn that they are Koreans moving to
and fro over the country. The moment we
drop anchor the unloading of the ship begins,
ana Whlle on board we get our first taste of
Korea. Hundreds of swarthy brown-skinncd
frouZy- haired men in dirty white gowns swarm
over our ship as though they were pirates
They are tall and fierce looking. They have
almond eyes, and upon their upper lips shows
| the faintest of down. About 25 hairs consti-
tute their beard, and their frouzy black hair is
| pulled up from the scalp and tied in a black
! knot as big around as the tail of cow at the
crown. 1t seems to form handle for their
| heads, and is, l am told, o favorite hold in
| street fighting. All of these men have their
! pipes with them. These are long handled, and
| the best of them would serve for canes. While
| working they stick them into their Wristbands
| at the back, and not few smoke as they
work.
The Officer of the Customs invites us to visit
the shore in his boat. The experience is like
| jumping into new land We are met at the
| wharf by thousand big hated men dressed
| in white. The clothes of some are as bright as
| fresh snow, and others are exceedingly dirty
| What queer men they arel Their color is that
OF good Jersey butter, and they are straight
and pompous in their walk. They swing their
| arms with swagger as they push themselves
along, and their Zouave pantaloons and long.
| wrapper-like gowns rustic as they move They
| have high cheek bones, and their faces are
| longer than those of the japanese. Their
| hands are long and slender their ears are
| small, and their noses are neither so thick nor
so fat as those we saw in Japan. Every man
wears a hat, and the character of this denotes
his condition. Some are of a sugar-loaf style.
with broad brims, and these sit high up on the
crown of the head. They are made of black
horse-hair, and you see the topknot of the
owner shining plainly through the meshes.