Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-03-15
THE C0REANS.
THEIR QUEER DRESS AND
QUAINT HABITS PoRTRAYED.
A Land I'm n State Of Perpetual SIcsta
Their Ponderous and Expnn.
sivc Hats-Secludcd Femaics
oddly Dressed Hair.

oHol'C 90 Il VI ItAlI, anu III nHn0S
down into the Pacific Ocean from the
northeast edge of China aud the lower
eastern edge of Russinn Siberia. Be-
tween it and China is the dirty, bolster
GUS Yellow Sea, which takes day and u
| night by steamer to cross, and its lower
coast is about an equal distance from the
western edge of Japan. 1t has 100
miles of sea coast and its western shores
are lined with bold rocky islands. 1t is
land of mountains. a great chain
winds through it from north to south
and, going by the land in steamer, its
coasts look mountainous, bleak and bare
Corca is the only land in the world
where the hackman docs not flourish, aud
there arc no means of public conveyance
for hire. The mobiles go about in chairs,
but each owns his own chair or rides his
own donkey, and the general means of
locomotion from one place to another is
MIR. Shank's mare.
The scenes upon the streets of Seoul.
the capital, are those of another world
The whole town seems to have laid oil
for rest, and its queer population takes
perpetual sicsta. What queer. looking
ANIMALS those arc which squat and smoke
In couples or in dozens on the side or at
the corners of the streets. They might
be Chinese and they might be Japanese,
but they are better looking than either.
What gorgeous dresses some of them
wear, and you look twice to see whether
the big sugar loaf hats of horse hair
which arc fastened to their heads are II
natural part of their person or an article
oil dress.
and their long full gowns belly out ut
thn front nd Of l,,.;- L., IL,
like baby in swaddling clothes. They
wear padded white stockings and the
shoes CT the rich are gorgeous in their
embroidered decorations. There is one
of them walking. lie swings his arms
as lie goes, and his pipe with its long
stem and small silver bowl hangs almost
TO his knees i'll his smoking. What Il
maze of bright colors and how gorgeous
are the delicate sky blues. the bright
pinks and the crushed Strawberries which
come forth from these mud-wallcd
matched huts. The contrast of colors is
striking and that of conditions is moro
so. New shapes and colors strike your
ewes ut every turn, and Lad Dean swift
lived here he would have had no excuse
for CULVER. The hats are as different
ms the men and each hat has its mean
ing. Here comes n man in n long gown
OF gray hemp and his head has cover
ing oil timely woven straw as big rs
sun umbrella which comes out and down
over the shoulders and makes him look
as though his hat was walking Off with
him. on wonder what kind OF an ami
NAL he is and you peek under as he
passes. lie has little strap of gray
linen stretched between two sticks
which he holds before his face and YOU
see Only his eyes and his forehead. This
is Il mourncr. For three wears after a
mans father or mother dies lie is com
PEELED to put on this garb. lie
must not let his face be seen;
he dare not engage in festivities,
and he cannot marry. If, at the end of
THIS time or during it, another relative
dies, he is forced to mourn thee years
longer, and in this way would-hc Bene-
diets are kept for nine years out of the
married state. From the number of
these hats on the streets death seems rs
common i'll Corca MS elsewhere, and the
sycklc of old Time cuts down the
almond eyed Corean quite rs freely rs
his straight.cycd brother.
These mourncrs' hats are the same rs
those of the bull drivers. They are
merely Of finer mnter;al The bulls and
men arc the beasts of burden of Corea,
ana coming up the wide street of the
capital you see many n bullock llarncssed
to rude carts. the wheels OF which are
fastened together with pins, and which
arc almost rs rude ms those sawed out of
logs by our carly pioneers. Corean hats
arc by no means inexpensive The stiff
sugar-oaf variety OF black horse-huir
cost about SIG apiece when of the best
quality, and the Corean men spend more
time on the dress of their heads than
they do on any other part of their bodies.
1t is said that from 5000 to 5000 are
sometimes invested in headgear, and
every Corean carries n little oiled paper
conical cap which looks like an i'm
mensc lamp shade closed Mt the top, and
which folds up like n fan. When it
rains he carefully pulls this over his
horse hair hat and ties it under the
chin. have rs yet seen no umbrellas
III Corca, and there were 10 waterproofs
in such shops as saw.
Corean hair is rs queer as arc Corean
hats, ana there is here almost language
IN hair dressing. Married men wear
Their hair different from those unmarried.
and no matter what be his age. rerson
Is not man in Corca until he has a wife
Boys ard bachelors rank on the same
footing. They part their hair in the
middle, and it is braidcd in strand
which hangs down the back When the
boy, is married he has the right to cut oil
his hair, when it grows again he combs
1t up INTO II round hard knot on the
crown. This knot is as big around rs
your wrist, and it stands straight up on
the crown of the head like handle.
which if the American indians coald
hunt in Corca, would be 6 bonanza in
scalpng
With their gowns and their long hair
thus parted in the middle the bows of
Corea look like girls, and the candy
sellers and vendors. who carry their
goods around in little boxes slune be-
fore them by straps about their nccks.
are often taken by travellers as tue fair
, girls of the country.
In Corca, however the ,iigh-brcd girls
are unseen. They are secluded at seven
and after this are seen only by their
brothers, their fathers and husbands. If
they come out at all in the streets they
come out Mt night and their quarters arc
L..