Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-16
thirty miserable matched dwellings, hardly de-

Sam approached. ''What is it?" I ask him
and he replies with single Japanese word.
I'VE VIII sleep" l looked at the house before
us and my heart sank True know tina. Corea
did not boast palace hotel. but this was rather
too much. = big tumble-down badly matched
howell surrounding yard: all around
tins stalls for ponies and bulocks: in the mid
die huge cesspool surmounted by a dung
hill in which horrible black sovs were root
ing; opposite to the entrance the two rooms in
"hicn tue dozen members of the family lived
ana had their domestic being. and a large
Suest-chsmber on one side for nv men. and on
the other. exactly fronting the most fragrant
corner OF the dung-hill a smaller one for my
sell. Cha Sam flung open the door-about
Two rect by three-and bowed me in. The
foor was OF hammered earth; the walls
we're mud, covered i'll spots with very dirty
paper; the material of the ceiling was concealed
by the dirt and smoke of generations and
tapestried with spiders webs. At first of
course was highly indignant with Sam for
bringing me to such vile hole, but from the
look OF genuine surprise on his handsome
placid countenance [ soon gathered that this
was the regular Corean hotel and tina. had
nothing else to expect. Therefore / accepted
the inevitable with what Joy could, and with
difficulty crowded myself, my beg. rug, and
provision boxes into the room. Then tin of
soup. half pound OF corned beef two bowls
OF tea, nip pour tier le re,'. pipe, few pages
OF diary, and sleep-theoretcally. IT,.
DIRT AND CoCKRoACHEs
My Corean trip has taught me at least two
things. First that cur supposed instructive
dislike to being personally dirty is bosh-,nerely
matter of local convention. At home am rs
unhappy as the next man if cannot get my
tub at a moments notice morning or evening.
yet after twenty-four hours of Corea regarded
washing, except just swish of ones face and
hands az an artificial virtue. and when found
that there was no clean place anywhere on
which to lay my coat if took it OFF. L just kept
1t on: In fact. kept it ON for five days. And.
whether 1t was the novelty or the old Adam,
don't know. but by and by l grew rather proud
OF being distinctly and indisputably dirty. The
dunghill. of course, did not come to recon-
mend itself TO me as bedroom
balcony; but that. unhappily, was but
speck compared with later experiences which
Will not describe. The second thing is that
repugnance to certain animals is foolish
weakness which sensible people should inme-
diately abandon. When left Gensan loathed
cockroachcs with an indescribable loathing-
even hating to touch one with my boot. To-
day care no more for cOciroach than for
cat. Every room / occupied i'll COrea was full
OF them-literally full. hundreds and thousands
and tens of thousands. The first night was
horrible with them, and sleep, as L said, was
theoretical only. but after that used 20 pick
them out Of my hair and beard or dick them Off
candle till the floor shone all over from
their pretty polished backs, and IL
put sheet of paper on the ground
twenty OF them would start surveying it be-
fore L could begin to sharpen pencil. My
third night i'll Corea was the only other one
wasted. My quarters were even worse, and
besides the cockroaches there was an army of
rats. They ran over my feet the moment my
candle was OUT they ran over my body. they
crunched at my sugar, they scampered over my
bag. till ut last l gave in. lighted the candle
again and read all night. As my only book
was the Newcomes it was night well spent
Every Corean ch0uaai or inn was as | have
described. sometimes little better. once or
twice very much worse. In this respect should
have Jared better if had chosen the longer
and more Travelled road.
THE PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY
varied very much. Two villages out of three
were very friendly. highly inquisitive and easily
moved to laughter. The third was generally
sullen and its inhabitants would not come near
me, would not reply to the greeting of the
country "OudL beuiOm.ni eutesior' 'How is
your health to-day and would not even return
a friendly nod. More than half the time
walked and my chief amusement was to get a
mile or two ahead of my caravan and entera vii
lage by myself, walk in the middle of it and seat
myself calmly on somebody's doorstep as if
were perfectly at home. The stupefaction of
the natives was delicious Probably they had
never seen a white man before, for only three
or four have ever crossed Corea, and at least
Prichard of the 5Sth, went by the longer
and better route. First they would
stare from a long distance. then they
would drive off the dogs. then some patriarch
would approach cautiously and hazard a ques-
ton. / would reply with a few lines from Ham
let or Paradise Lost, whereupon they would all
laugh. Then one would remove his long pipe
from his mouth and offer it to me. and though
the courtesy was neither accepted nor returned,
II sufficed to break the ice. Invariably they
f.1l. r II
different textures of these filed them, know
ing nothing but the calico which is their sole
wear, with infinite amaZement. Es-
pecially the corduroy of my riding
breeches pleased them, and they would
send to the other end of the village for an old
man to come and feel of it. Then if they were
amiable would give them little entertain
Dent. consisting of opening my watch case by
blowing on it, turning out my pockets for their
inspection, doing a few tricks with coins,
making cats cradles with string, striking
matches, and other such infantile perform
ances, firing my revolver a grand finale
Childish and ignorant in the extreme they
we're. knowing less of the outside world than a
Digger Indian.
CoREAN POVERTY.
Poor, too, beyond telling. 1 believe that ten
dollars would have bought everything Except
the crops) that I saw exposed for sale in hun
dreds of shops from the time left Gensan till
l struck Seoul. The men were well built as a
rule and fairly well-featured, but / did not see
a single woman or girl during my trip who
could have been called even moderately good
looking. The daily labor in the fields or at the
milet-mil is too hard for that and the women
are even more beasts of burden than the men,
One or two men l saw most horribly diseased
with some kind of scabby elephantiasis and
one of these bothered me not a little by coming
and poking his head over my shoulder while
was taking photographs. Only twice was there
the least sign OF hostility. Once in the middle
of the night some sneak-thieves came to nv
room, but L happened to be lying
| awake smoking i'll the dark. and
heard them coming. So when with great
atealth they had got the door half open.
struck match. when they shut it with a bang
and scutted like rats. On the other occasion
l started ont to investigate big village in the
dark and finally got surrounded by a rather
unpleasant and unfriendly crowd. who were
gradually edging me along the street in the di-
recton did not want to go. But luckily I
Cha Sam had discovered my absence and set
out to look for me, and his commanding tongue
soon put matters straight. During the first
two days l was greatly annoyed by my mapous.
whom / could not get along at all. At the
midday halt they would lie about for couple
of hours, and in the morning it was two or
three hours after we were all up before could
get them to start.
HOW TO HURRY.
On the third morning lost my temper and
going into their room kicked them one after
fba ofb ari into he I'd