The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-07-26
4 DECLINING KINGDOM
THE LAND IN WHOSE BEHALF
GRESHAM HAS INTERVIEWED.
Everything Tells Of n Race That Has
Lived Its Allotted Time and Is Be-
ing Pushed Out of Existence.
Gensan tcoreal Letter in San Francisco Elk.

unknown, though she stepped out from her
hermit life as long ago as 1882, and en-
tered into treaty relations with the civil
lied nations of the world. Corea has not
yet recovered from her air of bewilderment
at sight of the great outside world, and
those who have visited her. either as news
paper correspondents or travellers, seem 10
have shared in this same bewildered condi-
ton of mind.
When one first comes in sight Of this east
coast, instead of beholding a country
clothed with beautiful forests of maple,
black walnut, cherry. oak. varnish trees,
red mahogany and every other common and
uncommon wood, as has been represented,
there is presented a panorama of noun
tains, whose rugged outlines, excessively
steep slopes and severe, wild aspect pro-
duce a grand but melancholy and inhos-
pitable expression. 1T seems a forsaken
land given over to solitude" For the most
part it is utterly treeess, nude and barren,
though here and there growths of un-
thrifty, crooked, weather-beaten pines.
From the lofty mountain SUBMITS, which
tower TO the clouds, TO where the foothills
meet the sea, scarce human habitatlon IS
to be seen; but on searching more closely
in unexpected valleys that stretch far into
the hills. we find many VILLAGES and ham
let's. surrounded by 1ertlie HeluS VI AACC'
millet and other productions that give
comfortable support TO the inhabitants
The Corean towns are composed OF un5
attractive collections of houses low ana
ugly. These dwellings are small straw
matched mud novels of one or two rooms,
devoid of furniture where the people SIT,
eat and sleep on the floor The streets are
only narrow filthy alleys. The mud floors
of the Corean houses, heated by fiueS from
beneath, called hangs. They are heated
in summer and winter TO a degree that
would be intolerable to one not used to it
from infancy. Fuel gatherers scour the
country to find means to feed these print
every autumn with short, strong iron
sickles. They are stripped of every grow
ing thing; every stock and branch is taken
off; every little bush that has sprouted
from the old, old roots that lie buried in
the rich, black soil; every chrysanthemum
and bluebell every blade OF coarse grass,
This is all they have. The impression pre-
vailed until recently that northern Corea
was rich in timber, but it Is now known
that, except in temple grounds, or places
sacred to some deity, or to the memory of
some great person, there exists very little
timber of any value. Everything like a
stick of timber is very precious and costly.
Every plank for building every timber OF
our houses, is brought by snip from Japan.
There is not, there need not be, sawmin
in all the country, for there is no wood to
saw All bricks for building are brought on
steamers from Japan or China though clay
is abundant, ana coolies are waiting TO
No Yankee enterprise will avail here to tide
over these hard places.
EVERYTHING IS OLD.
If age fills one with veneration, then you
will find enough here to impress you most
profoundly, for everything your eyes fall
upon looks so old The rocks crum-
bling so you can break them with your
fingers And when the rainy season comes,
in summer, the mold of ages gathers on
everything, even to your gloves and shoes,
if you drop out of them for a few days
The very air you breathe at such times
seems to be charged with malaria and old
age. II is all made plain when you are told
that this is one of the oldest countries in
the world; that some of it's walled cities
date back to King David's time; that most
of them are more than thousand years
old.
The Coreans are proudly conscious of
their antiquity. They say they have near
ly lived out their allotted time as peo-
pie. Their slow sensibilities, ancient GUS
toms, grave language and inert manner
of life all befit the aged. They speak of
Europe and America as just beginning
life; and in stately way they show they
have intention of yielding any of their
venerable ideas to such frivolous youth
Their slovenly hitting white cotton gar
betfeT s s6 STbe9 insist on s9uattng ON
their heels when they walk in your garden,
while they use the short-handled. awkward
civilized implement of to-day. This squat
ting posture is a favorite one with them.
roadside. in the hot sunshine resting;
they seem to be perfectly happy, in half
e9matose condition with Tatery eyes Io
chops and soup of garlic. strings of meat
and dough and some indescribable white
Jumps, neither flesh nor fish. bread nor
fat. that cause gagging sensation when
YOU feel them upon your tongue, and that
slide down your throat as though they
might q lizard leaves a
fierce burning behind it, and your eyes
fill with tears: you plunge brass spoon
full of rice into your mouth to put out the
So welded is the Corean to his ways
tail of life seems to him perfectly absurd.
With as much hope might YOU interfere
with the rising t ana star g ft ber ire courses
All his ancestors have sewed up their fear
fully and wonderfully made trousers, queer
stockings, long, flowing white outer gar
ments in just the same painstaking way,
and therefore the Corean of to-day re-
fuses our offer to stitch the long seams on
the sewing machine rather choosing 10
sit up of nights" and 81, rip and sew rb ac
will tell you that some strange appear
ance and movement in the water is caused
by dragon. You need not take the trouble
to DENY the existence of the winged SER
pent. for they will adhere to every old
Our pretty little Corean bride. who has
been educated in q mission school, could
not endure the thought OF foregoing the
custom OF brides, 50 Sne Slduly pore the
pain of having all the short hair pulled out
which is devoted to bangs by American
ladies' Also a professional in the art
plucked out her eyebrows. 1t cost many
tear to be sure. but ii sufficient COM
fort to know she was following the good
old custom.
RECKLESS PRACTICES.
The art of acupuncture is practiced large
" among the Coreans, and in the most
reckless, unskillful manner. Ye Babang
has a painful knuckle joint, probably a
sprain. Though he is convert TO Chris
tianity a fine Chinese scholar and teacher,
he contends most learnedly for many of
these customs and superstitions. He had
this suffering joint punctured deeply in
three places with long needles. Now. after
three days, it is infamed so we fear lock-
Jaw Needles are often pushed through
length of the hand without the least regard
TO the situation OF the internal organs,
to saw nothing of the quivering nerves.
Sometimes these needles are roasted in the
fire and taken out red hot and dipped
into the medicine, the heat and medicine
giving added agony-the treatment thus
becoming more hopeful to the minds of
these benighted people.
The young man Mars was sick. All sorts
of medicine men were called in. 1t was
decided that some spirit was disturbing
his head, so they burned the top with d
hot iron. but he grew worse and the most
learned of the wise men decided that the
only remedy would be a medicine made OF
a finger of his only brother. The devoted
brother submitted TO have his finger cut off.
In some way il was pulveriZed, so the sick
man swallowed tive never knew with