The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-08-10

.
 Time.
 lFrom the San Francisco Examiner.l
 The very name of Corea is suggestive of mystery. This little kingdom, way out here at the uttermost part of the earth, is still unknown, though she stepped out from her hermit life as long ago as 1882, and entered into trea- ty relations with the civilized nations of the world. .Corea has not yet re- covered from her air of bewildermsnt at sight of the great outside world, and those who have visited her, either as newspaper correspondents or travellers, seem to have shared in this same be- wildered condition of mind.
 When one first comes in sight of this east coast instead of beholding coun- try clothed with beautiful forests of maple, black walnut, cherry, oak, var nish trees. red mahogany, and every other common and uncommon wood, as has been represented, there is presented 8 panorama of mountains, whose rug ged outlines. excessively steep slopes and severe, wild aspect, produce a grand but melancholy and inhospitable expression. Tt seems 9 forsaken land, given over to solitude" For the most part 1t is utterly treeless, nude and bar ren, though here and there are growths of unthrifty, crooked, weather-beaten pines. From the lofty mountain sum- mlts. which tower to the clouds, to where the foothills meet the sea, scarce a human habitation is to be seen; but on searching more closely, in unexpect- ed valleys that stretch far into the hills, we find many villages and hamlets, surrounded by fertile fields of rice. mill let, and other productions, that give a comfortable support to the inhabitants.
 The Corean towns are composed of unattractive collections of houses, low and ugly. These dwellings are small straw-thatched 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, fil- thy alleys. The mud. floors of the Co., rean houses, heated by flues from be- meath, are called kangs. They are heated in sunimer and winter to a de- gree that would be. iptolerable to one not used to it from Infancy. Fuel gath erers SCOUT the country to find means to feed these primitive furnaces. All the hillsides are shaven every autumn with short, strong Iron sickles. They are stripped of every growing 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 soilj every chrysan- themum and bluebell, every coarse blade of grass, they cut down and bind in bundles for fuel. This is all they have. The impression prevailed, until recently, that northern Corea was rich in timber, but 1t Is now known that, except in temple grounds, or places sa- cred to some deity, or to the memory of some great person, there exists very It, tlei timber. of any value. Everything like stick of timber Is very precious and costly. "'.
 NfeIy pIduh TUT 'UulAuAHSS eNciy tLIl- Der of our houses, Is brought by ship from Japan. There Is not, there need not be- sawmill in all the country. for there is no wood to saw. All bricks for building are also brought on steam. CTS from Japan or China; though clay is abundant, and coolies are waiting tc make brick, there is, no wood to. burn them. No Yankee enterprise will avail here to tide over these hard places If age fills one with. ysneration then you will find enough here to impress you most profoundly. for everything your eyes fall upon looks 90 old. The rocks are orumbling 90 you can 'hreah them with your fingers. And when, the rainy season comes, ia summer, the mould of age. gathers on everything even to your gloves and shoes. if you drop out of them for a few days. The very air you breathe A such tinei Aeems to be charged with malaria and old age. It is all made plain when vou are told that this is one of the oldest countries in the world: that some of tta walled cities date back to Kink DaWd'a time; that most of them are more than g, thousand yaarS -oldt,ah ,i.
 The Corsans af6 proudly conscious d | >as>f