The morning call., 1895-02-10

! stone. General PAX had, however, a 10
of old rice bags brought into the temple
and spread out on the floor. / supposed
they would clean out the hundred-odd
monks who were in the temple and give
me chance to sleep alone, and l waited
! some time for them to move. They gave
no sign of doing SO, and at last in despair L
asked General PAX for a screen. He
brought half dozen, and with these we
made a little fence about my rice bags.
and, undressing, wrapped myself in my
! blanket and soon dropped off to sleep.
About midnight / was awakened by a
horrible din. A hundred gongs were sound
ing, two score of bells were ringing and
there were the beating of drums and the
clapping of hands and the pounding of one
piece of wood upon another. l rose to my
feet and looked over the screen. About
thirty monks were still sleeping and forty
others were trotting here and there through
the temple on their way to prayers. A
brawny priest was pounding on a gong
near my head and another was ringing a
bell at the foot of my bed. l stood and
/ looked on, for there was no use trying to
go to sleep amid such a noise. This lasted
nearly an hour and then the priests slowly
resumed their cuddled-up positions on the
floor and the Korean snore took the place
of the gongs and the bells. / went back to
my rice bags and had just dropped off to
sleep when the gongs and the bells began
again. / looked at my watch. 1t was
A. NJ. and the day was just dawning. The
morning prayers had begun and this effect
ually stopped further rest.
The monasteries are travel resorts for
the people, and many excursions are taken
to visit them, more to admire the beautiful
| scenery by which they are surrounded than
anything else. The Koreans are fond of
the beauties of nature, and on any fine day
! you may see scores of them wandering
! through the hills about the Korean capital
and writing verses and poetry inspired by
the sight. When the trees are in flower
/ they have pienics under them, and the
beautiful parks Of the country are as well
known as those of Switzerland are known
to Europe. The gentlemen often have
/ poetry parties, at which they compete with
each other In writing verses on the spur of
the moment on certain subjects, and they
are very strict in matters of etiquette,
More of them believe in Confucius than in
anything else, and their culture, you know,
all comes from China. Just outside of
Seoul there is a massive Buddha carved
out of stone, with a little temple above it.
but 1t has few worshipers, and the only
temples in the Korean capital are Con-
fucian.
found the Koreans superstitious in the
extreme, and l met evidences of this eyery-
where. The trees which we passed at the
foot of the mountains had piles of stone
about them, and "Generap' PAX always
picked up another stone and threw it on
the pile. He told me that in those trees
lived the gods of the mountains, and that
/ if we did not do them honor by giving
them stone they would work us great
harm. Nearly every house had magic
charm tied about it in order to keep out
the spirits, and professional sorcerers are
| called in at funerals to drive off the de-
mons. These are usually old women, who
have very curious dance, and who whirl
about in the street for hours in order to