Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-26

Corea or out of it, They were perpetually
eating. and they stopped at every cook
shop on the way. The four groomS walk
ed. General PAX, the servant and myself
rode. PAX had saddle which he had bcr-
rowed from the prime minister, Min 4ung
Jun. the man whose expressions caused the
recent rebellion, and l had an American
saddle loaned me by Gen. Greathouse. The
two other ponies were loaded with our pro-
visions and baggage, and the servant sat
on the pack. We knew would be en-
tertained by the magistrates. and by Cen
eral Pak's advice 1 bought a goodly supply
of liquors and cigars. The cigars Were
very cheap-I think the newsboys would
call them ''two-fers'-but they were wrap
ped in tinfcil, ard the magistrates handled
them as though they We're solid gold, and
their faces became oily with happiness as
they smoked them. I had half-dozen bot
ties of champagne, several of claret, and
rot a few of Chal treuse and cognac. We
were expected to treat every party we met.
and the journey lasted seven days. our
supply was none too large. We lenSthened
1t out considerably. however, by the size
CT the glasses. We bought little cognac
glasses, holding about a thimbleful Of
liquor, and passed it around to the gov
eminent Clerks in this way. There is no
glass in Corea. and the magistrates thought
they were generously treated. and the
higher the man the more glasses he got.
AS an especially great favor. we gave the
empty bottles to them now and then, and
we found tfem greedily grabbed for wher-
ever we went.
/ wish / could show you how we rode in
state out OF Seoul, with my servant going
along in front and yelling to the common
people to get out of the way for the for
eign Vaughan. We wound in and out
among thousands of low matched huts,
now skirting the sewers, which run In
open drains through the streets, and again
being squeezed against the wall in order
that some high, Silk-Sowned noble might
pass by in his chair. We rode for about
nile along one OF the main business streets
of the city, having to move carefully in
order tina. our horses might not step on
the pipes of the merchants. who squatted
on the ground in front of their stores and
smoked as they waited for customers. We
went by the great barracks, where The
ragged soldiers who make up the kings
army live. and passed a gate of the old
palace which Gen. Fax told me was the
gate of Japanese skins, and has SoEle ira
dition of a skinaod japanese connected
with it. We passed by chairs containing
the fair but frail dancing girls OF the king
dom. and wher we had gone through the
great gate of the wall. which leads out in
girls sitting with her chair upon the
ground. She was not n bashful girl. and
when told Gen. PAX that I wanted her
photograph, he asked her to get ont of her
chair. and she posed before my camera.
We passed scores of coolies coming into
the capital who wore hats of straw as big
as umbrellas, and went by caravans OF po-
MES loaded with straw and pine branches.
winch were being brought INTO the city Tor
sale. Within few miles Of Seoul there Is
a great caravan of these queer Corean
hucksters, peddlerS. travellers and Swells.
which is always moving In or out of its
walls. and the scene is like an ever
changing Kaleidoscope, or stranger than
enc of Kiralfy's most gorgeous extrava-
ganzas. Inside and on the edge of the city
all was dirt and squalor, ind it was not
until We hal ridden an hour that we ap-
Preciated the beauty of our sure findings.
The Switzerland of Asia.
Corea may be called the Switzerland of
Asia 1t is land OF mountains and val
Ieys, of crystal lakes and tricklIrg streams.
We rode for days through one beautiful
valley after another; now going for miles
through fields OF rice lands. laid cut in ter
races and covered with water, out of whose
CLASSY white surface the emerald green
sprouts were just peeping. Such valleys
lie right in the mountains, and the hills
which rise from them are as ragged ana
as bare as the silvery mountains of Greece.
They change in their hues with every
change of the heavens, and they now look
like silver. and again turn to masses of
velvet and gold. spotted here and there
with navy blue pines. The clouds nestle In
their hollows, and their tops. In the ever
varying air of Corea, assume at the edGe
of the evening all sorts of fantastic shapes.
Our first days ride was through valley
which was as rich as guano and as black
as your hat. 1t was cut up with creeks,
some of hich " ere q half mile wide. and
at these we found rough men clad in white,
with their pantaloons pulled up to their
thighs. AS We came up these men bent
their backs and our grooms cra|led up
them, and clasping them around the neck
they were carried through the water. The
porters received one cent for each trip,
and Gen. PAX told me that this work is
done by men out of charity. and
that the gods esteem it a gooc act, and the
water which washes their legs at the same
time carries away their sins and gives
them a clean road to heaven. Other devo-
tees stand with cold water in the streets
and give drink to all that thirst.
COrcan Farming.
The country scenes of Corea are unlike
anything you see in America. The land Is
not more than half farmed. II takes nine
men to do what one man does In America.
Think Of putting nine men to one long
handled shovel One man holds the shovel
and presses 1t into the earth, and four
stand on each side and pull the dirt out by
a rope attached to the blade. The dirt Is
carried from one part of the field to anoth-
err in packs on the backs of men, and the
great part of the land is dug up with hoe.
The farmers spend most of their time