The morning call., 1895-02-10

states that the present dynasty will be
destroyed in the ive-hundreth year of its
age. 1t was just five hundred years ago
that this king lived, and the Korean rebels
who have tried to break up the Govern
ment this year believe that they are carry
ing out this prophecy, and that the present
king will be the last of his line.
1 found the country surrounding the
monastery filled with priests. They line
the roads. They are at work in the fields.
You see them loafng in the woods, and
they fairly swarm about the temples.
They wear yellow gowns, and their hats
are much like inverted butter bowls. They
come down over their heads so that you
see only their noses and their chins, and
they all walk with long slaves. They do
not get much attention from the people,
and they are not respected as they are in
other Buddhist countries. Those I met
were densely ignorant, and it seemed to
ne they knew very little about their re-
Hgion. They are very superstitious, and 1
saw signs of this everywhere. At the en-
trance to the monastery there was big
gate, and on each side of this stood row
of totem sticks, covered with hideous faces,
like those which you find outside of each
Korean village. These are supposed to be
a guard against evil spirits, and they aid
Buddha in protecting his own. We passed
through them and went for several miles
along a wellkept road through a beautiful
pine forest, the grass OF which was studded
with flowers. Along one side of the road a
mountain torrent rushed over a ragged
rock, singing the praises of Buddha as it
pushed its way toward the Pacific Ocean.
On the other side, hills rose almost like
mountains, and the ride was one of the
most picturesque that 1 found in Korea.
The forests belonging to the establishment
are beautifully kept and some parts of the
grounds make you think of an English
park, rather than one of the widest sec
tons of one of the most backward countries
on the globe. There were rustic bridges in
temple-like resting places here and there
on the way. Now and then we passed a
cemetery filed with tablets in memory OF
the hottest monks of the past, and all OF
our surroundings were filled with the
beauties of nature.
Some of the gorge Gus priests in their
butter-bowl hats met my party at the gate,
anu -OeneTdl IdK, my interpreter, SEM
our servant along in advance with my let
ter of introduction from the King of Ko
rea, with orders to the chief priest to pre-
pare proper entertainments for me. When
we arrived at the temples, however, PAX
found they were going to put US in small
room. This did not suit him at all, and
he led me through court after court until
we came to the biggest temple of all. He
stalked with stately tread right into this
and spoke in grandiloquent tones to the
crowd of priests lying about. He scat
tered them this way and that, and we
soon had hundred monks flying about
trying to fix up the place for my reception.
The room was 100 feet square, and among
those in it at the time we came were ifty
priests, who were eating their supper
General" PAX moved them all to one
side, and then pointed to a place near the
wall. He told me that it was there that
was to spend the night. My resting-place
was right under big golden statue OF
Buddha, in front of which bowls of incense