The Savannah morning news., 1903-10-28

spect bear q somewhat close resem-
blanee to those of the Bay of Fnndy.
BEFORE reaching, here one passes from
water of beautiful blue to that of
muddy yellow, hence the term Yellow
sea The large and small rivers that
empty into this sea bring down i'm
mehse quantities of yellowishi sand and
mud, which spread out great dis
lance into the rather shallow water
OF the sea, and take their discolorng
matter with them.
Well acquainted though one may be
with the countries that border on the
other side of the waters that wash the
Korean coast, when he steps on Korean
soil he finds himself truly in an I'M
known and strange land. All foreign
ers here seem to. experience this feel
ing Of isolation which does not appear
10 affect them even in some of the
less well known Chinese towns.
A Strange Flag.
The. flag itself is a strange one, to
begin with, and the figure in its CEN
ter looks like two commas interlaced.
OF In the more ordinary flags like two
old style powder horns fitted to each
other. We are told by Lowell in his
work on Korea that in Chinese philoso-
phy there are two great principles,
which may be designated as male and
female, and that the Koreans ait the
time they adopted other Chinese Gus
toms became students of this philoso-
ply. Converts are proverbially more
Jealous than those who inherit a belief.
1t u.s. perhaps, therefore, no matter of
l. surprise that in ardent admiration of
| this philosophy they surpassed even
their teachers. Now in Far Eastern
philosophy mystic symbols play very
| important role. Among these, perha ps,
! the most SnipnnI1c 10 what 10 known
in Japanese as a. tomoye, a sort of
! SCROLL but it's origin is Chinese. 1t
| always lies coiled within a circle
! Sometimes it is alone; sometimes two
scrolls share the circle; sometimes
| three. In Korea there are always
two and they represent the light and
| the shade, or the male and female prin-
ciples of Chinese philosophy. They
! are called in the language of this place
| the Yong and the Yong. So attached
| are the Koreans to this symbol that it
may be considered as their distinct
| i've mark, or national badge. The peo-
! pie so consider it themselves, and it
forms the center of their national flag.
d" State of Compression.
Korea at present, instead of being
rent in twain by the two contending
I Powers, Russia and Japan, seems to be
| in that most. uncomfortable state Of
compression mat anything mas. lISelI
I when between the upper and the neither
i millstones, and the state of affairs here
| is certainly a most peculiar one. Many
Russian troops are quite we'll known
| to be coming across the country in
I the Trans Siberian Railway cars. Just
how far. these troops will come south
before the cold ~weatheFrsets in is the
question. On the other hand, japan is
busting all over for a fight, and if
sufficient supply of the sinews of war
can be found she will try and drive
the Russians back.
Those who do not believe that war is
! possible hold that the activity now be-
ing shown by the Japanese is all bra
vadu, as the pecuniary state of that
country will not admit of anything be-
ing done or so large a scale as would
be necessary were Russia to be the an
/ tagonist.
1t is very natural that this country
should fail to the share of Japan
should there be partition, and 1t
seems to the fair-minded as though
| Russia should content herself with
Manehuria. But Japan has Formosa,
ana with all that is possible In that
semi tropical island she certainly is
supposed to- have a rich possession.
Russians claim that they too, are en-
titled. to extend their dominion to the
southwark. In gaining Korea, how
ever they would be able t.. too closely
scrutinize Japan, and would be con-
slant menace = ='--- = go '-+--