The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-02-08


 south the hills, denuded of their timber are cultivated.
 From November to the end of March the wind blows from the frozen plains of Siberia. The rivers are co yered with thick ice, and the soil is frozen down to a depth of three feet. In April the trade winds of the north and those os tie south alternately obtain the upper hand, and the result is series of thaws and frosts. In May an intense heat sets in snd lasts until August July brings the rainy sea- n, which lasts for weeks.
 Owing to the great and prolonged heat of the summer. crops of rice, cotton and maize are grown. Moreover, potatoes, millet, barley, buekwheat beans and to- bacco, as well as ginsing and mulberry trees, are extensively cultivated. Ship ping is in the hands of the Japanese, though Russia is represented by one sub sdized line of steamers. The presence of coal, iron. copper, silver and gold has been proved
 A Korean alphabet consists of 37 char acters, each of which possesses a dis tinct phonetic value. Chinese ideographs are commonly used by the uppers.
 Only one railway is worklng-a line that runs fromCheniulpo to Seoul, the capital. The length is abots 2b mics, and five trains run daily between the two cities. Another line is at present in course of construction, namely, from Fusan, in the south, to Seoul It traverses the richest part of the country, from an agricultural point of view. The total length of the railway Is 2S7 miles, The capital is e500,00O.
 Near Chemulpo, Seoul and Sangdo there are several varieties of granite. which are quarried for building purposes. Going east and north from Pingyang we find argillacious schists, containing anthra- cite which. at the outcrop, is worked in very primitive fashion by the natives. The direction is north and south. The dip Is fifty degrees east The anthracite yields per cent. ash, and contains some sulphur. The Koreans work the seams in the open, proceeding from above down. ward, without leaving pillars or support ing the sides. The consequence is the collapse of the working and its speedy abandonment.
 The natives do not use coal in their fire places. so that the only market for 1t is at Chemulpo, where it is sold to foreign CTS for domestic use.
 To the north of Pingyang granite gneiss- s-surmounted by limestone, quartzite and various argillaceous schists appear. In this formation, in the district of Unsan are auriferous alluvial deposits at depth of only two or three yards, and the thickness of the layer is about twenty inches. It is first passed through a rough sort of sluice-box, about three feet in length, through which a current of water hows It is then washed in a wooden bowl These alluvial deposits are found, to a certain extent, all over Korea. Near Unsan there is gold in the lower lime stone situated above the granite and the gneiss The gold mine at this place Is owned by an Anglo-Belgian company. In addition to this there are two other con- sessions in Corea. one of which is at Wonsan. near the northern frontier, where three beds of auriferous quartz are worked by an American company with batteries of forty stamps. The other con- cesslon is that of the Oriental Gold Min ing company, which extracted in the year 1900 gold of the value of about e300,000.
 Iron in the form of oligist and limo nite is common and some of the deposits are worked by the natives. and in many places smelting furnaces can be seen. These are six feet high ana elliptical in shape, the axes being respectfully sixty inches and thirty-two inches The fuel is charcoal. The medal Is subjected to a double smelting. Tn the nrst, Whlch IS effected in a furnace near the mine, lime stone is added to the ore. which is con- verted into pig iron, and the latter is sold to works at a distance generally situated near a river, in which, after second fus- ion, 1t is transformed into plowshares. cast-ron saucepans. etc. Korea has, how ever been so little explored that. as re- gards its mineral wealth, it must be con- sidered virgin territory, and a definite opinion as to it's resources can only be ar rived at after a systematic prospecting of the country.