TRAVEL IN THE FAR EAST.* Miss Kam , gives some vivid
pictures—she uses both pen and pencil with much effectiveness—of what she saw in the regions which form the "Debateable Land" of the Fax East. They are all the more interesting because they are so recently drawn, for it was less than a year ago (February 1st, 1910) when she started on her journey. This part of the East is not by any means "immovable." It was only in. 1904 that a writer who had every means of forming a right judgment thought that no one could "seriously believe that Japan would ever invade Manchuria "; was sure that if ever she did Alukden would be to her army what Moscow was to Napoleon's, and that here at least " Russia was more or less invulnerable." The Korean part of the book is, from this point of view, especially valuable. Miss Kemp was in the country a short time before the annexation by Japan, and gives a far from pleasing description of the manners of the " protecting " nation, as it then was. The Japanese made no attempt to conciliate ; they trampled on the Korean, and treated him as a vanquished foe. At the same time, she allows that they were doing good. It may be hoped that annexation will bring about a salutary change. By regularising the position it can hardly fail to render it easier. The new masters have certainly much to make up, as, for instance, the cruel death of the Empress Min in 1894. Scarcely inferior in interest to the Korean chapters are those on Manchuria. If Korea's future may be regarded as settled, that of Manchuria is doubtful ; only the doubt is not between Russia and Japan, but between Russia and Japan on the one hand and China on the other.
Among the interesting things described is a Manchurian girls' school. Such an institution was not thought of till after the late troubles; but it has come to stay. The girls seem to do exceedingly well ; an Irish teacher called them "tigers for work," a characteristic not unknown. elsewhere. The account of the missionaries' work in Korea, is not less striking. Twenty-five years' labour has brought in two hundred thousand converts, who prove their sincerity by the effective testimony of what they give to the cause. Miss Kemp went home by the Trans-Siberian Railway, and visited Turkestan on the way back. Here is another pro- tected country, and we do not get a favourable account of
* The Face of Manchuria, %area, and Russian Turkestan. By E. G. Kemp. Zondcm : Chatto and Windue. [7s. 6d. net.] either party to the arrangement. Bokhara is the " most fanatical and corrupt city in the world " ; both here and is Samarkand all the glories are inheritances from the poet
Previous page
