THE LAND OF THE MORNING CA.LM.*
ONE cannot imagine a country and a people more suited to our author's pen and paint-brush than Cho-sen—as it should be called—and its quaint, original, and most picturesque in- habitants. A lazy race, and therefore a great contrast to both Chinese and Japanese, they have nevertheless more honesty than either, and possess moreover a character and dignity of their own. The Chosenese say that they are descended from the Env race, who occupied a country north of the Ever-White Mountains. They founded a kingdom in that mountainous region called Ko-Korai, west of the Yaloo River, and gradually extending their conquests, absorbed, after many bloody wars with China, the land of Cho-sen. When China finally expelled the Korai dynasty, which had reigned seven centuries, a rebellion once more placed a monk on the throne, who in his turn was removed by a descendant of the old dynasty. The son of Wang (Wang died 945 A.D.) paid tribute to China, and secured peace for two centuries to Cho-sen. The Chosenese, therefore, have a history, though they have no literature other than Chines,e. It was the demand for tribute in 1890, after years of non-interference, in consequence of the pushing Japanese, which has caused the devastating war that has once more turned " the Land of the Morning Calm " into a battle-ground for long-pent-up and savage animosities.
The dress of the Chosenese, particularly his hat, is extra- ordinary, and quite appropriate to the most Eastern people of the continent of many races. Mr. Landor thinks that specimens of every Asiatic race have met and mingled in Cho-sen. The aristocracy, he says, are as white as any Caucasian, particularly the royal family, their eyes are hardly oblique, and they and the middle classes are better built and more refined than Chinese or Japanese, though not physically equal to the Manchoos. They are quick at acquiring languages, and, though pitifully supersti- tious, shrewd, intelligent, and, in the main, a sensible race. Their hospitality to strangers is unbounded, and towards each other reaches to such an extent that a poor relative with no means of subsistence will stay for years with a house- hold. Indeed, the law of hospitality is so exacting, and the dread of infringing it so powerful a factor in social life, especially among the nobles, as to lead to a general black- mailing. In the appearance of the Chosenese, we may note some interesting facial resemblance to other races. The face is oval-shaped, somewhat long when seen in full, curved in profile, the nose being flat at the bridge • Corea or Cho.aan "the Land of the Morning Calm" By A. H. Savage. Landur. With II turrations. London: William Heinemann.
and wide at the nostril. The mouth and chin are the worst features, and denote decided feebleness of char- acter, whereas the eyes are the best. We must remember that this description applies more to the upper than the lower class ; but that does not affect its value, as the aristocracy represent the points and purity of a race, and the lower classes do not. In the portrait of a bachelor, we notice a curious resemblance to certain types of face seen in Central America. This is dangerous ground to tread on, and it may be added that in no other particulars is any resemblance to be detected. But to return to the Chosenese hat. It is fashioned of horse-hair or bamboos split into such fine threads as to resemble white horse-hair, woven into a net, and in shape similar to a Welshwoman's hat. It is transparent, and answers none of the purposes of a hat, giving no protection from sun, wind, or rain. A slight framework of bamboo keeps this remarkable headgear stiff. Nor is this all, for the hat rests on a headband made of plaited horsehair, and is kept in its place by ribbons or bonnet-strings tied under the chin. Every man carries, in addition, tied to his waist, a sort of stickless umbrella of oiled paper; this, if it rains or snows, he unfolds and puts over his ornamental hat. A man in mourning wears a huge cone-shaped hat that covers him to his waist.
The rest of a man's attire consists of a huge pair of cotton trousers, padded with cotton-wool ; a jacket with wide, short sleeves, also padded ; padded socks and shoes, or rather sandals, for the most part made of paper. Having no pockets, the Chose- nese carry little coloured silk bags, which " reli eve," says Mr. Landor, " the monotony of the everlasting white dresses." The clothes of the wealthier classes are made of silk, and officials wear in addition a sleeveless garment, and four long strips of silk, two in front, two behind, reaching nearly to the ground. and divided as far as the waist. Buttons are unknown in Cho-sen, and the dress is secured by various loops and girdles. They seldom wash in Cho-sen but in the highest circles, and the traveller says it was most irritating to see how clean those dirty people looked. The women wear padded trousers, with a high skirt and a short coloured jacket and a green mantilla, with which both head and face are covered. The women are kept in strict seclusion, as in Turkey ; but there is a curious custom by which they are allowed to walk about the streets after nightfall, while the men are confined in their houses, and till recently were punished with fines and flogging if they broke the law. In the daytime a woman has the right to enter any house in the street to avoid meeting a man. The women of Cho-sen wash the clothes in their own houses, at night generally ; and as most garments are white, this means hard work, especially for the poorer classes in winter, as they have to wash in the frozen streams. No soap is used, the wet garments being beaten with wooden mallets Mr. Savage-Landor made most of his observations in and about Seoul, the capital ; but the habits and dress were presumably much the same there as elsewhere.
Remarkable features of the social life of the capital are the various guilds and their great stone and stick fights. Neighbouring towns and villages who are jealous of each other, also settle their differences by a stone-fight in the first moon, such period being universally set aside for fights, both public and private. Children are encouraged to fight by their parents who hope to make them hardy and courageous,— sides are made up and they fight till they are exhausted. The butchers and the mud-plasterers had a fierce feud, and it was decided to settle it by a pitched battle on a plain outside the South Gate. On the day ap- pointed some eighteen hundred men went down to fight, a stream dividing the two camps. The battle began with volleys of stones as the belligerents neared each other, and when one party forced its way over the stream and all came to close quarters, the fighting was carried on with clubs and knives. It was a drawn battle, so the leaders decided, and was renewed a few days later, victory eventually resting with the plasterers. Very few were killed, says Mr. Landor, though none escaped without a wound; but the whole affair sounds like one of Lucian's grotesque battles. The Court patronises these extraordinary duels, and the Bing is kept informed of the results. The police, of course, take care that the bystanders do not come in for any hard knocks. After the fighting moon has waned, life in "the Iona of the Morning Calm " sinks back into the usual stagnation. Mr. Landor compares the Chosenese to the Neapolitan lazzaroni; but what a climate he has,—it is almost arctic in winter, and must beget some virtues. A man whose roof is burnt over his head, has his house rebuilt by his neighbours. Indeed the people are a strange mixture of generosity and cruelty, superstition and simple-mindedness. We are told that when a fire broke out, a number of men and women procured ladders and climbed up on to roofs threatened by the sparks, and removing their coats and cloaks, tried to manu- facture an opposition wind.
The King, it appears, keeps himself well informed, by means of messengers, of the welfare of different parte of his dominion, and by an effective system of beacon-fires, is apprised of a, foreign invasion. He seems to have done his best for his country; and one can sincerely pity a Sovereign whose place in a troubled world has been rudely violated by jealous and warring races.
Mr. Savage-Landor has a kindly feeling for the Chosenese, whom he makes out an ancient, simple, and original people, with much of the Japanese appreciation of art and much of the Chinese conservatism. The population, he says, is a decreas- ing quantity. The Chosenese women he considers to be far superior to the beauties of Japan. As a race, however, there can only be one opinion as to their want of energy, and, unfortunately, their political lot is not a happy one, and acting as a buffer-State between such vigorous nationalities as Chinese and Japanese, they mast go to the wall. We are sorry; and hope that the melancholy prophecy is wrong. Mr. Landor has made them out an interesting people, and if we miss the charm of his adventures among the Ainu, and are conscious of his efforts to make a careful study, none the less must we thank him for a fascinating and faithful description of a strange and quaint people.
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