Chapter XXIII: The Eight Provinces (2)

From a strategic military point of view, the Twin Islands are invaluable to the mikado’s empire, guarding, as they do, the sea of Japan like a sentinel. The Russians who now own the long island at the upper end of the sea, attempted, in 1859, to obtain a footing on Tsushima. They built barracks and planted seed, with every indication of making a permanent occupation. The timely appearance on the scene of a fleet of British ships, under Sir James Hope, put an end to Russian designs on Tsushima.

A Japanese writer reports that the Kiung-sang people are rather more simple in their habits, less corrupted in their manners, and their ancient customs are more faithfully preserved than in some of the other provinces. There is little of luxury and less of expensive folly, so that the small estates or property are faithfully transmitted from father to son, for many generations, in the same families. Studious habits prevail, and literature flourishes. Often the young men, after toiling during the day, give the evening to reading and conversation, for which admirable practice the native language has a special word. Here ladies of rank are not so closely shut up in-doors as in other provinces, but often walk abroad, accompanied by their servants, without fear of insult. In this province also Buddhism has the largest number of adherents. Kion-chiu, the old capital of Shinra, was the centre of the scholastic and missionary influences of the Buddha doctrine in Corea, and, though burned by the Japanese in 1597, its influence still survives.

The people are strongly attached to their superstitions, and difficult to change, but to whatever faith they are once converted they are steadfast and loyal. The numerous nobles who dwell in this province, belong chiefly to the Nam In party.

KANG-WEN, THE RIVER-MEADOW PROVINCE.

Kang-wen fronts Japan from the middle of the eastern coast, and lies between Ham-kiung and Kiung-sang. Its name means River Meadow. Within its area are found the sources of “the river” of the realm. Though perhaps the most mountainous of all the provinces, it contains several fertile plains, which are watered by streams flowing mainly to the west, forming the Han River, which crosses the entire peninsula, and empties into the Yellow Sea. The main mountain chain of the country, called here the Makira, runs near the coast, leaving the greater area of the province to the westward. The larger part of the population, the most important high roads, and the capital city Wen-chiu, are in the western division, which contains twenty-six districts, the eastern division having seventeen. The official census gives the number of houses at 93,000, and of men capable of bearing arms, 44,000.

Some of the names of mountains in this province give one a general idea of the geographical nomenclature of the kingdom, reflecting, as it does, the ideas and beliefs of the people. One peak is named Yellow Dragon, another the Flying Phœnix, and another the Hidden Dragon (not yet risen up from the earth on his passage to the clouds or to heaven). Hard Metal, Oxhead, Mountain facing the Sun, Cool Valley, Wild Swamp, White Cloud, and Peacock, are other less heathenish, and perhaps less poetical names. One range is said to have twelve hundred peaks, and from another, rivers fall down like snow for several hundred feet. These “snowy rivers” are cataracts. Deer are very plentiful, and the best hartshorn for the pharmacy of China comes from these parts. Out in the sea, about a degree and a half from the coast, lies an island, called by the Japanese Matsu-shima, or Pine Island, by the Coreans U-lon-to, and by Europeans, Dagelet. This island was first discovered by the French navigator, La Perouse, in June, 1787. In honor of an astronomer, it was named Dagelet Island. “It is very steep, but covered with fine trees from the sea-shore to the summit. A rampart of bare rock, nearly as perpendicular as a wall, completely surrounds it, except seven sandy little coves at which it is possible to land.” The grand central peak towers four thousand feet into the clouds. Firs, sycamores, and juniper trees abound. Sea-bears and seals live in the water, and the few poor Coreans who inhabit the island dry the flesh of the seals and large quantities of petrels and haliotis, or sea-ears, for the markets or the main land. The island is occasionally visited by Japanese junks and foreign whaling ships, as whales are plentiful in the surrounding waters. The Japanese obtained the timber for the public and other buildings at their new settlement at Gensan from this island.

The Land of Morning Calm is, by all accounts of travellers, a land of beauty, and the customs and literature of the people prove that the superb and inspiring scenery of their peninsula is fully appreciated by themselves. Not only are picnics and pleasure gatherings, within the groves, common to the humbler classes, but the wealthy travel great distances simply to enjoy the beauty of marine or mountain views. Scholars assemble at chosen seats, having fair landscapes before them, poets seek inspiration under waterfalls, and the bonzes, understanding the awe-compelling influence of the contemplation of nature’s grandeur, plant their monasteries and build their temples on lofty mountain heights. These favorite haunts of the lovers of natural beauty are as well known to the Coreans as Niagara and Yo Semite are to Americans, or Chamouni to all Europe. The places in which the glory of the Creator’s works may be best beheld are the theme of ardent discussion and competing praise with the people of each province. The local guide-books, itineraries, and gazetteers, descant upon the merits of the scenery, for which each of the eight divisions is renowned. In the River-meadow province, the eight most lovely “sceneries” are all located along the coast. Beginning at the south, and taking them in order toward the north, they are the following:

1. The house on Uru-chin, a town below the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude. The inn is called “The House of the Emerging Sun,” because here the sun seems to rise right out of the waters of the ocean. In front of the coast lies an island, set like a gem in the sea. The view of the rising sun, the tints of sky, river, waves, land, and mountains form a vision of gorgeous magnificence.

2. Hion-hai (Tranquil Sea). Out in the sea, in front of this village, are many small islands. When the moon rises, they seem to be floating in a sea of molten silver. The finest effect is enjoyed just before the orb is fully above the horizon. In many of the dwellings of the men of rank and wealth, there is a special room set apart for the enjoyment of the scenery, upon which the apartment looks. Especially is this the case, with the houses of public entertainment. At Hion-hai, one of the inns from which the best view may be obtained is called the “House Fronting the Moon.” In it are several “looking-rooms.”

3. One of the finest effects in nature is the combination of fresh fallen snow on evergreens. The pure white on the deep green is peculiarly pleasing to the eye of the Japanese, who use it as a popular element in their decorative art, in silver and bronze, in embroidery, painting, and lacquer. The Coreans are equally happy in gazing upon the snow, as it rests on the deep shadows of the pine, or the delicate hue of the giant grass called bamboo. Near the large town of San-cho is a tower or house, built within view of a stream of water, which flows in winding course over the rocks, sparkling beneath the foliage. It has a scene-viewing room to which people resort to enjoy the “chikusetsu,” or snow and bamboo effect.

4. From an elevation near the town of Kan-nun, or Bay Hill, one may obtain a pretty view of the groves and shrubbery growing upon the rocks. During the spring showers, when the rain falls in a fine mist, and the fresh vegetation appears in a new rich robe of green, the sight is very charming.

5. Beneath the mound at An-an the river flows tranquilly, tinted by the setting sun. The sunsets at this place are of exquisite beauty.

6. At the old castle town of Kan-nun, there is a room named “The Chamber between the Strong Fortress and the Tender Verdure.” Here the valley is steep, and in the bosom of the stream of water lie “floating islands”—so called because they seem to swim on the surface of the water.

7. Near Ko-sion, or High Fortress, is “Three Days Bay,” to which lovers of the picturesque resort on summer mornings, to see the sun rise, and on autumnal evenings, to watch the moonlight effects. The fishers’ boats gliding to and fro over the gleaming waters delight the eye.

8. At Tsu-sen is the “Rock-loving Chamber.” Here, among some steep rocks, grow trees of fantastic form. The combination of rock-scenery and foliage make the charm of this place, to which scholars, artists, and travellers resort. In spring and autumn, literary parties visit the chamber dedicated to those who love the rocks. There, abandoning themselves to literary revels, they compose poems, hold scholarly reunions, or ramble about in search of health or pleasure.

The people of Kang-wen are industrious and intelligent, with less energy of body than the southern provincials, but like their northern countrymen, they have the reputation of being bold, obstinate, and quarrelsome. In time of bad harvests or lax government, “tramps” form bands of thirty or fifty, and roam the country, stealing food or valuables from the villages. Local thieves are sufficiently abundant. During the heavy snows of winter, people travel the mountain paths on snow-shoes, and in exceptional places, cut tunnels under the snow for communication from house to house. Soldiers test their strength by pulling strong bows, and laborers by carrying heavy burdens on their shoulders. Strong men shoulder six hundred pounds of copper, or two bales of white rice (260 pounds each). The women of this province are said to be the most beautiful in Corea. Even from ancient times, lovely damsels from this part of the peninsula, sent to the harem of the Chinese emperor, were greatly admired. Christianity has made little progress in Kang-wen, only a few towns in the southern part being marked with a cross on the French missionary map. In the most ancient times the Chinhan tribes occupied this portion of Corea. From the Christian era, until the tenth century, it was alternately held by Kokorai, or Korai, and by Shinra.

HAM-KIUNG, OR COMPLETE VIEW.

Ham-kiung is that part of Corean territory which touches the boundary of Russia. Only a few years ago all the neighbors along the land frontiers of Chō-sen were Chinese subjects. Now she has the European within rifle-shot of her shores. Only the Tumen River separates the Muscovites from the once hermits of the peninsula. The southern boundary of Russia in Asia, which had been thrown farther south after every European war with China, touched Corea in 1858. What was before an elastic line, has in each instance become the Czar’s “scientific frontier.” By the supplementary treaty of Aigun, March 28, 1858, Count Mouravieff “rectified” the far eastern line of the Czar’s domain, by demanding and obtaining that vast and fertile territory lying south of the Amur River, and between the Gulf of Tartary and the river Usuri, having a breadth of one hundred and fifty miles. This remote, but very desirable, slice of Asia, is rich in gold and silk, coal and cotton, rice and tobacco. With energy and enterprise, the Russian government at once encouraged emigration, placed steamers built in New York on the Usuri River and Lake Hanka, laid out the ports of Vladivostok, and Possiet, constructed a telegraph from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and enforced order among the semi-civilized and savage tribes. The name of the new Russian territory between the Amur River and the Sea of Okhotsk, is Primorskaïa, with Vladivostok for the capital, which is finely situated on Peter the Great or Victoria Bay. Immense fortifications have been planned, and the place is to be made the Sebastopol of the Czar’s Pacific possessions. This gigantic work was begun under the charge of the late Admiral Popoff, whose name has been given to the iron-turreted war vessels of which he was the inventor, and to a mountain in Central Corea. Possiet is within twenty-five miles of the Corean frontier. It is connected with Nagasaki by electric cable. In the event of a war between China and Russia, or even of Anglo-Russian hostilities, the Czar would most probably make Corea the basis of operations against China; for Corea is to China as Canada is to the United States, or, as the people say, “the lips of China’s teeth.”

Russia needs a coast line in the Pacific with seaports that are not frozen up in winter, and her ambition is to be a naval power. While England checks her designs in the Mediterranean, and in Europe, her desire is great and her need is greater to have this defenceless peninsula on her eastern borders. The Coreans know too well that the possession of their country by “Russia the ravenous” is considered a necessity of the absorption policy of Peter the Great’s successors. The Tumen River, which rises at the foot of the Ever-White Mountains and separates Corea from Russia, is about two hundred miles in length. It drains a mountainous and rainy country. Ordinarily it is shallow and quiet; but in spring, or after heavy rains, and swollen by a great number of tributaries, its current becomes very turbulent and powerful. In winter it is frozen over during several months, and hence is easily crossed. Thousands of Coreans fleeing from famine, or from the oppression of government officials, Christians persecuted for their faith, criminals seeking to escape the clutches of the law, emigrants desirous of bettering their condition, have crossed this river and settled in Primorskaïa, until they now number, in all, about eight thousand. The majority of them are peasants from Ham-kiung, and know little of the southern parts of their country. There is, however, an “underground railroad” by which persecuted Christians can fly for refuge to Russian protection. Their houses are built of stout timbers, wattled with cane, plastered with mud, and surrounded with a neat fencing of interlaced boughs. They cover their houses with strips of bamboo, well fastened down by thatching. The chimney is detached from the house, and consists of a hollow tree. Under the warmed floor is the usual system of flues, by which the house is kept comfortable in winter, and every atom of fuel utilized. Their food is millet, corn, venison, and beef. They pare and dry melon-like fruits, cutting them up in strips for winter use. They dress in the national color, white, using quilted cotton clothes. They make good use of bullock-carts, and smoke tobacco habitually. The national product—thick strong paper—is put to a great variety of uses, and a few sheets dressed with oil, serve as windows.

Some of the Russian merchants have married Corean women, who seem to make good wives. Their offspring are carefully brought up in the Christian faith. Some of these Corean children have been sent to the American Home at Yokohama, where the ladies of the Woman’s Union Missionary Society of America have given them an education in English. Through the Russian possessions, the Corean liberal, Kin Rinshio, made his escape. From this man the Japanese officials learned so much of the present state of the peninsula, and by his aid those in the War Department at Tōkiō were enabled to construct and publish so valuable a map of Corea, the accuracy of which astonishes his fellow-countrymen. The Russians have taken the pains to educate the people in schools, and, judging from the faces and neat costumes, as seen in photographs taken on the spot, they enjoy being taught. The object of instruction is not only to civilize them as loyal subjects of the Czar, but also to convert them to the Russian form of Christianity. In this work the priests and schoolmasters have had considerable success. There are but few Coreans north of the Tumen who cannot read and write, and the young men employed as clerks are good linguists. A number of them are fishermen, living near the coast. Most of the converts to the Greek church are gathered at Vladivostok.

So great has been the fear and jealousy felt by Corea toward Russia, that during the last two generations the land along the boundary river has been laid desolate. The banks were picketed with sentinels, and death was the penalty of crossing from shore to shore. Many interesting relics of the ancient greatness of Corea still abound in Manchuria and on Russian soil. Travellers have visited these ruins, now overgrown with large forest trees, and have given descriptions and measurements of them. One fortification was found to cover six acres, with walls over thirty feet in height, protected by a moat and two outer ditches, with gateways guarded by curtains. In the ruins were elaborately carved fragments of columns, stone idols or statues, with bits of armor and weapons. Some of these now silent ruins have sustained famous sieges, and once blazed with watch-fires and echoed to battle-shouts. They are situated on spurs or ends of mountain chains, commanding plains and valleys, testifying to the knowledge of strategic skill possessed by their ancient builders.

The Shan-yan Alin, range on range, visible from the Corean side of the river, are between eight thousand and twelve thousand feet high, and are snow-covered during most of the year. The name means Long-white, or Ever-White Mountains, the Chinese Shang-bai, meaning the same thing. Two of the peaks are named after Chinese emperors. Paik-tu, or White Head, is a sacred mountain famous throughout the country, and is the theme of enthusiastic description by Chinese, Japanese, and Corean writers, the former comparing it to a vase of white porcelain, with a scolloped rim. Its flora is mostly white, and its fauna are reputed to be white-haired, never injuring or injured by man. It is the holy abode of a white-robed goddess, who presides over the mountain. She is represented as a woman holding a child in her arms, after a legendary character, known in Corean lore and Chinese historical novels. Formerly a temple dedicated to her spirit was built, and for a long time was presided over by a priestess. The Corean Buddhists assign to this mountain, the home of Manchusri, one of their local deities, or incarnations of Buddha. Lying in the main group of the range, over eight thousand feet above the sea, is a vast lake surrounded by naked rocks, probably an extinct crater. Large portions of the mountain consist of white limestone, which, with its snow, from which it is free only during two months of the year, gives it its name.

Another imposing range of mountains follows the contour of the coast, and thus presents that lofty and magnificent front of forest-clad highland which strikes the admiration of navigators. Other conspicuous peaks are named by the natives, Continuous Virtue, The Peak of the Thousand Buddhas, Cloud-toucher, Sword Mountain, Lasting Peace, Heaven-reaching.

Twenty-four rivers water and drain this mountainous province. The coast of Ham-kiung down to the fortieth parallel is devoid of any important harbors. A glance at a foreign chart shows that numerous French, Russian, and English navigators have visited it, and gained precarious renown by sprinkling foreign names upon its capes and headlands. At the south, Yung-hing, or Broughton’s Bay, so named by the gallant British captain in 1797, is well known for its fine harbors and its high tides. It contains a small archipelago, while the country around it is the most populous and fertile portion of the province. Port Lazareff, east of Yon-fun, near the mouth of the Dungan River, and west of Virginie Bay, is well known. A large Japanese army under Kato occupied this territory during the year 1592.

By the recent treaty with Japan, the port of Gensan, fronting on the south of Broughton’s Bay, was opened for trade and commerce, from May 1, 1880. Gensan lies near the thirty-ninth parallel of latitude. Near the shore is the island of Chotoku, and within the twenty-five mile circuit allowed to Japanese merchants for general travel, or free movement, is the old castle-town of Tokugen. The tomb of the founder of the reigning dynasty of Chō-sen is situated near the bay and is a highly venerated spot. As the dragon is in native ideas the type of all that is strong, mighty, and renowned, the place is named the “Rise of the Dragon.” One of the high roads of the kingdom traverses the strip of land skirting the sea from north to south throughout the province, touching the water at certain places. The greater part of the people dwelling in the province live along this road. The interior, being a mass of mountains, is thinly inhabited, and the primeval forests are populated chiefly by tigers and other beasts of prey.

In the current scouring the coast of Ham-kiung swim unnumbered shoals of herring, ribbon fish, and other species inhabiting the open seas. After these follow in close pursuit schools of whales, which fatten on them as prey. Thousands of natives from the interior and the shore villages come down in the season and fish. They often stand knee-deep in the water, looking like long rows of the snowy heron of a rice-swamp, in their white clothes. They use a kind of catamaran or raft for fishing and for surf navigation, which is very serviceable. They sometimes hunt the whales at sea, or capture them in shoal water, driving them in shore till stranded. Sticking in the bodies of these huge creatures have been found darts and harpoons of European whalers. This chase of the herring by the whales was noticed, even in the extreme south of Corea, by Hamel, and by shipwrecked Dutchmen. Since the present year, Japanese whale-hunters have been engaged by Coreans to improve their methods of catching this huge sea-mammal.

The capital city of this largest of the provinces, and the residence of the governor, is Ham-hung, situated near the fortieth parallel of north latitude. According to a native geography this province contains 103,200 houses, which gives a population varying from 309,600 to 516,000 souls. There are enrolled and capable of military service (on paper) 87,170 men. For administrative purposes the province is divided into divisions, the northern and the southern. There are fifteen walled cities.

Formerly, and until the Russians occupied the Primorskaia territory, an annual or bi-annual fair was held at the Corean city of Kion-wen, which lies close to the border. The Manchiu and Chinese merchants bartered tea, rice, pipes, gold, and furs for the Corean ginseng, hides, and household implements. Furs of a thousand sorts, cotton stuff, silks, artificial flowers, and choice woods, changed hands rapidly, the traffic lasting but two or three days, and sometimes only one day, from noon until sunset. Such was the bustle and confusion that these fairs often terminated in a free fight, which reminds one of the famous Donnybrook. One of the articles most profitable to the Coreans was their cast-off hair. Immense quantities cut from the heads of young persons, and especially by those about to be married, were and are still sold by the Chinese to lengthen out their “pig-tails”—that mark of subjection to their Manchiu conquerors. During the time of trade no Chinese or Manchiu was allowed to enter a Corean house, all the streets and doorways being guarded by soldiers, who at the end of the fair drove out any lingering Chinese, who, if not soon across the border, were forced to go at the point of the spear. Any foreigner found inside the border at other seasons might be, and often was, ruthlessly murdered.

The nearest town beyond the frontier, at which the Chinese merchants were wont to assemble, is Hun-chun. [9] This loophole of entrance into Corea, corresponded to Ai-chiu at the Yalu River in the west. As at the latter place, foreigners and Christian natives have attempted to penetrate the forbidden country at Kion-wen, but have been unsuccessful.

An outline of the political history of the part of the peninsula now called Ham-kiung shows that many masters have in turn been its possessors. When the old kingdom of Chō-sen, which comprehended Liao Tung and that part of the peninsula between the Ta-tong and the Tumen Rivers, was broken up toward the end of the first century, the northern half of what is now Ham-kiung was called Oju or Woju, the southern portion forming part of the little state of Wei, or Whi. These were both conquered by Kokorai, which held dominion until the seventh century, when it was crushed by the Chinese emperors of the Han dynasty, and the land fell under the sway of Shinra, whose borders extended in the ninth and tenth centuries, from Eastern Sea to the Tumen River. After Shinra, arose Korai and Chō-sen, the founders of both states being sprung from this region and of the hardy race inhabiting it. From very ancient times, the boundaries of this province, being almost entirely natural and consisting of mountain, river, and sea, have remained unchanged.