| Show AGROSS COREA OI ill 1 S Frank O Onrpontoi Decoilbes I11w Tour Throughout Through-out then interior of then Hermit Kingdom A Stitl ami Hn Crown rrlnttlae Hit A7 f GtUted Hit Itmltl and flow Otktn llfti SeatrrJ ty the tU 0 SoUHtriTlit KUt nnntti Steat I COWl He SUiirlvi 0 f stitnllm tonnixg it l eQ > rt < in Cilllt and Hit IMtrf JYaJei Unions = Fpttitl Cetrrtp9intnct of its NRWS CcpjrubHO tr Frank U carpenter IM liE OCCU Fr i patlon of Co LQ 6 Jrea by Japan J already be glnlllnh I I g to change the country An r electric railroad rail-road has been planned Irons 1 r the capital the Ilan rl i1J ver which w oc lies three miles away nnd Is I probable that Ihe machinery for this will be gotten In the United Mates It t Is twentysix miles i i from Chemulpo which Is I the main port ol the country to Seoul and the rail 1 road will be built over the mountains connecting the capital with the sea Sooner or later other roads will be built I I from Seoul to Ihe west coast and to I usanon the south coast as well auto the north The nolhern roads will be fostered by the Russians and there will probably be a connection with the Trans Siberian rod to that we will eventually be able toga from farts to within a few hours tall 01 Japan by land Today no one knows much about the country of Corea There Is no land In the world outside of Thibet which has been lets 1 explored Very few traveler have gotten Into Ihe Interior and the letters describing the country has been confined to the capital and the seaports I am I believe be-lieve the only American ncuspiper man who has traveled right through the peninsula from one side to the other I doubt whether the trip could possibly bo taken today I made It last summer Just on the eve of the rebellion and It was curious In the extreme My outfit consisted of six men and four horses and spent seven da > s among the Corean clouds mountains i and traveling being lilted lour In chairs hours I up In hills the so steep that the ponies could not follow fol-low The most of the way was on bridlepaths and a great part of It was really dangerous on account of Ihe tiger an < leopards It was like going through a new world and were It nut = for the note which I took on the ground I might think the whole journey a dream THE UNAKI AND Till CHOVM miNCK I had spent a month In Seoul and I lad been hobnobbing with the Conan nobles having had my audience with tine 1 king mu1S supposed I that I would havu no trouble In I securing nn escort ateoa the country I lat mistaken Just at the time I wanted to go the King ol Cures had ordered t all the horse In Seoul tribe brought to Ills palace city which lies at the back ol the capital In order to enable him to move to another vast tstahUihnttnl which he has In another part ol the city lie hal more power you know than the cur and he is more superstitious than an Aliican king Thi re are makes In nearly all the roots of the lorein houses and just before we were ready logo a big black snake about as long as a man leg hail drnpiied down out of the roof Into the crown princes lace while he was sleeping I and the king II OJght this I was a bad omen and teat the gods wanted him to move out of the police for a time He sent out his order mul I every pony In Seoul u is laid hold ol by his officials I had engaged four I fast trotters and the grooms were bringing bring-ing tlitm to my house when the utliciaft seiied them lor the king Had I or one of the lorelencrs been with them we could probably have held them but I we were not and they were carried elf to tho I palace I was stopping I le this time with Ml Power I trio kings electri clan and he sent his soldiers outside the city with orders lay hold of the first ponies that came fhey brought lour shaggy beasts out of a traits ol eight 1 trey bled to catch the whole lot but the other four suspected their Intentions and galloped away They brought them Into our courtyard and ue persuaded them toga with us A high ollicUl Corea as a rule grabs everything every-thing ho can get and papa tot nothing On tills I trip we paid for everything and It coil me to go from one side of the peninsula to she oihes three hundred thousand cash or about Jioj CAKIENtlKH OOKULOUS OUTFIT My parly consisted of four ponies and six men and I traveled like a Curtail noble Tire king had given me a piss port and this hid an envelope almost as big as this paper and the Corean characters charac-ters upon it were circled with red In order or-der to keep any one from changing them This described me as a mighty American who was tinning Corea and it directed the magistrates to entertain me on my way t1 a had a servant with us who wore a gorgeous white gown and a hat of black musthalr till man usually usu-ally took thripassport and rode ahead with it to the villages In order that the I magistrates might know that we were coming and as we got to the towns we were met by trumpets and bands and were escorted In slate to the government offices In the guest rooms ol which we were kept over night I fm I had nix Lo ream In my pony and I made the trip alone with them My old Inend Gen rltl t W dbeo lik of whom I have written before was with me and he commanded outfit lie had a gorgeous blue suit winch he bought lor the trip and his clothe were spotless elllr clean His horsehair hat I venture cost f 15 and his shoes were of kid with heavy soles of unlanned rawhide Iak spoke very good Ire hsh unit he acted as my Inter peter and commander inchief We had lour groom two ol whom were married mar-ried awl hence hid the right to wear aTI eliF ge hat Tins other two were bareheaded bachelors and they webs the shabbiest I II shoddiest I ldillest I r tallest quartette I I I have ever seen Inside ol Core nr out ol IL They were perpetually eating And they slopped at every cook shop on the way J Gnj Tire lour grooms walked General Iak the servant And myself rode fair hat 11 a saddle which he had It irrownl from the prime minister Mm Yung Jun the man whose oppressions caused the recent rebellion I and I had an American addle loaned me by General Great house The two other ironies were loaded with our 110 II10nlAnd baggage and the servmt sat on the pick We knew we would he entertained by the institutes and by General lk I advice ad-vice I bought a goodly supply ol liquors and cigar The cigars were very cheap 1 think the newsboy would I vgf1 I them two fensbut they were wrapped In tinfoil I and the magistrate handled them n < though they were solid gold I and their faces became oily with harp tress as they smoked them I hid a half doyen battles ol champagne several ol claret and not a few of Chartreuse and cognac We were expected to treat every party we met and as the journey lasted seven day our supply was none lr ftrt too barge We lengthened I It out how everby Iho site of the glasses We bought little cognac glasses holding about A thimbleful of liquor and passed It around to the government clerk In this way There Is no glass In Corea and the miUstratM thought they were 11 1 generously treated and I the hither the I man the more glasses he got As an especially great favor we give the empty bottles to them now nnd then and we found them greedily grabbed for wherever wo went I wish I could show you how we rode In stale out ol Seoul with my servant going along In front and yelling to the common people to get out of the way for the foreign Yangban We wound In and out among thousands of low thatched huts now skirting he sewers which run In open drains through the streets and again being squeezed against the wall In order that some high allk gowned noble I mllht pass by ol in fill chair U e rode fur about a mil along one of the male business streets of the city i having moved carefully in order that nlrh our homes nTce not step on the pipes of the merchants who IUlled on the ground l In frontal their storeandsmoked as they willed for customers We went by the gnat barracks where the ragged soldiers who make up the kings army live and passed a gale of the old palace which General Iak told me was the gate of Japanese skins and has some tradition mama skinned Japanese con nee with It We passed by chain contiln Ing the fair but rail dancing girls of the kingdom and when we hail gone through the great gate of the wall which leads out Into the country we found one of these girls tilling with her chair upon the ground She was not a bashful girl and when I told Ueneral Iak that I wanted her photograph Im asked her to get out ol her chair and she posed before my camera We passed score of coolies coming Into the capital who wore hats of straw as big as umbrellas and went by caravans of ponies loaded with straw and pine C rlchwl rtrtrnglln branches which were being brought Into the city for sale Within a lew miles ot Seoul there Is I a great caravan ol these queer Corean hucksters peddlers pedd-lers travelers and swells which is always moving In or out lilt walls and Ihe scene Is like an ever changing kaleidoscope or stranger thin one of Kirally most gorgeous extMvagantts Inside And on the edge ol the city all was ditt and squalor nnd II was not until we had ridden nn hour that we appreciated appreci-ated the beauty ol our surroundings rile awtrsa LAND OF AMA Corea may be called the bwitierland of Asia It Is I a land ol mountains and valleys of crystal lake and trickling streams We rode for day through one beautiful valley alter another now going go-ing for miles through fields ol rice lands laid out In terraces and covered with water out ol whoM glassy while surface the emerald green sprouts were mst peeping buch valley lie right In the mn not ups arndaline mount tins and the hills which rite Irom them ate as ragged And bare as lire silvery mountains ol Greece They change in heir hue with every change ol Ihe heavens and Ihey now look like silver and again turn to masses of velvet vel-vet and gold spotted here and there I lIcII with navy blue nine The floods nestle In their hollows and their tops In the ever varying air of Loren assume at the edge of tins evening all sort of fantastic shapes Our lint days ride was through A valley which was as rich 4S guano and as black as your 1111 It was cut up omit creeks some of which were lull a mile wide and at these we found rough men clad In white with their pantaloons pulled up lo their thighs At we came up these men bent Ihelr backs and our groom crawled up them and clasping them around the neck they were carried through the rlhTro l1 porters received one cent for each trip and General Ijk told me that this work Is don by men out ol charity And hal Ihe gods esteem It a good act and Ihe water which washes ihelr legs at Ihe tame time carries away their tins and gives them a clear road to heaven Other devotee Hand with cold water m the streets and give drink to all that thirst COREAN IAKHIMJ t The country scenes of Corea arc un like anything you see In America The land Is not more Nrat 1 half armed It take nine men to do what one man does In America Think pulling nine men 10 one long handled thovcll One man ho d < Ihe sliovel and presses I It Into Ihe earth and lour stand on each tide and pull the dirt out hy i rope aUutied to the blade The dirt Is carried from one part ol the field to another In picks on the backs of men and the grc V r to the land Is dug up t withA11 save if farf mers spend most of Ihelr lie be f ual tine and smoking They Ismail I holdings and the crops seem t It good when ihev are at all cultivated t saw much barley and some wheat I was all planted In row and the people hoe and weed their wheat as we do or potatoes po-tatoes These rowl were from nAe 1 to two feet wide and l betweeti them buns had l been planted I taw some nil the crops being put In Tine ground was first made fine and Ihe planters then dug the hills for the beans bj pressing their heels Into the ground They dropped the beans into a holo and covered them over with a kind of a twist of the same loot that made It There were no fences and no barns and I saw no houses alone on the fields The people live In villages and they keep their livestock live-stock under the same roof with their families COKKAM CATTLE The Coreins use ponies and bullocks as beasts of burden The ponies are very simll and the bullocks are very large They are In fact as fine cattle as yon will I see anywhere In the I world rolleI 3 and they seem very docile I and li kind Nearly all Ihe plowing Is done by bulls which are hitched to the plow by a yoke which rests lust over their shoulders Cho 1 tee ndu h r Our oxen have yokel around their necks and they pall by hiving the aonrd1I weight of the cart or plow somewhat evenly dlitrlbuled about their necks and shoulders These Corean bullocks push everything along by the tops of their shoulders 1 holding Ihelr heads I down as they I toll They seem la plow very well 11 glrI frh e7u I and though their i carts are the rudest they carry great quantities of all sorts of J Ju farm products and merchandise hare h-are used largely as pick anlmali and they have pack saddles of wood which extend six inches above their lraae and which are heavily loaded These sad dies ollcn gall the backs and I saw many cattle that had patches of raw flesh at biz as your hand where the saddle I had rubbed of Ihe skin The bullocks are of a beautiful fawn color and they travel almost as IH as a horse Die second day of our Journey one of our pack ponies dropped wornoul by the wayside and Gen Iuk hired one of these bullocks to lake Its place He carried my bag and the cameras nnd about a bushel or to of money At first I feared he would keep back the party but he led the procession going on i sort or cow trot all the way and climbing up the 1 hills and galloping down the 1 valleys to the Imminent danger of the baggage His only harness outside of his pack was a ring of wood about as thick as your finger and ns big around hicl tb ns a dinner I bucket f which had been run through his nose And to which a rope vas fastened lime meat ol these animals ani-mals Is very good and you can gel ns good beefsteak In Corea as you cm In New York I found none for sale however how-ever on my trip across the country and r 3 111 I was surprised to find Hut 1c 1 the I people do not use milk nor butter HUNDREDS OP STRkAllS Coma Is I a well watered country We found beautiful I I streams everywhere vuhr There were no roads and our Journey was lamely ou bridle paths I We crossed the creeks and rivers on bridge which were made of pine branches with a thin coiling ol earth In tome places these were very unsafe and the horses and the bull went In up to their knees to we preferred to lord when w e could There is a good sjitcni Irrigation throughout through-out one vallcjs and In some places I saw the people building canals in order to keep lie water at High level and cover n greater extent of territory There were fully one thousand l men at work and on inquiry I found that these men were composed of farmers ol the neighborhood who combined together for mutual advantage and Ihat the water was tree bur all of the association The Coreans have their trade unions and the plinlern J probably have a guild of their own One ol the strongest bunion b-union of the country Is that of the porters por-ters who are practically the freight cars of Corea and who carry more than either the bullocks or ponies I photographed lt photo-graphed n number ol them on my trip Ilhel lol = and tome ru the men I took were terribly ter-ribly frightened One was loaded down with shoes and he thought we were going go-ing to capture his soul This seems to ben general Idea among the Chinese and Coreans They thin h that I If II their I picture are taken the man who owns the camera will have control of their souls and will work them evil there alter They are superstitious the extreme ex-treme and the stories about falel nets cutting up Chinese babies for medicine I and tearing out the eyes of Coreans to grind up to make photographic material lave been Industriously spread by the Chinese Lverywhcre we went we found the people predisposed to the Chinese and we card I no good words for Japan The people have been i greatly great-ly oppressed and the men who enter tilned us In Iho villages were the officials who had been squeezing the life blood out of Ihe common people These village vil-lage are like no then In the world and Ihe little petty kings who rule the country under the ncme magistrates t are to curious that I will devote fly next letter to them q |
