KOREA AND THE KOREANS.
BY J. B. BERNADOU.
(Abstract of lecture, with the addition of some new material.)
The Koreans are to be noted among nations for the possession of two very different vehicles for the expression of thought, which they put to nearly parallel uses for general needs of communication: a simple and very perfect alphabet, and a complex system of hieroglyphics. The alphabet they owe to the Buddhist priests, missionaries, who took the idea of letters from their sacred books, and developed the Korean symbols for the writing of tracts and prayers; the hieroglyphics came from the mother country and civilizer, China.
The needs of a simpler mode of writing for the intelligent, non-literary classes of Japan, had led in that country to a similar development; but there progress stopped at a syllabary, and the alphabetic stage was not reached.
Until within the past few years the development of accurate maps and charts of Korea has been retarded, partly from a lack of reliable information concerning Korean proper names, and partly from the absence of systematic surveys of the coast. Very recently, however, the difficulties of map making have been considerably lessened through the efforts of students of the Korean language, who have developed exact systems of transliteration, by the application of which the sounds of Korean proper names may be correctly expressed in our own letters. At the present day it would seem possible, therefore, to fix, by common consent, upon a general, systematic orthography for Korean proper names, to be used upon the charts prepared by all those nations employing Roman letters; and this without serious danger of clashing with previously developed national systems, or having to undo much work done by others.
The system of transliteration developed by Mr. E. M. Satow, of the British Diplomatic Service, which has been put to practical use by that gentleman in his work entitled "List of Korean Geographical Names," would seem well adapted to meet future needs. It gives a simple series of equivalents for Korean sounds, and is remarkably free from diacritical marks. Mr. Satow's system has recently been employed by English and German authors, while efforts to extend its application would seem to have met thus far with no opposition.
The French system of transliteration, which antedates the one above referred to, was developed by the French Roman Catholic Missionaries in Korea, and has been employed by them in their admirable works the "Grammaire Coréenne" and the "Dictionnaire Coréen," by far the most important yet prepared upon the language, and the first given to the outer world. The missionaries aimed at reproducing native speech, and to this end faithfully copied symbols representing shades of sound that are not to be appreciated by the foreign ear, and which in fact are often neglected in conversation by the Koreans of the present day—for the Ön-mun, or native alphabet, has long since lost its purely phonetic character. The simplicity of the French system is marred, therefore, by the use of a multiplicity of letters, which, appearing in the form of aggregations of consonants or of vowels, are more apt to mislead than to guide.
Inasmuch as the proper names upon native maps, which are invariably written in the Chinese, may be correctly rendered into English, whereas attempts at the systematic transliteration of Chinese characters have generally failed, it may be well to allude to the points of difference in the two cases. The possibility of the transliteration of Korean depends upon the following: (1) that the Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters is independent of the pitch of the voice or tone; (2) that the native alphabet is especially constructed with a view to the easy reproduction of the Korean pronunciation of the same; (3) that the Korean pronunciation of these characters is quite uniform throughout the whole extent of the country; (4) that the Korean equivalents may be readily transliterated into English. All that is necessary, therefore, in fixing a geographic name is to have it written correctly in Chinese and in the Ön-mun. From the latter the English equivalent may be readily obtained. The need of the Chinese form arises from the fact that but few of the natives spell correctly, while many of them write Chinese well; so that it becomes necessary to refer both writings to some authority, by whom the native spelling may be verified.
Wide spread as is the use of the Chinese nomenclature, it is none the less evident that the system is an artificial one, and that its employment must end somewhere. In those parts of the country that are the least explored, and where educational facilities are wanting, in the mountain fastnesses of the north, and among the many islands of the Yellow Sea, important geographic names occur that possess no Chinese equivalents: native words capable of being written only in the Ön-mun and which derive their origin from local peculiarities. To ascertain these correctly the services of an educated Korean are required; and it may be added here that no surveying party on the Korean coast should be without the services of a native guide, capable of speaking a few words of English. Such a man may be picked up at an open port. He would be useful in many ways: in preventing the destruction of signals from superstitious motives by the natives; in ascertaining from fishermen the existence of dangers in the intricate coast waters; in marking the position of towns and villages not to be seen from their sea approaches; and in securing supplies of fresh provisions.
The preliminary study of the geography of an eastern country necessitates the comparative examination of data gathered from widely different sources: the early partial surveys of the coasts by mariners, and the rough maps made by the natives themselves. Inasmuch as large sections of the Korean coasts are as yet hardly examined, and since it is only within the last few years that foreigners have been allowed to penetrate into the interior, it follows that no accurate map of the land exists. In selecting bases for future developments it becomes necessary, therefore, to examine the various approximate representations, and to determine which of them is best adapted to aid the work in hand.
Many writers upon Korea seem prone to attribute the mapping of the country to the result of explorations and observations made by foreigners. I believe this assumption to be erroneous and think it can be readily proven that, although the Koreans may have known practically nothing of the outside world up to the time of the treaties, some twenty years ago, they had, nevertheless, long before this formed an excellent idea of the configuration of their own country. The first important work accomplished by outsiders was the survey of the common boundary of Korea and China by the Jesuits, acting under the orders of the Chinese Emperor Kang-hsi, in the year 1709. Severity of climate and roughness of country prevented the party from making more than a preliminary examination of the districts that they passed through, but a few fair determinations of latitude and approximations to longitude were obtained, and the general direction of the boundary determined. With the aid of these data, supplemented by information from native sources, a map was constructed, in which the Korean peninsula was connected with the general system of the world's coördinates and proper names were given in our own alphabetic characters. This map, which forms the basis of most of the representations of Korea in use at the present day, shows its origin in the transliteration of proper names in accordance with the Mandarin Chinese and not the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters employed to represent them.
The information from Korean sources which the missionaries must have utilized in completing their work was doubtless attained by them in the form of native maps. Of these there are several good ones in use at the present day, two of which would seem especially worthy of notice: (1) the large map of twenty sheets dividing the peninsula into sections by parallel lines drawn from east to west, and (2) a map giving the country in eight sheets, by provinces. The key to the latter, showing the entire kingdom, as well as one of the expanded sheets showing the Kyöngsang province in the southeast, and the Nakdong river, the most important stream of the land, are appended to this paper, and will serve to indicate the progress independently attained by the Koreans in the art of map making. These plates have been reproduced from a copy of an original now in the possession of Mgr. J. G. Blanc, the French Missionary Bishop of Korea, to whom it served as an accurate guide at the time of his perilous entry into the country, fifteen years ago, during a period of severe persecutions.
The preface of the Korean geographer, which is written in Chinese upon one of the sheets, is of interest, as it illustrates the object of the work, enumerates the classes of data utilized and alludes to difficulties contended with. I therefore quote it here.
"The geographies of my country are quite numerous, but all maps are influenced to a certain extent by the limit of the paper employed in their construction, and so distances are very incorrectly given. Thus ten or more ri (Korean unit of distance—about 2/5-mile) are sometimes represented as two or three hundred ri; while sometimes two or three hundred ri are represented as two or three. The bearings given are also incorrect. Such a map offers great disadvantages to people who attempt to learn about their country. Therefore I have taken all care in constructing this one, both as to direction and distances of places, as well as to the situations of mountains and rivers. For distances I have made a scale in which one hundred ri are taken as one ja (Korean foot), and ten ri as one poun (Korean inch, ten to the foot). I have laid off distances in all directions from the capital, so that the general shape and position of the eight provinces are correctly represented. The islands, however, are only placed in direction with reference to the provinces to which they belong, without regard to actual distances. Where mountain ranges and rivers are represented as boundaries, they are necessarily repeated upon the sheets of adjoining provinces. In the measurement of distances one ja represents one hundred ri in level places, and from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty ri where the mountains are high."
The assumption that the unit of scale represents an increased distance in mountainous regions is a peculiarity of Chinese as well as of Korean maps. Travelers who employ either are obliged in estimating days' journeys to consider the character of the country ahead before applying the unit of measurement.
An examination of the various conventional features of Plate I and II will afford much information concerning the official subdivision of the country for governmental purposes, and will serve to indicate the facilities of communication that exist in a country where there are no railroads, and where almost every important route extends in a direction normal to that of the flow of the greater number of rivers. The eight provinces of the kingdom are exhibited upon Plate I as groups of towns, each group being displayed upon the original in a different color, all of which, as shades of various intensities, are fairly well reproduced upon the photo-lithographs. Each town is denoted by a circle of very exaggerated dimensions, large enough to allow its name to be written in Chinese characters in the enclosed area. The apparent multiplicity of characters upon the present map is due to the fact that all names are given in the native Ön-mun, as well as in the Chinese. The employment of the former is unusual and in the present case was resorted to at my own instance, in order to render the map more generally useful to foreigners. Each town is the seat of government of an officer who is subordinate to a provincial governor. The strength of any portion of Korea may therefore be reckoned in the native way as so many "cities," by the word "city," being understood both the seat of government and the adjacent lands over which the governor holds sway. The walled towns, which are quite uniform in type throughout the whole extent of the country, deserve especial mention. They are represented on the map as circles with serrated edges, and a glance at the provincial sheets will show that they are quite numerous, each province possessing from six to twenty of them. The number is greatest along the coast of the Yellow Sea and to the southward, facing Japan.
As secondary fortifications may be mentioned the San-söng, or mountain walls, as they are called, built at the least accessible points of the interior ranges, generally in proximity to some thickly settled district. The more ancient are relics of the feudal period, when Korea was governed by petty princes each with his castle upon a rock; the more modern, witnesses of the Japanese invasion of two hundred years ago, when they were either pillaged by the enemy or else held by the people as places of refuge. A number of the San-söng are marked upon the present map; those of lesser importance are omitted.
Not the least curious among Korean institutions is the system of communication maintained at the present time. At the yok, or post stations, represented on the map by diminutive circles, are kept numbers of the small active native horses, well fed and in good condition, attended by staffs of native couriers who are ready to receive orders from the station-master and spring into saddle upon a moment's notice. The service is well patronized and the couriers frequently employed, partly at the instance of the government, who desire to promote the efficiency of the system, and partly owing to the general accumulation of private needs of various kinds. A letter or parcel is thus rapidly transmitted from relay to relay, moving onward by day and night—except in certain mountainous districts of the north, where the fear of the tiger prevents night travel. Supplies of fruit and game for the royal table are forwarded in this manner to the capital from the most distant parts of the kingdom.
The pong-wa, or signal-fire stations, are indicated upon the map by small squares placed at the summit of the mountains. They are especially numerous in the coast districts, where their sites are chosen with great care, in such manner that the fires that are lighted at each station at night-fall may be observed at some advanced point of the interior, whence a single fire may be again flashed on, to form a member of a more extended group. And so the lights proceed, re-collected and re-forwarded until the final combinations are gathered into a final group at the capital, to show that all is well throughout the kingdom.
The faint network of lines extending over the whole country, as shown in the map of the southeastern province, represents the chief public highways, upon the determination of whose length and relative bearing the development of the map is based. In general, roads in Korea are well maintained, and during the greater part of the year are in fair condition. It would be found impossible to take a wheeled vehicle of any kind over them, however; for such use they are not intended, travel in Korea being performed afoot, or with the aid of horse or sedan. During the summer rains the streams rise rapidly; the waters pour down from the mountains, each rivulet becomes a torrent and the bridges are swept away. When the floods subside the local authorities compel the peasants to turn out in force and make the necessary repairs; delays of travel are thus reduced to a minimum.
Korea is preëminently a mountainous country. With the exception of the alluvial plains at the mouths of the rivers, low ranges of mountains with narrow intervening valleys are found everywhere, and are characteristic. The main chain, forming the back-bone of the peninsula, is not clearly defined, as it is formed principally by the overlappings and intersections of minor chains, so that it is quite irregular as to direction, but a glance at the sources of the rivers, considered with reference to the intervening line of water-sheds, shows that it springs from the mountains of Siberia at the north, follows for some distance the line of the eastern coast and then strikes inland, trending to the southward and westward until it reaches the shores of the Yellow Sea. The loftiest ranges, therefore, are in the northern and eastern provinces. At the centre of the northern boundary is Paik-du-san, the "white-headed mountain," in whose slopes rise the Yalu, Tuman, and Songari rivers, the two former defining the western and eastern sections of the frontier, the latter a tributary of the Amur, an important stream of southern Siberia. According to Messrs. James, Younghusband, and Fulford, of the British Indian and Consular services, who visited it in May, 1886, Paik-du-san is "a recently extinct volcano with a lovely pellucid lake filling the bottom of the crater, surmounted by a serrated edge of peaks rising about 650 feet above the surface of the water. The height of the loftiest of these was found to be about 7,525 feet above the level of the sea."
Besides the rivers of the frontier are others of the interior that deserve a passing mention. The mountainous nature of the country, as well as its proximity to the sea, implies the existence of numerous secondary water courses, but these as a rule are insignificant in size and so shallow as to permit of navigation only throughout limited portions of their extent. Among the larger streams that lie wholly within the country is the Taidong, flowing through Phyöng-an-do, the northwestern province, rising in the central ranges of the peninsula and flowing into the Yellow Sea. During the greater part of the year it is navigable as far as the city of Phyöngyang for native craft of the largest size. In midsummer its waters rise rapidly during a short rainy season; then quickly subside, the river resuming its former limits. To this sudden shoaling may be attributed the loss of the schooner Sherman, captured by the Koreans in 1871, the vessel going aground without warning at a place where a few hours before abundant water had been found.
The Han, the river of the capital, lies about one hundred miles to the southward of the Taidong, and flows westwardly in a nearly parallel direction thereto, from the central ranges of the peninsula into the Yellow Sea. Its many branches join in a common estuary near the centre of the Yellow Sea coast, and their collective drainage area comprises a large portion of central Korea. Still farther to the southward is the Keum, traversing a fertile rice-growing country, while at the extreme south is the Nakdong. The latter is one of the most important streams of Korea, and the facilities that it affords for communication and interchange have done much towards rendering the district through which it flows one of the most fertile and prosperous of the land.
The coasts of Korea are forbidding to the mariner and seem well adapted for the preservation of the seclusion that it has been so long the national policy to maintain. On the east, facing Japan, unbroken lines of steep hills, void of harbors, bend abruptly into the deep waters of the Japan Sea. To the westward countless outlying islands extend seaward many miles, liberally interspersed with rocks and shoals, between which eddy swift streams of tide-water. The terrors of the Maelstrom would find their counterpart in many a Korean whirlpool, which, forming in the vicinity of some submerged ledge, will cause a large vessel to heel suddenly well over, and will swing her many points off her course in a way to make the stoutest hearted captain tremble for the safety of his charge.
The climate of Korea exhibits wide ranges of temperatures and hygroscopic conditions. In the northeast province, Ham-kiung-do, the winter is as rigorous as that of Nova Scotia; at the extreme south, on the island of Quelpaert, it somewhat resembles that of Louisiana. The warmth of Quelpaert is due to the proximity of the Kura-siwo, or Black Stream of Japan, the Gulf Stream of the Pacific, part of which is here turned into a cul-de-sac, from which it escapes with difficulty. One result of this is the creation of a stormy region near the island, where the mariner may at all times look for a hard blow. A characteristic feature of Yellow Sea coasts are the Chang-ma, or mid-summer rains, which set in with fair regularity in July and during their month's duration resemble in phenomena and general effects the periodic rains of the tropics. The winters, in all but the southern parts of the country, are long and severe and set in with great suddenness. As an illustration of the rapidity of this change I remember that on one occasion I was ferried across the Han river near the capital at a time when the only indication of cold weather was a film of ice along the river banks, and that within forty-eight hours afterwards I rode back across the river ice on horseback, over the line of the former ferry.
Careful meteorologic records have now been kept at the open ports for more than five years; at Che-mul-po, on the Yellow Sea (the seaport of the capital, Söul); at Fusan, to the south; and at Gensan, to the northeast. Stations are needed on the Yellow Sea coast farther to the northward, at the extreme northeast, at points in the interior, and especially on the island of Cheju, or Quelpaert, whose weather reports may some day prove as valuable to the Japanese as those from Bermuda would now be to the navigator of the western waters of the Atlantic. All the above mentioned places are easily accessible and doubtless soon will receive attention. In fact, to the navigator of these regions this island of Quelpaert is almost of the importance that Hatteras is to the navigator of our own coast.
As an important factor of Korea's future prosperity, and one that will enter largely into the determination of her future position among the nations of the east, may be mentioned her mineral resources. These yet remain in an almost undeveloped condition. The most easily accessible deposits and out-croppings, which are worked by the natives in primitive ways, afford evidence of an abundant and varied supply of the useful ores and minerals widely distributed throughout the whole extent of the land. Many localities, moreover, are well known to the people for their especial products. Thus the Phyöngyang province, in the northwest, facing China, possesses abundant deposits of coal, iron, and lime. Samples of this coal, which is but little used by the people, were collected several years ago from twelve different localities, and I remember that some of the Phyöngyang gatherings were tested on board the U. S. S. Alert, but were found to have suffered so greatly from exposure to the weather as to be comparatively valueless, even for experimental purposes. Limestone is common in this district, and in the town of Phyöngyang I have noticed the use of caustic lime in the streets as a disinfectant. The iron produced at Yöngpyön, fifty miles to the northward of this city, which is reduced in the native way with charcoal, is remarkable for its malleability and purity. Inasmuch as all these deposits are of very great extent and lie near the sea coast, and in proximity to waters easily navigable by larger craft, it may be assumed as probable that the time will soon arrive when the iron of Korea will largely supply the ship-yards and machine shops of northern China. Silver is found in at least four localities; copper is worked in paying quantities in two; galena is widely distributed; and zincblende has been found near the capital. Sulphur is said to occur in Kyöng-sang-do; no ore of mercury is known to the Koreans, who import their supplies of the metal and its preparations from China.
At the time of the opening of Korea by treaty, 1870–80, an impression seems to have prevailed quite generally that the country was extremely rich in gold, that great quantities of the precious metals were soon to be exported, or that mines of great richness would be found and worked. The years that have elapsed since this date have partly served to prove the fallacy of these assumptions, yet the doubt is not yet fully removed. Gold is now known to occur in many places in moderate quantities: in alluvial deposits, from which it may be washed by simple mechanical process, and in quartz veins, from which it is extracted in small quantities by crude and laborious methods of rock-pulverizing and washing. A small constant demand for the metal has always existed, for jewelry and gilding—the latter quite a common decorative process, which up to the present seems to have required the use of pure gold even for the crudest applications. The mines remain for the greater part unworked, however, for three reasons: (1) the native dislike for altering the geomantic conditions of any locality by digging holes in the ground; (2) the laws forbidding the search for the metal, for gold mining in Korea is a government monopoly; (3) the inability of the peasants to find a market for the gold that they surreptitiously work. There has always existed a chance of disposing of it by crossing the border into China, and there has probably long been a small steady export in this way; and a port has been opened near the capital where reside Chinese and Japanese merchants who must find a way of converting the Korean copper cash into some medium of exchange easily negotiable abroad, and who for this purpose have been known to purchase gold from the Koreans at a considerable premium. I have examined a number of specimens of Korean gold which had been brought to Che-mul-po and had passed into the hands of foreign merchants there. In several cases I found small pieces of quartz clinging to flat laminated grains of the metal of considerable size.
In answer to inquiries that I made from time to time during a residence of more than a year in Korea I was told by the Koreans of a number of localities where gold was supposed to be abundant. I have endeavored to show these collectively upon a small map (Fig. III) giving the Korean names of the towns and districts with their English equivalents and the names of the provinces of the kingdom in which the places are situated. I was told repeatedly that the metal was most plentiful at Tan-chhön, in the Ham-kiung province. Concerning this locality our Korean geographer says, "at Ma-un, west of Tan-chhön, much gold is found. The mountains there are lofty and precipitous."
