CHUNG-CHONG, OR SERENE LOYALTY.
The province of Serene Loyalty lies mostly between the thirty-sixth and thirty-seventh parallel. Its principal rivers are the Keum, flowing into Basil’s Bay, and another, which empties into Prince Jerome Gulf. Its northeast corner, is made by the Han River bending in a loop around the White Cloud (Paik Un) Mountain. Fertile flats and valleys abound. The peninsula of Nai-po [[193]](within the waters), in the northwestern corner, is often called the “Granary of the Kingdom.” Most of the rice of the Nai-po, and the province generally, is raised for export to the capital and the north. In the other circuits the rice lands are irrigated by leading the water from the streams through each field, which is divided from the other by little walls or barriers of earth, while in this region, and in Chulla, the farmers more frequently make great reservoirs or ponds, in which water is stored for use in dry weather. The mountains are the great reservoirs of moisture, for in all the peninsula there is not a lake of noticeable size. The coast line is well indented with bays and harbors, and the run to Shantung across the Yellow Sea is easily made by junks, and even in open boats. On this account the native Christians and French missionaries have often chosen this province as their gate of entry into the “land of martyrs.”
In the history of Corean Christianity this province will ever be remembered as the nursery of the faith. Its soil has been most richly soaked with the blood of the native believers. With unimportant exceptions, every town along its northern border, and especially in the Nai-po, has been sown with the seeds of the faith. The first converts and confessors, the most devoted adherents of their French teachers, the most gifted and intelligent martyrs, were from Nai-po, and it is nearly certain that the fires of Roman Christianity still smoulder here, and will again burst into flame at the first fanning of favorable events. The three great highways from Fusan to the capital cross this province in the northeastern portion. Over these roads the rival Japanese armies of invasion, led by Konishi and Kato, passed in jealous race in 1592, reaching the capital, after fighting and reducing castles on the way, in eighteen days after disembarkation. Chion-Chiu, the fortress on whose fate the capital depended, lies in the northeast, where two of the roads converge. The western, or sea road, that comes up from the south, hugs the shore through the entire length of the province. Others, along which the Japanese armies marched in 1592, and again in 1597, traverse the central part. Along one of these roads, the captive Hollanders, almost the first Europeans in Corea, rode in 1663, and one of the cities of which Hamel speaks, Kon-sio (Kong-Chiu), is the capital and residence of the provincial governor.
The bays and islands, which have been visited by foreign navigators, retain their names on European or Japanese charts. Some [[194]]of these are not very complimentary, as Deception Bay, Insult Island, and False River. At Basil’s Bay, named after Captain Basil Hall, Gutzlaff also landed in 1832, planted potatoes, and left seeds and books. The archipelago to the northwest was, in 1866, named after the Prince Imperial, who met his death in Zululand in 1878. Prince Jerome’s Gulf is well known as the scene of the visits of the Rover and the Emperor, with the author of “A Forbidden Land” on board. Haimi, a town several times mentioned by him, is at the head of Shoal Gulf, which runs up into the Nai-po. Two other bays, named Caroline and Deception, indent the Nai-po peninsula.
Map of Chung-chong Province.
The large shoal off the coast is called Chasseriau. Other wide and dangerous shoals line parts of the coast, making navigation exceedingly difficult. Fogs are frequent and very dense, shrouding all landmarks for hours. The tides and currents are very strong, rising in some places even as high as sixty feet. The international body-snatching expedition, undertaken by a French priest, a German merchant, and an American interpreter, in 1867, to obtain the bones or ancestral relics of the Regent, was planned to take advantage of a certain “nick of time.” The river emptying into the Prince Jerome Gulf, runs some thirty miles inland, and can be ascended by a barge, or very light-draught steamer, only within the period of thirty hours during spring tides, when the [[195]]water rises to a height of three feet at the utmost, while during the rest of the month it dries up completely. On account of delays, through grounding, miscalculated distances, and the burglar-proof masonry of Corean tombs, the scheme failed. The narrative of this remarkable expedition is given in a certain book on Corea, and in the proceedings of the United States Consular Court at Shanghae, China, for the year 1867.
The flora is a brilliant feature of the summer landscape. Tiger-lilies and showy compositæ, asters, cactus plants, cruciferæ, labiatæ, and many other European species abound side by side with tropical varieties. The air is full of insects, and the number and variety of the birds exceed those of Japan. Pigeons, butcher-birds, fly-catchers, woodpeckers, thrushes, larks, blackbirds, kingfishers, wrens, spoonbills, quail, curlew, titmouse, have been noticed. The ever-present black crows contrast with the snowy heron, which often stand in rows along the watercourses, while on the reefs the cormorant, sea-gulls, and many kinds of ducks and diving birds, many of them being of species differing from those in Europe, show the abundance of winged life. The archipelago and the peninsula alike, are almost virgin soil to the student of natural history and the man of science will yet, in this secluded nook of creation, solve many an interesting problem concerning the procession of life on the globe. So far as known, the Coreans seem far behind the Japanese in the study and classification of animate nature.
The Coreans are not a seafaring people. They do not sail out from land, except upon rare occasions. A steamer is yet, to most Coreans, a wonderful thing. The common folks point to one, and call it “a divine ship.” The reason of this is, that they think the country of steamships so utterly at the ends of the earth, that to pass over ten million leagues, and endure the winds and waves, could not be done by human aid, and therefore such a ship must have, in some way, the aid of the gods. The prow and stern of fishing-boats are much alike, and are neatly nailed together with wooden nails. They use round stems of trees in their natural state, for masts. The sails are made of straw, plaited together with cross-bars of bamboo. The sail is at the stern of the boat. They sail well within three points of the wind, and the fishermen are very skilful in managing them. In their working-boats, they do not use oars, but sculls, worked on a pivot in the gunwale or an outrigger. The sculls have a very long sweep, and are worked [[196]]by two, three, and even ten men. For narrow rivers this method is very convenient, and many boats can easily pass each other, or move side by side, taking up very little room. For fishing among the rocks, or for landing in the surf, rafts are extensively used all along the coasts. These rafts have a platform, capable of holding eight or ten persons. The boats or barges, which are used for pleasure excursions and picnic parties, have high bows and ornamental sterns, carved or otherwise decorated. Over the centre a canopy stretched on four poles, tufted with horsehair, shelters the pleasure-seekers from the sun as they enjoy the river scenery. In the cut we see three officials, or men of rank, enjoying themselves at a table, on which may be tea, ginseng infusion, or rice spirit, with fruits in dishes. They sit on silken cushions, and seem to be pledging each other in a friendly cup. Perhaps they will compose and exchange a pedantic poem or two on the way. In the long, high bow there is room for the two men to walk the deck, while with their poles they propel the craft gently along the stream, while the steersman handles the somewhat unwieldy rudder. The common people use a boat made of plain unpainted wood, neatly joined together, without nails or metal, the fastenings being of wood, the cushions of straw matting and the cordage of sea grass.
A Pleasure-party on the River.
By official reckoning Chung-chong contains 244,080 houses, with 139,201 men enrolled for military service, in fifty-four districts. It contains ten walled cities, and like every other one of the eight provinces is divided into two departments, Right and Left. [[197]]