Trade between Ta-tung-kao, which is situated at the mouth of the Yalu, and Chi-fu, is at present carried on by small steamers of the Mosquito flotilla and one British ship, the Hwang-ho, of the China Navigation Company (Messrs. Butterfield and Swire), while the vast volume of the exports and imports finds its way hither and thither in Chinese junks. The run from Chi-fu port is one of a hundred and eighty-five miles, and the time usually occupied in the trip north-eastward is twenty-two hours, the steamers anchoring in the fairway channel at a distance of four miles from Ta-tung-kao. Ta-tung-kao is a busy town, inasmuch as it is the place of transhipment for imports and exports, most of which go to or come from An-tung. The fact of steamers being unable to approach Ta-tung-kao makes An-tung the real business centre of the Yalu River. In respect of An-tung, two hundred Russian cavalry have been stationed there for over two and a half years. The cantonment is situated on a small hill, marking the northern limit of the town, which has no wall. As usual, through the Yalu Valley these soldiers bear an evil reputation among the natives, from whom they commandeer at pleasure. Striking away from An-tung is the Pekin “Great Road,” which runs to Liao-yang. Above An-tung the river divides and shoals exist, the water being so shallow that none but native craft can ply. Wi-ju is situated about ten miles to the eastward, and at a point west of Mao-kewi-shan, four miles below An-tung, there is the terminus of the branch of the Manchurian railway, which is to strike the river. The construction of this work will begin in the spring of 1904. The first eighty miles offer little obstruction, and it is intended that the work shall be pushed forward until its junction with the main line of the system is accomplished. Russia, therefore, cannot well afford to ignore the consequences of her policy in the Far East, nor, at the same time, can she be expected to sacrifice, at the request of Japan, those great interests which she has been at such pains to foster. The position is, indeed, a striking example of the manner in which an imperious policy will create the taste, if not the necessity, for Imperialism.
The position of Korea in regard to the disputed questions is a hopeless one. Unfortunately, the government of Korea is powerless to prevent either the advance of Russia or the steady spread of Japanese influence. She possesses neither army nor navy which can be put to any practical use, and she is in that position in which a country is placed when unable to raise its voice upon its own behalf. The army numbers a few thousand men, who, in the last few years, have been trained to the use of European weapons. They are armed with the Gras, (obsolete pattern) Murata, Martini, and a variety of muzzle-loading smooth-bore rifles. Their shooting powers are most indifferent, and they lack besides the qualities of courage and discipline. There is no artillery, and the cavalry arm is confined to a few hundred men with no knowledge of horse-mastership, and with no idea of their weapons or their duties. At a moment of emergency the entire force of mounted and dismounted men would become utterly demoralised. There are numerous general officers, while, I believe, the navy is composed of twenty-three admirals and one iron-built coal lighter, until quite lately the property of a Japanese steamship company. Korea is the helpless, hapless sport of Japanese caprice or Russian lust; and it has been my aim to present an impartial study of the condition of the country in the pages of this volume. Since so many and so much abler pens have dealt with the position of Manchuria elsewhere, I have confined myself solely to a review of Korea. For this I trust that I may not be taken to task, while in order to satisfy those who think that some reference to the questions of Manchuria should have been incorporated in my book I have ventured to impart to my preface the appearance of a chapter which deals solely with this problem. And now, at the end of my work, a last, but none the less pleasant, duty awaits me. In addition to my own notes upon Korea I have gathered information from many people—writers, travellers, and students—all interested in the contemporary history of the Hermit Kingdom. These I now hasten to thank, and by naming them I would mark my grateful appreciation of the kindness which they have extended to me. To Mr. McLeavy Brown, of the Korean Maritime Customs; Mr. Gubbins, formerly of the British Legation, Seoul; to my distinguished and learned friend, Professor Homer B. Hulbert, whose published notes upon Korea have been of exceptional value, I make hearty acknowledgments; to Mrs. Bishop, Colonel Younghusband, the Rev. Mr. Griffis, Major Gould-Adams, authors of interesting and important contributions to any study of Korea, I express the sense of my obligation; to the Rev. C. Collyer, who was good enough to make my spelling of Korean names identical with the standard of Dr. Gale; to Mr. Bolton, of Messrs. Stanford, the map makers, of Long Acre, who laboured so patiently with the many shortcomings of my geographical data, I am, indeed, indebted. To Sir Douglas Straight, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, whose paper it was my delight to represent throughout my long residence in the Far East; to Mr. Nicol Dunn, editor of the Morning Post; to Mr. S. J. Pryor, of the Daily Express, I have to record my acknowledgment of the courteous permission of these distinguished people to reproduce such portions of my work as have appeared in the columns of their respective organs from time to time. And last of all to my readers I offer this book in the hope that an immediate apology for its production may be permitted to atone for its numerous shortcomings.
December 25, 1903.
CHAPTER I
Off the coast—Lack of survey intelligence—Island flora—Forgotten voyagers—Superstitions and beliefs—Outline of history
DEVIL POST OUTSIDE SEOUL
Despite the survey work which has been accomplished in the past by the Japanese upon the coasts of Korea, little knowledge of the numerous islands and archipelagoes, shoals and reefs which make its shores the terror of all mariners, exists at present. Until the voyage of the Alceste and Lyra in 1816, the locality of these detached groups of rocky islets was not marked on any of the Japanese or Chinese maps of the period. In the map of the Empire prepared by the Jesuits at Pekin in the seventeenth century, the space now occupied by the Korean Archipelago was covered with the drawing of an elephant—the conventional sign of ignorance with the cartographers of that time. In the older native maps, the mainland embraced groups of islands, the most imperfect knowledge of the physical configuration of their own shores prevailing among the Koreans. In quite recent days, however, the Korean Government has recognised this fact, and in the early months of 1903 the Japanese Government was requested to draw up a complete survey of the Hermit Kingdom. This work is now in process of execution, the plan of the coastline already having been completed.
The coast of Korea is remarkable for the number of spacious harbours which distinguish it. Upon the West and South, indications of the volcanic period, through which the country has in part passed, are shown by the frequency with which these island groups occur. From a single peak upon one of the small islands off the south-west coast, as many as one hundred and thirty-five islets may be counted, stretching to the North and to the South, the resort of the sea-fowl; desolate and almost uninhabited. Many of the more important islands have been cultivated, and give refuge and a lonely home to small communities of fishing-folk.