COREAN HAT (LOWELL).
Until lately people in Corea carried wooden blocks to show who they were. These blocks were carried by boys of fifteen and all older persons. They were called “name-tablets,” and were made of pear-wood or mahogany. They were about two inches long and a half inch wide. There was writing upon both sides. At the top on one side was the name of the ward where the boy lived; below it were the words “leisure-fellow,” meaning that he was not a servant; then came the boy’s name, and lastly his date of birth. On the other side was the date on which the tablet was issued, and the seal of the officer who gave it. When a boy was older his “name-tablet” was of box-wood; still later—after he had passed an examination—his tablet was cut from black horn; when finally he took highest honors, it was made of ivory. Poor people, of the lowest class, also carried tablets, but of a different sort; upon these the bearer was described.
In Corea there is much cold weather with ice and snow. Much clothing is needed for warmth, and several garments of one sort may be worn one over another. In the houses they have kangs for warmth at night. Under the house, or under a certain part of it, there is built a sort of oven or furnace; above this is a floor of stones and, perhaps, earth upon which oiled paper is smoothly spread. A fire is built in the furnace and the sleepers stretch themselves upon the heated floor. It is not a satisfactory mode of heating, but is used not only among the Coreans but also among their Tatar neighbors.
Everywhere in Corea, Japan, China, and Tibet the people are Buddhists. But in all these countries we find also much worship of demons or bad spirits. Nowhere is there more of this than in Corea. They believe that there are spirits everywhere, some good, some bad. They are afraid of these bad spirits and do many things to ward off their mischief. Upon the roof of the king’s palace are a lot of ugly figures of bronze that resemble pigs and monkeys. All are different, but all are as terrible as their makers could shape. These are intended to frighten bad spirits away. No one but the king may have just these guardian animals; other important persons have two pictures fastened at the door; at the doors of the poor are hung a bunch of rice straw, and a bit of old rag. The two pictures represent two great generals, one a Chinese and the other a Corean, who were such valiant fighters against demons that their very pictures scare them. As for the things on the poor man’s door, it is believed that the spirits will stop to eat the grains of rice, and that they will think the rag the man’s clothing and will do their harm to it without entering the house.
Among the Coreans the tiger is much admired and much feared. They believe that bad men and evil spirits can turn themselves into tigers, and they have many strange stories of these tiger-men magicians. Thus they say that once a man was travelling through a lonely and desolate region. Toward evening he was surprised to come upon a fine house. Entering and asking shelter he found an old man living alone there. He felt sure things were wrong and that the old man was a tiger-magician. He was right; it was the king of all the tiger-magicians. If he had shown his fear he would have been torn to pieces, but he pretended to be brave. When the old man asked him who he was and where he was going, he boldly declared he was hunting for tiger-magicians, of whom he meant to kill two hundred, that he might carry their skins to the king. When the old man—who you remember was king of the tiger-magicians—heard this bold talk he was terribly scared. Secretly he called his subjects together and told them of their danger. They advised him to kill two hundred tiger-magicians who were in jail and give their skins to the hunter, begging him to spare the rest. The traveller gladly accepted, and taking the skins sold them for much money. This man had a cowardly neighbor who heard the story and determined to try the same trick. When he reached the tiger-king’s palace, however, he got scared, the tigers knew his fraud, and falling upon him they killed him.
XV.
TIBETANS.
Few countries are naturally so difficult of access as Tibet. It is a lofty plateau. To reach it from any side frightful mountains must be passed. Not only is the country itself difficult to reach, but the Tibetans do not like strangers. They do everything in their power to keep white men out of the country. Few travellers of our race have ever been to the heart of Tibet. Recently the American traveller, W. W. Rockhill, has visited that country and written interestingly of it, and later Walter Savage Landor claims to have had exciting adventures there. But the journey that is best known and has been most talked of was made more than fifty years ago by two French missionaries named Huc and Gabet.
Starting from China these gentlemen traversed Mongolia and Tatary and penetrated to the sacred Tibetan city of Lhassa. They returned to China over a different route. It was a fearful journey. The road led along the side of vast cliffs, over raging torrents where the bridges were composed of chains hung from bank to bank with boards laid crosswise of them, through snowdrifts, and over sheets of glacier ice.
The people of Tibet vary in stature, color, hair, and other characters, but all are Mongolic and all speak Tibetan. Some of the tribes are nomads—either herders or pillagers; others are settled and live by agriculture, notwithstanding the climate. In Lhassa itself they are tradespeople and traders. They are good weavers and make excellent woollen stuffs. They are skilled goldsmiths, and their fine wares go to decorate the temples and monasteries. They make the finest incense in the world.
The most important thing in Tibet is religion. Their religion, which is called Lamaism, is a sort of Buddhism peculiar to Tibet. Tibet might be called a theocracy, or a land where a god rules. For the ruler of Tibet, called the Dalai-lama, is considered no common man, but a real god on earth. Many centuries ago, in India, there lived a man named Gautama or Sakyi-muni. He was wise and good, and the new religion which he taught was a great improvement upon the Brahmanism of India. On account of his wisdom and goodness, he was called Buddha, but he never claimed to be himself a god. Since his death, however, many millions of people in many lands have worshipped him as a god.