Corea: The Hermit Nation

by William Elliot Griffis

Ham-kiung is that part of Corean territory which touches the boundary of Russia. Only a few years ago all the neighbors along the land frontiers of Chō-sen were Chinese subjects. Now she has the European within rifle-shot of her shores. Only the Tumen River separates the Muscovites from the once hermits of the peninsula. The southern boundary of Russia in Asia, which had been thrown farther south after every European war with China, touched Corea in 1858. What was before an elastic line, has in each instance become the Czar’s “scientific frontier.” By the supplementary treaty of Aigun, March 28, 1858, Count Mouravieff “rectified” the far eastern line of the Czar’s domain, by demanding and obtaining that vast and fertile territory lying south of the Amur River, and between the Gulf of Tartary and the river Usuri, having a breadth of one hundred and fifty miles. This remote, but very desirable, slice of Asia, is rich in gold and silk, coal and cotton, rice and tobacco. With energy and enterprise, the Russian government at once encouraged emigration, placed steamers built in New York on the Usuri River and Lake Hanka, laid out [[212]]the ports of Vladivostok, and Possiet, constructed a telegraph from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and enforced order among the semi-civilized and savage tribes. The name of the new Russian territory between the Amur River and the Sea of Okhotsk, is Primorskaïa, with Vladivostok for the capital, which is finely situated on Peter the Great or Victoria Bay. Immense fortifications have been planned, and the place is to be made the Sebastopol of the Czar’s Pacific possessions. This gigantic work was begun under the charge of the late Admiral Popoff, whose name has been given to the iron-turreted war vessels of which he was the inventor, and to a mountain in Central Corea. Possiet is within twenty-five miles of the Corean frontier. It is connected with Nagasaki by electric cable. In the event of a war between China and Russia, or even of Anglo-Russian hostilities, the Czar would most probably make Corea the basis of operations against China; for Corea is to China as Canada is to the United States, or, as the people say, “the lips of China’s teeth.”

Corean Village in Russian Territory.

Russia needs a coast line in the Pacific with seaports that are not frozen up in winter, and her ambition is to be a naval power. While England checks her designs in the Mediterranean, and in Europe, her desire is great and her need is greater to have this defenceless peninsula on her eastern borders. The Coreans know too well that the possession of their country by “Russia the ravenous” is considered a necessity of the absorption policy of Peter the Great’s successors. The Tumen River, which rises at the foot of the Ever-White Mountains and separates Corea from Russia, is about two hundred miles in length. It drains a mountainous and rainy country. Ordinarily it is shallow and quiet; but in spring, or after heavy rains, and swollen by a great number of tributaries, its current becomes very turbulent and powerful. In winter it is frozen over during several months, and hence is easily crossed. Thousands of Coreans fleeing from famine, or from the oppression of government officials, Christians persecuted for their faith, criminals seeking to escape the clutches of the law, emigrants desirous of bettering their condition, have crossed this river and settled in Primorskaïa, until they now number, in all, about eight thousand. The majority of them are peasants from Ham-kiung, and know little of the southern parts of their country. There is, however, an “underground railroad” by which persecuted Christians can fly for refuge to Russian protection. Their houses are built of stout timbers, wattled with [[213]]cane, plastered with mud, and surrounded with a neat fencing of interlaced boughs. They cover their houses with strips of bamboo, well fastened down by thatching. The chimney is detached from the house, and consists of a hollow tree. Under the warmed floor is the usual system of flues, by which the house is kept comfortable in winter, and every atom of fuel utilized. Their food is millet, corn, venison, and beef. They pare and dry melon-like fruits, cutting them up in strips for winter use. They dress in the national color, white, using quilted cotton clothes. They make good use of bullock-carts, and smoke tobacco habitually. The national product—thick strong paper—is put to a great variety of uses, and a few sheets dressed with oil, serve as windows.

Some of the Russian merchants have married Corean women, who seem to make good wives. Their offspring are carefully brought up in the Christian faith. Some of these Corean children have been sent to the American Home at Yokohama, where the ladies of the Woman’s Union Missionary Society of America have given them an education in English. Through the Russian possessions, the Corean liberal, Kin Rinshio, made his escape. From this man the Japanese officials learned so much of the present state of the peninsula, and by his aid those in the War Department at Tōkiō were enabled to construct and publish so valuable a map of Corea, the accuracy of which astonishes his fellow-countrymen. The Russians have taken the pains to educate the people in schools, and, judging from the faces and neat costumes, as seen in photographs taken on the spot, they enjoy being taught. The object of instruction is not only to civilize them as loyal subjects of the Czar, but also to convert them to the Russian form of Christianity. In this work the priests and schoolmasters have had considerable success. There are but few Coreans north of the Tumen who cannot read and write, and the young men employed as clerks are good linguists. A number of them are fishermen, living near the coast. Most of the converts to the Greek church are gathered at Vladivostok.

So great has been the fear and jealousy felt by Corea toward Russia, that during the last two generations the land along the boundary river has been laid desolate. The banks were picketed with sentinels, and death was the penalty of crossing from shore to shore. Many interesting relics of the ancient greatness of Corea still abound in Manchuria and on Russian soil. Travellers have visited these ruins, now overgrown with large forest trees, [[214]]and have given descriptions and measurements of them. One fortification was found to cover six acres, with walls over thirty feet in height, protected by a moat and two outer ditches, with gateways guarded by curtains. In the ruins were elaborately carved fragments of columns, stone idols or statues, with bits of armor and weapons. Some of these now silent ruins have sustained famous sieges, and once blazed with watch-fires and echoed to battle-shouts. They are situated on spurs or ends of mountain chains, commanding plains and valleys, testifying to the knowledge of strategic skill possessed by their ancient builders.

The Shan-yan Alin, range on range, visible from the Corean side of the river, are between eight thousand and twelve thousand feet high, and are snow-covered during most of the year. The name means Long-white, or Ever-White Mountains, the Chinese Shang-bai, meaning the same thing. Two of the peaks are named after Chinese emperors. Paik-tu, or White Head, is a sacred mountain famous throughout the country, and is the theme of enthusiastic description by Chinese, Japanese, and Corean writers, the former comparing it to a vase of white porcelain, with a scolloped rim. Its flora is mostly white, and its fauna are reputed to be white-haired, never injuring or injured by man. It is the holy abode of a white-robed goddess, who presides over the mountain. She is represented as a woman holding a child in her arms, after a legendary character, known in Corean lore and Chinese historical novels. Formerly a temple dedicated to her spirit was built, and for a long time was presided over by a priestess. The Corean Buddhists assign to this mountain, the home of Manchusri, one of their local deities, or incarnations of Buddha. Lying in the main group of the range, over eight thousand feet above the sea, is a vast lake surrounded by naked rocks, probably an extinct crater. Large portions of the mountain consist of white limestone, which, with its snow, from which it is free only during two months of the year, gives it its name.

Another imposing range of mountains follows the contour of the coast, and thus presents that lofty and magnificent front of forest-clad highland which strikes the admiration of navigators. Other conspicuous peaks are named by the natives, Continuous Virtue, The Peak of the Thousand Buddhas, Cloud-toucher, Sword Mountain, Lasting Peace, Heaven-reaching.

Twenty-four rivers water and drain this mountainous province. The coast of Ham-kiung down to the fortieth parallel is devoid [[215]]of any important harbors. A glance at a foreign chart shows that numerous French, Russian, and English navigators have visited it, and gained precarious renown by sprinkling foreign names upon its capes and headlands. At the south, Yung-hing, or Broughton’s Bay, so named by the gallant British captain in 1797, is well known for its fine harbors and its high tides. It contains a small archipelago, while the country around it is the most populous and fertile portion of the province. Port Lazareff, east of Yon-fun, near the mouth of the Dungan River, and west of Virginie Bay, is well known. A large Japanese army under Kato occupied this territory during the year 1592.