KOREAN INTERVIEWS. 15 



mother, however, used to send him secretly nice food and deli- 

 cacies. 



Among ignorant people the impression of the hand is signed 

 as an autograph to legal documents, but never to marriage docu- 

 ments. 



Human statues are not made at the present time, but in olden 

 times figures of large size were sculptured in wood and stone. 



Reddish hair and beard and blue eyes are not unknown ; my 

 informant had seen a number of such cases. 



The classes of the people in Korea rank much as they do in 

 Japan ; they are in the following order : 1. Nobles. 2. A class 

 like the Japanese samurai, which is inherited. 3. Soldiers. In 

 Japan the teachers would come third, but they have no rank in 

 Korea. 4. Farmers. 5. Merchants. 6. Coolies. 7. Butchers, ped- 

 dlers, and gypsies. 



Suicide is uncommon. When it occurs it is among the coun- 

 try people. Forms of suicide are usually hanging, the taking of 

 poison, inhaling fumes of charcoal, and cutting the throat ; the 

 most usual form is that of hanging. My informant had never 

 heard of more than four or five instances of suicide. Infanticide 

 is not known. People in the western part of Korea often kill 

 each other in fights. A curious story was told me by a Korean, 

 who vouched for its truth. Two men, strangers to each other, 

 were stopping at a hotel ; one of them went away forgetting to 

 pay his bill ; the other paid his bill, and, on leaving, the landlord 

 demanded pay for the one who had defaulted, supposing him to 

 be his friend. This he refused to do, and a dispute over the mat- 

 ter led to a fight, in which the landlord was accidentally killed. 

 The man who had forgotten to pay heard of the row and murder, 

 and hastened back and inquired of the other why he killed the 

 landlord. Explanations followed, and the forgetful man, in re- 

 morse at having been the cause of such a tragedy, killed himself ; 

 whereupon the survivor, in horror at having caused the death of 

 two, immediately committed suicide. 



A brutal sport is not uncommon wherein men engage in stone- 

 throwing, and a number are often killed outright. It is consid- 

 ered a great feat if one can catch a stone and return it. They 

 also fight with sticks and clubs. Boys imitate the men in these 

 kinds of fights. 



The Koreans regard their country as possessing eight remark- 

 able objects : 1. An artificial pond thirty miles in length. 2. A 

 mountain known as Kumgansan, having twelve thousand peaks 

 of white stone. This may be the mountain known as Pak-tu, or 

 White Head, which is likened to a piece of porcelain with a scal- 

 loped rim. The flora is said to be white, and the mammals white- 

 haired. (If true, a case of protective coloration.) 3. A hole in 



