KOREAN MOUNTAINS 'AND MOUNTAINEERS. 229 



and yet the fact remains that there is no class of plants about 

 which an increase of knowledge is more imperative than these 

 same ugly weeds. A few dollars expended in awards by each 

 fair association would bring together lists of plant pests the ex- 

 hibition of which would not only surprise but greatly instruct 

 those who see them. It is not less important for the farmers of 

 any district to know of the arrival of a new weed than of the ad- 

 vent of a new fruit or grain. 



In this connection, and in conclusion, it is a pleasure to an- 

 nounce that space at the World's Columbian Exhibition has al- 

 ready been set aside for a display of the weeds of the whole coun- 

 try, and preparations are now making for a full occupation of the 

 allotment. 







KOREAN MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAINEERS. 



By CHARLES W. CAMPBELL. 



AS delineated on a Korean map of the country, the White 

 Head Mountain seems to consist of a circle of jagged peaks 

 inclosing a moderate-sized lake. The description of it in Chi- 

 nese, in the letterpress department of the Atlas, recites that 

 " Peik-tu San, or White Head Mountain, lies seven or eight days' 

 journey to the west of Hoiryeng (a town on the Korean border), 

 in Manchu territory. The mountain is in three tiers, is two hun- 

 dred li, or sixty miles high, and the circuit of its base covers one 

 thousand li, or three hundred miles. On the summit there is a 

 lake eight hundred li, or two hundred and fifty miles in circum- 

 ference, whence flow the three rivers Yalu, Sungari, and Tumen." 

 These dimensions are greatly depreciated in Mr. James's descrip- 

 tion of the mountain in his book, The Long White Mountain. 

 Nevertheless, lakes in mountain-tops seven or eight thousand 

 feet above sea-level are rare enough to tempt the adventurous 

 traveler to try to explore them ; and this one on Peik-tu San 

 yields precedence in interest, historically and geographically, to 

 few others in the world. So thought Mr. Charles W. Campbell, 

 of the English consular service in China, when, on the last days 

 of August, 1889, he left Seoul on the tedious journey, by primitive 

 Korean conveyances, of six hundred miles to the mountain. From 

 his account of the journey, and the discussion it called forth in 

 the Royal Geographical Society, are derived the facts given in 

 this article. 



The country traversed during the first four days of the journey 

 was typical of the center and south of the Korean Peninsula. 

 " Korea is a land of mountains. Go where you will, a stretch of 

 level road is rare, and a stretch of level plain rarer still. The 



