52 ART. l.-B. KOTO: 



favourable climate, and are inhabited by peoples of very ancient cul- 

 ture. 



The peninsula is divisible on good grounds into two sections — 

 North and South Korea — by a trench, in the geological sense, from 

 the head of Gen-san harbour to Kang-hoa Bay, at one corner of which 

 is located Che-mul-pho, the emporium and entrance to the capital, 

 Seoul. This trench or rift-valley is lava-drowned (PI. I, Fig. 3) and 

 is- the only extensive volcanic field in South Korea, except the large 

 basaltic island of Chyöi-jyu (Quel part) off the southern coast of 

 Chyol-la Do. This rift-valley or Graben of Chyuk-ka-ryöng (510 m.) 

 affords the easiest passage obliquely across the peninsula from the Sea 

 of Japan to the Yellow Sea, and marks the boundary of various 

 geographic elements *. 



a) Historically, North Korea is the land of Old Chyo-syön. The 

 dynasties founded by Tan-gun, Keui-chä, and Ui-man under the name 

 of Chyo-syön, and Ko-ku-ryb* or Ku-ryo* founded by Chvu-mong, all 

 had their domains mainly in this portion of the peninsula. At a 

 somewhat later time in South Korea sprung up the First Three Hans 

 — Ma-han, Sin-han and Pyöri-han, followed by the Second Three 

 Hans of which Sil-la and Päik-chyöi occupied the south, and Ku-ryö 

 only North Korea. From the historical point of view, South Korea is 

 the land of the Hans. 



/>) Climatically, the North is cold while the South is mild ; 'the 

 latter produces the rice, which is the main staple of the country. 



c) Topographically, the Han-land (South Korea) is hilly, though 

 lofty mountains crown the high coast along the Sea of Japan, slanting 

 gradually westward and disappearing under the shallow, turbid waters 

 of the Yellow Sea. In North Korea we have the two topographic 

 types of the Kai-ma plateau in the north (Figs. 3 and 4.) and the 

 Paleo-Chyo-syon on the south (Fig. 5.), the latter being hilly land of 



