JOURNEYS THEOUGH KOREA. 137 



from the sea after once having snnk beneath the waters off' its 

 southern coast. 



The island resembles in outline a sea- slug on which Mount 

 Hal-la-scm '^ elevates itself to the height of 1,950 m as determin- 

 ed with an aneroid barometer by Genthe'"^ (also 6,390 ft. by 

 Genthe, 6,550 ft. on Japanese charts, 995 m on French charts). 

 The entire island is formed by the sloping side of this peak — 

 " The Peak which reaches toward the Milky Way," sometimes 

 called Uön-san^^ or conical mountain. The shore is dotted with 

 villages and the people raise millet, upland rice, sorghum, beans, 

 barley, wheat, potatoes, tobacco, buckwheat, yams, turnips and 

 cabbages. Oranges, pomeloes, and peaches are grown. Cultiva- 

 tion ceases at the height of about 500 metres. Up to 1,200 m 

 the piano is covered with a thick growth of oak and pine, 

 which is replaced above by the zone of shrubs which disappear 

 on the cold peak. It is snow-clad till the fifth month of the 

 lunar calendar. There are no tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, 

 foxes, hares, nor crows ^\ In short, there are no obnoxious 

 animals nor birds. 



The population numbers about forty thousand. The history 

 of the inhabitants has not yet been studied and made clear, 

 though it seems it is of importance ethnologically as forming a 

 link in the chain which connects the Japanese and the Koreans. 

 Tradition^' says that in the dawn of history three men, Yang*^\ 



1) ïH S U] The Hiil-la-srtii or Hun-na-san is INIt. Auckland of the English chart. 



2) Genthe, " Korea." Published by G. Wegner, 1905, Berlin. 



3) M m X 4', H tf^s m 



4) Cited in ' Tam-la-si ' ^% Jü îl% 



5) The well-known Hulbert gives as faithful a translation of the geography of the island 

 as one can ever learn from a reading of native geographical works, and leaves me nothing 

 to add from the standiird work " Tong-kuk-yo-chi-seung-ran." " The Island of Quelpart." Ballet. 

 Am. Geor/r. Soc. 37, 11)05. 



6) i%, m>'Ji- 



