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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



[vol. 45 



without detection. When the King dies, the nobihty wear the sanio 

 in white (fig. 9). In the house and at a certain period the 

 mourner wears a cap and head-band Hke that shown in figure 13. 



The royal chair-bearers are trained from youth to carry a 

 palanquin with a quiet, swinging motion free from jar. They wear 

 one of the most peculiar of Korean hats (fig. 14), made of several 

 thicknesses of brown paper, covered with purple satin, the front 

 decorated with designs in silver paper, and from the top hangs a 

 piece of gauze silk 5 inches long by 4 inches wide. The hat is 

 /\ -shaped, 10 inches high, 5 inches wide at the apex, and 4^ by 

 6 inches square at the base. 



Fig. 15. — "Fly's head" hat 



The official assistant's hat, or pare muree, shown in figure 15, is 

 of delicately interwoven horsehair and strips of bamboo covered with 

 black silk. It is cylindrical in shape, 6 inches high, 7 inches in 

 diameter, and is known among the Koreans as the " fly's head." 

 The position of official assistant, or shu re, can hardly be explained 

 to the European. He is a kind of secretary, superintendent, and 

 general factotum for his employer, and is far from being a popular 

 person where he is known. Koreans consider the fly the personifi- 

 cation of greed and shamelessness, for no matter how many times 



