EXPLORATION OF SORT II EAST EliX KOREA 



205 



the wilderness. The collectin<,^ was not good at this log camp, and after a 

 few days we continued deeper into the forest. The traveling was difficult, 

 for as we ascended the plateaus the larch forest became so thick that at 

 times we had to cut our way through the tangled branches. We followed 

 the lines of least resistance twisting and turning to avoid impassable barriers 

 and going entirely by compass. The Korean horsemen and in fact all the 

 party came under the influence of the gloom and silence and it was difficult 

 to force them to proceed. 



After reaching the base of the Paik-tu-san we retraced our steps and 

 struck southwestward across 

 the watershed to the Tumen 

 valley. I had learned from 

 the Koreans that somewhere 

 in the forests was located the 

 Samcheyong, "Three Bodies 

 of Water." So far as I was 

 aware, Korea was a lakeless 

 country and the Samcheyong 

 seemed well worthy of inves- 

 tigation. We reached the 

 lakes, as they proved to be, 

 after a difficult march 

 through the forest and found 

 that there really were three 

 bodies of water lying on the 

 summit of the watershed 

 which separates the region 

 drained by the Tumen River 

 from that drained by the 

 Yalu River and its tribu- 

 taries. The basins of the 

 lakes are composed entirely 

 of loose volcanic ash which 

 probably came from some 

 violent eruption of the Paik- 

 tu-san many years ago. 

 Upon returning to Seoul I 

 found that the lakes were 

 indicated upon a military 

 map made during the Rus- 

 sian war, but that nothing 

 more than the fact of their i''^^' "p*^" ''^'■•^'» f"''*^**^ "«'^'" "'^^ 'of^' ^^^^^^ '" "^'i® 



. wilderness where we camped. The forest became 



existence was known; they continually more dense as we proceeded 



