152 KOREA— THE HERMIT NATION 



From the regularity and finisli of these various bronze articles it is 

 difficult to believe that the tools emploj'ed are scarcel}' an advance 

 on those of two thousand years ago. For a lathe the Korean artisan 

 uses an apparatus propelled by his feet as he sits on the ground, the 

 motion l:)eing but a half revolution in each direction, while the turning 

 tool is held in the hand. Necessaril}' the process is a slow one, but, 

 as is common with all Orientals, time is no object, and the work turned 

 out by these crude and archaic processes would do credit to an Amer- 

 ican worksho}). 



Recent investigation has shown that Korea is rich in many of the 

 better class of minerals, gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal. The gold 

 is almost solely in the more northern part of the kingdom and is as- 

 sociated in many cases with silver. A peculiarit}' of the gold mined 

 is its intense A'ellow, resembling, in this respect, the flake gold win- 

 nowed from the sands of the African Gold Coast. The coal measures 

 have not been very accurately' exploited, but so f;ir the output, which 

 has l:)een entirely by native enterprise and labor, is a fair Idtuminous 

 and of consideral)le extent. The great and principal drawback to the 

 prosecution of mining lies in the inaccessibilit}' of the countr}' to 

 modern methods of transportation, as its ph3'^sical characteristics pre- 

 clude development on modern lines. Little is known of precious 

 stones, for this form of personal adornment is not much in vogue 

 among the Koreans, and few attempts have Ijeen made to develop 

 the industry'. 



In religion the Korean must be marked with a minus sign. To all 

 appearances he has none. There are, however, several Buddhist 

 temples and monasteries in and around the city of Seoul. The onlj'' 

 temple I had an oj)portunity of visiting while at the capital was that 

 devoted to the god of war, and the edifice does not differ in any 

 respect from Buddhist temples elsewhere. 



As an architect, the native of Cho-sen, in times past, seems to have 

 shown much skill in construction and boldness in design, several of 

 the city gates of Seoul indicating artistic abilit}' and a desire for im- 

 pressiveness. The great south gate is a remarkable piece of work, 

 and the fact that it is still in use as an entrance to the city shows the 

 excellence of its construction. The north gate is built of carefully 

 hewn granite blocks, and is as well proportioned and as true, from an 

 architectural point of view, as though erected yesterday in commem- 

 oration of a modern victor}'. Granite seems to have been a favorite 



