KOREA. 245 



or I landed for observations, the women were to be 

 seen scampering away up the mountains like scared 

 deer. I never got very near any of the fair sex, but the 

 little I did see was quite sufficient. Amongst themselves 

 these people are rude, coarse, and uncouth. They 

 have no salutation, except buffeting each other; no 

 mark or sign of respect to their headmen or officials ; 

 and altogether are a dirty, uninteresting lot. Occasion- 

 ally I allowed some on board. When their headmen 

 or officials were visiting the ship, and, sailor-like, some 

 of the blue-jackets were sure to give them a pipe, 

 tobacco, or something, their neighbours would imme- 

 diately snatch at it and endeavour to get possession of 

 the article, and a struggle and blows would at once 

 ensue, the weakest losing the day, unless the donor 

 came to the rescue. I spent a month or more at the 

 Mackau Islands, a group some fifty miles from the 

 mainland, and otherwise isolated from the great mass 

 of islands off the south-west corner of Korea. Here 

 the inhabitants were less antagonistic to foreigners, but 

 I put this down to their distance from ofl&cials. The 

 chief resident left in an open boat two days after I 

 arrived, to report the foreign ship to his Government, 

 and had not returned when I left. On two occasions 

 only were we made marks of for stone-shying. One 



