GEOGRAPHIC LITERATURE 



Korea. By Angus Hamilton. With 



map and illustrations. Pp. xliii -f- 



3 r 3- 5% by 8 inches. New York. 



Chas. Scribner's Sons. 1904. $1.50 



?iet. 



This is an exceedingly clear and able 

 description of the Koreans and their 

 country and of the political and com- 

 mercial problems of which Korea is the 

 cause. Mr Hamilton defines the people 

 as follows : 



"The Koreans are an agricultural 

 people, and most of the national indus- 

 tries are connected with agriculture. 

 More than seventy per cent of the popu- 

 lation are farmers. 



' ' The peaceable, plodding farmer of 

 Korea has his counterpart in his bull. 

 The Korean peasant and his weary bull 

 are made for one another. Without 

 his ruminating partner, the work would 

 be impracticable. It drags the heavy 

 plough through the deep mud of the 

 rice fields, and over the rough surface 

 of the grain lands ; it carries loads of 

 brick and wood to the market, and hauls 

 the unwieldy market cart along the 

 country roads. The two make a mag- 

 nificent pair ; each is a beast of burden. 



' ' They submit to oppression and to 

 the cruelty of the Yamen ; they endure 

 every form of illegal taxation, and they 

 ruin themselves to pay' squeezes, ' which 

 exist only through their own humil- 

 ity. ... 



"At the present date the farmer of 

 Korea is the ideal child of nature ; 

 superstitious, simple, patient, and igno- 

 rant. 



"To the wayfarer and stranger the 

 individual farmer is supremely and sur- 

 prisingly hospitable. A foreigner dis- 

 cussing the peculiarities of their scenery, 

 their lands, and the general details of 

 their life with them, is struck by their 

 profound reverence for everything be- 

 3'ond their own understanding, and 

 their amazing sense of the beautiful in 

 nature. 



" The Korean is omnivorous. Birds 



of the air, beasts of the field, and fish 

 from the sea, nothing comes amiss to 

 his palate. Dog-meat is in great re- 

 quest at certain seasons ; pork and beef 

 with the blood undrained from the car- 

 case, fowls and game — birds cooked 

 with the lights, giblets, head and claws 

 intact, fish, sun-dried and highly malo- 

 dorous, all are acceptable to him. 



" Their excesses make them martyrs 

 to indigestion." 



A Handbook of Modern Japan. By 

 Ernest W. Clement. With maps and 

 illustrations. Pp. 395. 5 by 7^ 

 inches. Chicago : A. C. McClurg & 

 Co. 1904. $1.50. 

 Mr Clement, who has lived for 15 years 

 in Japan, has collected in his handbook 

 exactly the information regarding that 

 nation sought by every one at the pres- 

 ent time. His aim has been to portray 

 Japan in all its features as a modern 

 world power. The descriptions are con- 

 cise and effective. There are admirable 

 chapters on the Physiography, History, 

 Local Self-government, Japan as a World 

 Power, Japanese Christendom, and the 

 Mission of Japan. An excellent feature 

 is a bibliography of reference books at 

 the end of each chapter, while in the ap- 

 pendix are numerous tables giving in- 

 teresting statistics. One of these shows 

 that the ratio of cultivated land to the 

 total area of the country is only 13.8 

 per cent ; in Belgium the ratio is 53.9 ; 

 in Prussia, 50.3 ; in France, 50.2 ; in 

 England, 27.9. The volume is well 

 illustrated with pictures of important 

 persons and scenes. 



BOOKS RECEIVED 



Greater Russia. By Wirt Gerrare. Il- 

 lustrated. Pp. 337. 6 by 9 inches. 

 New York: TheMacMillanCo. 1904. 

 $3.00. 



Birds of California. By Irene Grosvenor 

 Wheelock. Illustrated. Pp. xxviii-f- 

 578- 5% by 7/4 inches. Chicago : 

 A. C. McClurg & Co. 1904. $1.50. 



